Kasey Shea
English IIIB
Mrs. Parkinson
4/12/2016
          The article “On Dumpster Diving” is a very eye opening piece. Lars Eighner, the author of the piece, is an experienced scavenger who sees no grief or shame in what he does. He does, however, understand where this shame or stigma arises from. “At first the new scavenger is filled with disgust and self-loathing. He is ashamed of being seen...but he cannot erase from his mind the stigma of eating garbage,” (Eighner 718). The loathing and disgust one may find early in their dumpster diving career, is completely understandable. Especially from our viewpoint. If before I read this article, I saw someone diving in the trash looking for food, I'd either scoff or pity them. But Eighner removes this feeling into one of interest and makes me feel wasteful due to what kinds of food I've thrown out. “Dumpster shyness begins to dissipate. The diver, after all, has the last laugh. He is finding all manner of good things...Those who disparage his profession are the fools, not he,” (Eighner 718). Through Eighner’s telling of what the evolution of a dumpster diver is, it wakes us up to a wasteful realization. That there is much we take for granted and those taking full advantage of the world around us do not deserve our scorn, but our respect. 

Analysis of the Harlem Renaissance

Kasey Shea

Mrs. Parkinson

English IIIB

March 7th, 2016

Analysis of the Harlem Renaissance

Americans are a rebellious crowd. We created an identity with such efficiency and vigor that rational thinking appears as mere suggestion. Yet with all our evolving, our greatest setback is ourselves. We’re such a burden on our own progress that it's miraculous we've only had one civil war. Our self-taught lessons have almost completely pushed us out of our own way. The Harlem Renaissance is the biggest collection of American Revolutionary ideas since the original in 1771. Revolutionaries fought through the arts to bring change to our lopsided home. Poets such as Countee Cullen utilized phrases like:

From lowered blinds the dark folks stare

And here the fair folk talk

           Indignant that theses two should dare

In unison to walk  

to illustrate the difficulties an impressionable generation faced as it tried to leave a brighter mark on it’s own.

Blog on Voice Text #3

Techniques of Narrative

Mark Bezos’ TED Talk employed excellent techniques of a narrative. Mark successfully transitions his story of having to merely save a pair of shoes, to delivering a very intriguing and thoughtful reflection on how the smallest acts of generosity can make great differences. Bezos does a great job pacing the story as you hear his voice pick up around 1:07 when Mark depicts his assignment during his first fire, well, I was next. The captain waved me over. He said, "Bezos, I need you to go into the house. I need you to go upstairs, past the fire, and I need you to get this woman a pair of shoes." Bezos also does good depicting the action of the scene through descriptive imagery. He sends the reader to the scene of his first fire as a volunteer and it’s almost as if we’re there battling the blaze with him.

Employ Humor

In the talk, Bezos shows us his funny side at multiple times.

He calls his partner and “nemesis” Lex Luthor for obvious and humorous reasons.

He exaggerates the disparity of being relegated to saving a mere pair of shoes.

Blog #2

In my mind, Holden's discussion about Romeo and Juliet was one of his best. "The think is, I never liked Romeo too much after Mercutio gets stabbed...but Mercutio, he was--it's hard to explain. He was very smart and entertaining and all. The thing is, it drives me crazy if somebody gets killed...especially somebody very smart and entertaining and all," He isn't the best with words and this small dialogue proves that you don't really have to be to get your point across. Holden didn't seem to leave anything that he needed to say out of the conversation with this nun. One could even make the assumption that Holden compares Mercutio to his brother Allie. From Holden's description of Allie, we know he was a pleasure to be around. Perhaps Holden was frustrated that his brother seemed to die twice and that's why he hates it when a nice and entertaining character dies.

Catcher in the Rye 9-10

               Blog Option #1

Daryn Kagan’s “Your Rattle No One Else Can Hear” Article is about the difficulty people experience when they feel they’re going to face a problem alone. When no one besides yourself can understand what specific emotions are flowing through you at this very and at times you may not even know. She offers the comfort of having someone else acknowledge our problems and though they may not be there to solve them, having someone else simply knowing that there’s something wrong can benefit us in ways that seem foreign until we experience them in the moment.

                Holden, in Catcher in the Rye, seems to have this exact problem. He has all of these problems floating around in his head and he has no one to vent about them to. Thankfully, this composition was there for him in a way. Those feelings found some sort of outlet. He told us about Allie and then about his mitt. All the poems and everything. Holden actually opened up for a split second. The mitt was a way for Holden to acknowledge his own problems and give himself some sort of comfort. The fact that he opened up a little bit, even if only to himself or whoever he’s talking to, is enough to give him a little more confidence he needs.

Summer Assignment Part 2

Liesel: A young German girl, who has been given to the Hubermann household as a foster child. She becomes fascinated with books and other literature. She is very close to her foster father and has a rough but loving relationship with her foster mother. She befriends Max, a Jew who shares the same love for reading and books that she does. She also befriends the mayor's wife who allows Liesel to read her collection of books.

Hans and Rosa Hubermann: They are the foster parents of Liesel and care for her very much, though each have a different way of showing it. Rosa is a bit rough around the edges, swearing frequently and being a bit over protective. Hans is more loving towards their new daughter. Teaching her how to read and write.

Rudy: He is Liesel's best friend and has a small crush on her. He works very hard to be an athlete and eventually achieves his goal. At a Hitler Youth competition, he wins three gold medals. He is rebellious by nature and his mouth tends to get him in trouble. He acts on impulse alone sometimes and wanted to be Jesse Owens to an extent where he colored himself black and ran around the track. He is the only boy in his large family besides his father, who is taken by the Nazi Party after Rudy declines the offer to join himself.

Max: The Hubermanns hide Max in their basement due to a favor Hans owes to Max's father for saving his life in WWI. He grew up as a fist fighter on the streets and made an unforgiving voyage to the Hubermann's home.

Summer Assignment Part 1

For my summer reading assignment, I chose the Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's centered around a nine year-old girl named Liesel Meminger. The book is set in Nazi Germany. During this time period, any books that, in any way, promoted going against rule and social acceptance were banned. Liesel is a curious young girl who was fascinated by a book she found during her younger brother's funeral. Said brother died during the train ride to Liesel's new home, where she is going to be given new parents. She learns to read and write from her new parents and met another kid name Rudy, who has a crush on her.

I can predict that her fascination with books will eventually get her into trouble. Both within her town and her government. There was a movie about this book that came out last year. I haven't seen it, but have heard that it did a good job of keeping the original plot and story. One peculiar thing about this book, is that it's narrated by Death himself. That could be a foreshadowing of the characters perishing or just something to keep in the back of your head as a reader. Either way it is very strange.

I hadn't heard of this book until looking on the list, but it seemed somewhat interesting. At first I got it confused with the book Thief Lord. After reading the summaries and reviews for the book, I realized my, mistake. The book is very interesting, due to who is narrating, the circumstances of history, and how it all plays into what Liesel is trying to do. And that is simply read a few books.