I am going to have to wrtie this entire thing again. I had it half way done and my little niece some how erased everything. This class has been somewhat interesting. I was glad to see that everyone was allowed to have an opinion of their own on each reading. I was also glad that we discussed every reading as a class to hlep clear up some difficult areas. No one really judged anyone on their opinions, and that was really nice. In fact, I think each opinion helped everyone understand things a little better. These types of classes that i have taken in the past have been a lot different. The profs. usually wouldn't discuss the books much beyond their opinion. I really enjoyed the discussions and I think they were really helpful.

I have mixed fellings on these blogs to be honest. As a nontraditional student who has a lot of responsbilities outside of going make to school, they have been a hassel to try to keep up with. I didn't always have access to the internet and sometimes i had to go places to get it. I understand the importance of these because it gets the sudents to do the work more than just before class. This allows the students to think about the readings more, which leads to better discussions. If i was a traditional student staying on campus, it might be a little easier. There have also been times that the sites have been down which makes it even harder to blog. I have kept up with most of the assignments and i think i missed only one or two short stories and one poem. I think Mina is the only person that has bloged on every readding and i give her a lot of credit. It has been really hard this second have to comment on other blogs because there have been so few blog entries before thursday. I commented on the same three peoples blogs this second half becuase that is all that ever seemed to post anything.

I think my blog entries have been ok. They are better then others but they are worse than others. I think it was Holly that said sometimes you don't need to reasearch a book to have an opinion on it. Mine haven't been too involved, but i have bloged my opinion and asked my questions. The comments that others have left have been helpful, it is good to hear what my peers think about my opinion. I find that it is hard to narrow the blog entries down into the categories that are set up for this portfolio. They all seem to have their own uniqueness.
The first group of short stories that we read after portfolio 1 were interesting. "Here We Are" and "The Best Girlfriend You Never Had" seemd to get a good bit of comments from other students, which I like to see. "Miracle at St. Anna" was an interesting book which I was able to connect with a little bit. This was more my style of book because it was packed with historical references and it was a war book. I was disappointed taht no one commented on this blog, but I think I might have gotten a little carried away on what I was typeing. "I want to Live" hit a little bit of emotional cord considering my dad went through the fight with cancer last year while i was on active duty. I was hard seeing things unfold while you are unable to help. My mom was a wreck and my dad was a little lost for awhile. He beat it and he is alright now, but it does affect you a lot.

Other stories that i would like to include in this portfolio are "The Farmers Children", "The Secret Life of Bees", "Blood-Burning Moon", and "You're Ugly, Too". I believe all of these selections fit in with the requirements of the categories. I Also would like to mention that there were some good conversations with other peers on their sites.

This has been an interesting class and an interesting experience. I believe I have learned some things that I didn't know before, and that is the point of taking these classes. I would like to thank my peers for commenting on my blogs and giving me feedback. It was very helpful. I hope I was able to help my peers with my background as some of them were able to help me.

I have to start out by saying that i am not yet done with this book. For some reason, I have all my finals this week except one. Doesn't that just make finals week pointless, well what am i saying, i don't mind. Two take home finals aren't that bad, but they could be a lot easier. Now on to the book. Once again, not a book that i would ever pick up and read, though there were some historical aspects in in. I is going a little better than i expected. Am I correct in understanding that Lily shot her mother and killed her, or do i need to finish this to find out what is going on. Lily and Rosaleen ran away and are staying with spring and summer. June doesn't like them and August can see right through them. Of course, august is a good month, i was born in august. lol T-ray I think should get voted for father of the year, oh wait i mean a-hole of the year. This guy is worse than the tin man. Some one needs to bring him to oz to get the tin man's heart. We are seeing an accurate portrayal of racism in the south around this time. It is hard to believe this actually went on. The fact that Rosaleen was beat by a flashlight right in front of Lily. Some of these charecters are sorry excuses for humans. Well i will have to add more later after i read the rest of the book.

