feed part 4

We finally made it! The last part of feed. Overall, I really enjoyed Feed, and I would recommended to everyone, as the book could appeal to all, since it has some romance, some adventure, some comedy and some sadness. In Feed part 4 things get bad, since Violet is in the Hospital slowly dying after the makers of the Feed FeedTech refuse to help repair her issue with the Feed due to her resisting the feed. Meanwhile Titus in return grows farther and farther away from her somehow blaming her for the fact that she is sick. Violet in turn continues loving him while Titus begins to feel no sympathy and more awkward hate towards her. Violet sends Titus a list of things she wants to do with him in the future and of memories that they have together, Titus lies when she asks if she saw the list. Titus breaks up with Violet and ends up dating Quendy. The book ends with a rather emotional Titus telling a lifeless violet a story and how he wants her to remember herself and how he is going to remember her and that she is still there. Its quite sad the book ends considering how Titus ignored and rejected her throughout this chapter and when she eventually begins to shut down and die he finally begins to get real emotions, emotions that are probably rare in that society because the Feed and how it basically thinks for you.

feed part 3

Hi, everyone. These past few weeks we have been reading a book called feed. We have now reached part three (It's nearly over!).

 The book so far is about a boy in the future, who has a computer in his head, and who meets this girl (cheesy much) and they fall in love. This is the blog post about it. Below are my favorite quotes from part three:

1. "It makes good times even better when you know they're going to end." 

p. 145 I completely agree with this quote. You always enjoy something more when you know it's going to end, and I can relate to that, because since I have lived in different countries, I know a lot about schools, friendships and basically your entire life ending and starting over. For some reason, I always prefer the last year and enjoy it more because I know I'll never live that type of life again. The same can be said about friends. You become 10 times closer with your friends if one of you is leaving because you try to enjoy them until the end. 

2. "I want to go out and see the world. There's so much. There's ... just so much."
 p. 175 I can relate to this quote so much. Although I have lived in 3 different countries, and I have visited more than 20 countries (i actually counted), I still have an urge to visit the rest of the world. I have a calendar at home that is a different place to visit every day, and there are so many beautiful things to visit that I still haven't seen. It makes me excited about the future if I am to visit it, but also a bit sad that I haven't been there yet. This must be what the characters feel in the book.

3. "You toss something up in the air, and you expect it to come back down again."
p. 175 This quote is very interesting because I have already been told something like that. This sentence is basically saying that if you stop caring about something or someone, don't expect it to come back. This is very powerful and it makes sense, and it's such a good quote it should probably be used as a real quote. 

4. "Everything's dead. Everything's dying." 

p. 180 This quote is super important because it shows that the characters had no idea what was happening in the world and that they didn't realize what was happening to the planet until it was too late. The sentence has a mix of sadness, anger, frustration and wishing, which makes it a great sentence, even if it is so short.

This Weekend

This Weekend was one of the most fun weekends yet this year. This weekend we had JoMUN. JoMUN stands for Johannesburg Model United Nations. Basically, it is a Model United Nations, so the united nations, but for teenagers. I had already done it last year, but this year was ten times more fun. Firstly, my committee was really cool. We had interesting issues that we were talking abut, such as Boko Haram, women's rights in the middle east, Protecting the rights of refugees, and protecting the rights of LGBTQ people in Africa. I was assigned Australia, which I was quite happy about since Australia and I share similar views on a few things.

 The issue I choose to talk about was LGBTQ rights in Africa. I merged the resolution with 8 other people, and I was voted to main submit, which means that I was reading it out, and the "leader" of the resolution. Unfortunately it didn't pass, although it being great because most countries were against LGBTQ rights, such as DPRK and Saudi Arabia. This year 16 different schools came to attend JoMUN, some schools coming from as far as Sri Lanka! I made many new friends from different schools. I made friends with the delegate of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, DPRK, Argentina, New Zealand, USA, Ethiopia, and many others. On Saturday, all people participating in JoMUN, more than 350 people, all went to a restaurant, with a huge garden, for supper, all organized by the school. It was really fun, but so much DRAMA!!! To say the least, there were more than two new couples, two new heartbreaks, and lots of dancing. Overall, I loved JoMUN so much, and I was really happy with how it went.

Feed

Sample Dialectical Journal entry: FEED by M. T. Anderson

Passages from the text	Pg#s	Comments & Questions
“-We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck”.	Pg 1	(R) This is the first sentence in the book, and it says a lot of things. First off, it states that the moon has become a thing that people just go to, that isn’t a big deal, and that isn’t a special operation. Secondly, it states that the moon has become something so common that people say that “it sucks”. No people now days would say that as the only people ever on the moon are astronauts, whose passion is the moon. It also means that the moon’s “value” and “specialty” has diminished. All of this means that the moon has become accessible and that the book is set in the future, and in a different time than ours.

