Beautiful Boy

The Author of Beautiful Boy, David Sheff, is the father of Nic Sheff, the author of Tweak. A few months ago I read Tweak, it was a story about a young mans struggle with drugs. In Beautiful Boy, the author tells us the story of his sons drug addiction from the fathers point of view, how his son went from a beautiful boy to a boy/man he could barely recognize anymore.

While reading this story, David shows all of his feelings and emotions in a very deep way. He shares anecdotes and stories of Nic as a child to show how much he misses his beautiful boy. For example, if Nic and him argue about going to rehab, and Nic leaves for a few days, he mentions how he used to be so determined in school and he had such a great future ahead of him.

I can personally connect to this because whenever I feel sad or am angry at someone, I try to remember the good times we've had together and it makes it easy for things to get better. And in the end, things usually do get better, just as things did with Nic and his father.

The Great Gatsby Character Analysis

In "The Great Gatsby" by Scott Fitzgerald, the character that the title is based off of is named Jay Gatsby. Mr Gatsby lives a very mysterious life that most people don't know about, or have the wrong idea about. He is extremely wealthy and no one knows where his wealth came from.

Jay is loves a women named Daisy, who is married to Tom Buchanan. They met when they were young and instantly fell in love. He grew up as a very poor child, he lies to Daisy about his past so he can make her believe that he is good enough for her. His main motivation for his wealth was Daisy. Gatsby moves to a huge house across the bay from Daisy in West egg, a part of long island for the newly rich. Every Saturday night, he throws big parties hoping that Daisy will come. He hopes to win her over with his wealth. One day, he discovers that his neighbor, and the narrator of the book, Nick Carraway, is her cousin. Nick invites both Jay and Daisy over for tea and the love connection is once again there. 

"The Great Gatsby" is based off the story of a man named Gatsby. He is in love with a women named Daisy whom he would do anything for. Gatsby is a very interesting character with many dimensions.

Hurricane Song

In Paul Volponi's "Hurricane Song",  the author wants us to remember what happened to the people who stayed in the Superdome during Hurricane Katrina. The main character Miles and his father changed a lot because of the storm. and those hardships affected their relationship in many ways.

At the beginning of the text, Miles resented his father, he thought he cared about music more than he did about Miles, Pops and Miles were not close at all and didn't care about each other. As the story progressed, Pops had to become a real father for Miles and they had to protect each other from the dangers of Hurricane Katrina. In the end, Miles comforted his father when all the jazz clubs were destroyed, and Pops used his horn to save Miles from the man hurting him. These changes affected their relationship because they had to learn to protect and support each other. They also started to tell each other how they felt and how much they really did love each other, even though it wasn't obvious.

The protagonist of "Hurricane Song", Miles and his father Pops went through a very difficult time together during Hurricane Katrina that most people will never go through. The hardships they experienced helped to strengthen their relationship and in the end, show each their love for each other.

The Soda Ban Essay (very late)

The New York City Sods Ban is a new law that will ban sugary drinks over 16 oz from all city regulated restaurants. The Soda ban should be opposed because there are too many loopholes in the law and it will limit peoples choice.

One reason that the Soda Ban should be opposed is because the ban would not be effective due to the fact that there are too many loopholes in the law. The Soda Ban gets rid of sugary drinks over 16 oz in food establishments regulated by the government. However, “Soda Ban Explained” by Casey Neissat states that if a drink contains at least 50% milk it is allowed. The new law will not affect places like Starbucks, where you add your own sugar. 711 is not affected either because it is not a restaurant, it is a convenient store, so keep on buying the king of all big sodas, the 64 oz double gulp. Although the ban is a huge effort from the government to try and address the issue of obesity, there are still too many loopholes for it to have an effect. As you can see, there are many ways to still buy large sodas because not everywhere is influenced

Another reason that the Soda ban should not be supported is because the government is trying to to control and restrict peoples power to make their own decisions. Most people are aware of how much soda they drink, they should have the power to to decide if they want to cut back. If they don't want to, the government can't make them. It should not be in their power to control what people eat or drink. Even though the government is trying to make New York a healthier place and end the issue of obesity, they should not have capability to control what people eat.

The Soda Ban should not be passed because the law is not effective enough to put a dent in the issue of obesity. The government is also restricting peoples power to drink however and whatever they please. The government may think they are saving laves but they are really just making people walk one or two more blocks for a sugary beverage.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (the poem)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, 

And sorry I could not travel both

 And be one traveler, long I stood 

And looked down one as far as I could 

To where it bent in the undergrowth; 

Then took the other, as just as fair, 

And having perhaps the better claim, 

Because it was grassy and wanted wear; 

Though as for that the passing there 

Had worn them really about the same, 

And both that morning equally lay 

In leaves no step had trodden black. 

Oh, I kept the first for another day! 

Yet knowing how way leads on to way, 

I doubted if I should ever come back. 

I shall be telling this with a sigh 

Somewhere ages and ages hence: 

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- 

I took the one less traveled by, 

And that has made all the difference. 

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

In the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost, the protagonist shows remorse about the story he tells his future listeners that he took the road less traveled. He chose his road in life and the fact that he revised his story suggests that he wishes he had lead a more adventurous life.

In the first stanza, the first line "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood" suggests that it is fall (yellow) which is the middle season, that makes me think that the protagonist is a middle aged man, 40 or 50, and is faced with 2 hard decisions that he choose from, or two roads. In the last stanza, the semi-colon at the end the line, "I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence:" shows that what he is saying after the semi-colon, "two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference" is what he wishes happened. The sigh makes me think that it is a sigh of wonderance,what if I really did take the other road? Where would I be now?

The protagonist who changed the story of life to make it seem like he lead a more courageous one makes me think deeper about humanity because many people regret the decisions they make and stretch the truth to imagine what it would be like if they had chosen the other path.

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

The book "Elsewhere" by Gabrielle Zarvin is a very interesting. The main character, a girl named Elizabeth, who was killed in a bike accident, finds herself in the afterlife, a universe called Elsewhere, where everyone that dies ages backwards until the become babies and then sent down the river to be born again. Elizabeth is very depressed about her death and misses her whole life. When she dies, she learns how good her life was, and how she always took it for granted. Through this the reader learns  that you don't know what you have until its gone.
Liz misses things she had never even cared about before she died. She misses her annoying brother, her mean teachers, her homework, and the simple pleasure of life on earth. But most of all she's misses having obstacles to overcome in life. Everything in elsewhere is perfect, like a dream, no one ever has to work hard for anything
All in all this book makes you realize that all the little things in life that you do make you love your life, even if you don't realize it.. And all the obstacles you have to over come help you learn new things. When we have no problems and everything is perfect then we are almost not even human.