Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Our class this year has been basically based around this book entitled Special Topics in Calamity Physics. This book is a murder mystery. I have never read a murder mystery before, and I was excited that, that was what the majority of our class would be around.

The book was a good book in my opinion. It held my interest, which was odd because it was such a long book (page wise). This book has been the longest book that I have read front to back! I felt some sort of accomplishment when I finished.

I was a little disappointed with the ending however. We have spent so much time in class talking about who killed Hannah, and you made it seem like when we finished the book we would know the truth, but we didn’t. I like that it made me think about everything that i had previously read, and try to make sense of the sketchy events. But I would really like to know if what I am thinking is right or not. I still want the truth about who killed Hannah! Besides for the ending the book was an all around good read.

I even enjoyed learning more about the works of the chapter titles. I had only heard of a few of them, and I was excited to learn about the others. Some of the installment readings that went along with the titles were difficult to read and understand, but when we went over them in class it made much more sense to me. I feel like this was a great book to base an English class around. It gave is ample amount of work, and I wasn’t just busy work, it had a reason. Allowing us to see a brief plot of what the next chapter was going to be about. I like making the connection between the two.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics was a great book, I am glad that I got the chance to read and, and analyze it in a way that I never would have if I were to read it on my own. I was skeptical about the book at first but as soon as I read the first three chapters I was hooked. The book was a great choice! Thanks!

Dutchman

Our reading for Installment number eight was Dutchman. It “was first presented at The Cherry Lane Theatre in New York on March 24, 1964.” This is a play the setting of the story is on a train. The two main characters are Lula, a thirty-year-old white women, and Clay, a twenty-year-old black man. This story doesn’t candy coat life at all. Lula is a loud opinionated women and she thinks that she knows everything about everyone, including Clay. She calls him out numerous times, and never fails to point out how shallow he is, keep in mind she just met him. She attempts to predict where he is getting of the train, practically guessing all the stops, so she was bound to eventually choose the right one. Once she successfully guesses what stop he was getting of at she tell him why he is getting off there. Clay participates in her game for some time, but as time went on and she kept on putting him down, he had enough. He stuck up for himself and put her in her place, something not many people have done to her though out her life. She wasn’t used to anyone standing up to her, she didn’t know how to handle herself. She threw a tantrum on the train for everyone to see. Started to reprimand Clay more then before, saying anything that popped into her head, no matter how hurtful it was.

I really enjoyed reading this play, which is odd because I usually hate reading plays. But I felt as if this one wasn’t candy coated, they didn’t make thing seem better then they actually are. They way that they spoke to one another was the same way that I would talk to my friends, it felt real. Even though that Lula is thirty she still knew exactly what the “cool” things were to do. And they didn’t try to hide the fact that people have sex and people go to parties, I like that about the play. I don’t like to be sheltered as a reader. Also the reading itself was an easy read for me. It wasn’t short but it flowed well, there wasn’t a point where I was like “when will I be done with this reading already?” It felt like pleasure reading, which I enjoy, and it rarely happens. I liked the segment of the Dutchman that we had to read.

"Chick-Flick"

The book that we have been reading all year has been Special Topics in Calamity Physics. I think that it has been a good book. It is interesting and appealing to our age group. The only bad thing that I have noticed about the book and some of the readings that go along with it is that I think that they may be gender bias, well maybe not bias, but I think the some of the readings and the book are more so for the girls in the class. I don’t have a problem with it, but since the class is mostly guys, when I want to go to talk to someone in the class about what we read, the first thing that they say is that it is such a “chick” book/ reading. And it is frustrating to always hear that. And personally I like to talk about what I read, because I don’t always understand what I read, until is it explained to me then everything will make sense. And I like to do this all before I get to class, so that I can participate with the class discussion, but if I go into the class with out fully understanding what read I am not going to be able to join the discussion. I am not going to be able to give my opinion because with out a full comprehension any opinion that I may have, sounds dumb to me. Personally I enjoy reading “chick flicks” but since I am one of four girls in a class of about thirsty kids, I don’t think what I like to read should triumph. I am not sure what guys like to read but maybe you could do an anonymous survey to see what they like. And next year use the results to some how incorporate more male oriented reading material into the class. I am not complaining about the readings I have enjoyed most of them, I am just saying this from what I have heard every time that I go to talk to any guy from the class about the readings and the book.

Transformation

Transformation is a fact of life. Everyone and everything will transform in one way or another throughout their lifetime, whether a person, a plant, you will take a form of transformation. I believe that I, at the age of 18, transformed in many ways.

Installment number nine was discussed today in class. The basis of the poem was transformation. We talked about the gods and goddess, how they can change themselves and people. In this poem they are both weaving pictures that resemble some form of transformation. Later after we had finished talking about the installment, we had an open discussion about transformation that we see today, in out modern society, considering that the poem that we just read was written in 1901.

There were many movies that were brought up, but one of them stuck out to me; little miss sun shine. This movie has a clear form of transformation in it.

In the movie Little Miss Sunshine, the transformation takes place with in the brother. This is a story of a family traveling across country. The family is not normal, well should I say not perfect. Each member of the family has their own issues, which is what makes this movie interesting. The brother is aware that everyone in his family has their problems so he has set himself apart from his family by taking a vow of silence. He plans to remain silent until he becomes a pilot. However on day when it was discovered that he is color blind. A pilot is not allowed to be color blind. When he realized this he has a huge breakdown and screams at the top of his lungs, everything that he has ever wanted in life has just become out of his reach, he can’t ever become a pilot. When this happens he has no where else to turn, besides his family that he had cut out for so long. But they had always stayed by his side. He transforms from thinking that he was better than his family to realizing that he is just like them and he had no reason to shut them out in the first place.