Passages from the text	Pg#s	Comments & Questions
“-Most of the rest of the city had pretty good artificial gravity”.	Pg 10	(R) This sentence, that doesn’t hold much importance in the story so far, really intrigued me. It really made the moon into a touristy place, and it made it easier to imagine it. It made me think of Dubai for some reason! Both the moon (from the book) and Dubai seem to be very different to their surroundings and trying to change the “unchangeable”. In Dubai, I saw read article about how they are planning to have “air-conditioned” streets, for the tourist, because of the extremely hot weather. The weather is one of the things that seem to be the hardest to change about a place, however, with technology, this seems closer and closer to happen. Gravity to us seems like it can barely be changed, and would never be “reduced” or added to for tourist’s sake.

Passages from the text	Pg#s	Comments & Questions
“-like big thanks to everyone for not telling me that My lesion is spreading”.	Pg 21	(R) This is one of the many sentences in the chapter that mention the lesion. From what they have described, it seems like some type of disease or virus, that is very common and that most people have. It also can happen to any part of the body, and is big, red and full of puss. Another alarming thing about it is that it grows. Nobody seems worried or concerned about it and take it as if it was a normal thing to have. The blonde lady even said that she wants hers to grow so it covers her whole neck and it can look like a necklace! A lot of questions popped into my mind such as “is it spreadable?” “Is there a cure?” “Are there serious consequences?”

Passages from the text	Pg#s	Comments & Questions
“-We’re going to have to shut you off now”.	Pg 40	(R) This sentence, which is one of the last ones of chapter one, made me think about how much people have changed in the future, according to this book. Now humans can be “turned off” by the touch of a button. This made me think on how human are they really? The reader assumes that they are humans, but could they be robots? We already know that they have a chip in their head, that works as a computer, but how human and how robot are they? Are they cyborgs? If they were to appear now, would we count them as humans? It also leads to other questions such as “can anyone turn anyone off?” “How do you turn someone off?” “Do they have a noticeable on/off switch?”

Short Stories

This unit we have been studying short stories. Most of the short stories that I read were those from a list written by Mrs. Maloney, my English teacher. The stories on that list are made by very famous authors such as Roald Dahl and James Joyce.The stories that I read have been Araby, by James Joyce, Goat's Tobacco by Roald Dahl, At the Pitt-Rivers by Penelope Lively, The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, and The Moment Before the Gun Went Off by Nadine Gordimer. All of the stories that I have read are really good, my favorite being "The Moment Before the Gun Went Off" by Nadine Gordimer. The story is about a white South African farmer who shoots his black worker/friend by mistake while they were driving. There is a MAJOR plot twist at the end, but I won't spoil it. That story is my favorite for many reasons. firstly, I can relate to the setting. The story is set in South Africa, where I live, so it makes it easier to visualize the story. Also, since I live in South Africa, I have heard a lot about Apartheid and know about the tension between whites and blacks here, which is a key component in the story. Secondly, it is beautifully written. The writer, called Nadine Gordimer, is a white South African, so obviously she knows what she is writing about. Of all the stories that I have read, my least favorite was Roald Dahl's Goat's Tobacco. I used that story for my infographic (go check it out it's also on this blog). I used it because I was familiar with the author. Unfortunately, it is not as good as Roald Dahl's other stories. It is a memoir, and in it he remembers when he was a little boy and his family went on vacation and pulled a prank on his sister's lover. The story is fine, but it just won't affect you, or make you think: it is very basic.  At the Pitt-Rivers by Penelope Lively and The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin are both to me quite average to me. They were nice, and made you think, but to me they weren't exceptional, however, I know that Mrs. Maloney loves those stories, so it honestly depends on the person. Finally, the last story that I have read is Araby by James Joyce. I won't explain how I feel about it as I'm giving a TedTalk presentation on it, so you will be able to see how I feel about it very soon.

Thank you :-)

My infographic

Reading 4 fun

Reading 4 Fun
Hello, my name is Vasco and I'm currently in 9th grade. Reading is part of my family. My dad loves reading so much that he's office at home is basically a library. I've only enjoyed reading since sixth grade, when I moved to South Africa. Before sixth grade I thought that reading was boring, and I just didn't get any fun out of it. The summer I moved to South Africa, some friends recommended I read 'Percy Jackson', which I did, and really enjoyed. From there I moved on to more and more books, and more and more into Young Adult books. It is my favorite genre. I now love reading. I'm currently reading 'A Hundred Years of Solitude', which is quite complicated book. I started reading "the classics' this summer, and except for the fact that the font is usually very small, I really enjoy them. My favorite books ever are: 1984 and Animal Farm, both by George Orwell, and of course the Harry Potter series, by J. K. Rowling. I like Orwell's books because they are about communism, and talk about the flaws of totalitarian regimes, or through realistic fiction (like 1984), or in a form of parody (like in Animal Farm). I read nearly every day, and a lot specially during the weekend. Over the summer I read 5 books, which were: Lord of the Flies, 1984, Dorothy Must Die, More Happy then Not, and To Kill a Mockingbird. Reading is important because not only does it expand the mind and makes you learn new things, it also makes you a better writer.