I didn't understand why the father fired Judd at the end of the story, it wasn't his fault on what happened to the boys. I think the boys died in the barn and that they froze to death. This is what i thought happened. Judd was with the father in town so i don't see how Judd could have prevented this from happening. If this is solely on the fact that Judd's blanket wasn't around than that is pathetic. The Stepmoter is the one that didn't do a good job parenting. The one boy mentioned that he couldn't find his gloves i think and she told him not to worry about it and to just go before their dad would get mad. She should have made sure they were atleast warm and had the stuff to keep warm. She seemed like she didn't want to be bothered my the kids and just wanted them to go. She won't be bothered anymore by them. They were cuddled up together to keep warm and that is how they were found, if they would have had something to keep them warm they would have awaken the following morning.

I think it is a good thing that they are trying the German Officers. It gives the families of the victims a chance to close the book on a painful memory and the harshness of war. I think it is too late for complete justice considering the ages of the Officers now, but I guess justice will be done.

I am going to start out by saying that i really didn't get too far along with this book cosidering that i just got it yesterday. I already had "The color of Water" and i had a hard time tracking this book down since the girl in the book store siad they sent all their books back. But after reading other blogs i see that i am not the only one in this boat here. I am used to such screw ups in the military, but i don't think i will get this book done on time. Oh well i guess.

This book so far is more my style book. It is history and military in one, right up my ally. lol It is unique, because it gives me a perspective that i never looked at while studying this war. We see the way the mind works with the charecters and what they are facing and thinking. We see the segragation is still a major issue here though the army was one of the first to do away with segregation. The soldiers didn't like to follow their white officers, and the white officers didn't want to lead the blacks.

It is wierd to see the way the minds of the charecters work. The way train wonders what the white people are thinking and how they are thinking. We see the boy lick Train to see if taste like chocolate. Spending time with the boy helped Train to connect with the boy. It seems that he is starting to push the walls of segragation down by this. He is starting to see that there is no difference between people. World War One saw this over the first Christmas. The two sides called a Chrismas Truce and met to play a soccer game and to share conversation. After this, the two sides did not want to fight because they realized the people on the other side were just like them. The soldiers on both fronts were sent back to the rear because they didn't want to fight and becasue they were ruining the propaganda that was put into the soldiers heads to make them fight.

I am looking forward to reading more of this book to see what happens. I hope i get this done by thursday to discuss more but we will see. This only getting the book on Monday evening really delayed the reading process, and i am not the fastest reader by far. I think a snail can read faster then me. Now i think i am just going on so i will stop here.

We see in this story that both main charecters are somewhat scared. To me the girl is scared because she is lonely and she would really like it for Leo to fall in love with her, and Leo is scared of ruining the great friendship they have by letting it go any further then it is now. I've seen it up close and i have been on both sides of this one, and it is tough either way. The girl takes the first major step my admitting that she is scared and I believe she is better off. Once she realizes that, everything else is put into perspective and easier to deal with.

We see how Ms. O' Rourke had a rough child hold with parents that liked to hit the bottles pretty hard, and we see that her father must not like her very much. The cop doesn't give her a ticket because he feels bad for her that her mother is in the back of the car saying her father hates her guts. This has an affect on how she stayed with Gorden for so long, she didn't want to be alone and she wanted to feel wanted and needed. In the end of the story, we see her mature to the point where she isn't as afraid as she once was. She raced the boat by putting her mind at ease, and she faced her fear by admitting she was scared.

I see most of our stories are staying on a key theme here, and that would be they are wierd and hard to follow. All i have to say is that I better not see this half-skinned steer in my dreams tonight, (lol) cause that is just freaky. Rollo seems like he has just been on one long lost journey and he is trying to find his way home, but he can't seem to get there. It seems like he is searching his soul for his true identity but doesn't have one. The guy has has three wives already and he wants more. There is something wrong with this guy.

I think Zoe needs to get out more just as starters. I think she has been couped up in her house all alone. She is becoming used to being alone and it seems to me that she is now trying to find fault in people and pushing them away or not trying to find anyone at all. Her story about love and the violinist is just disturbing. Is that really her few on love, becuase it is such a disturbed and biased few. She seriously needs to open her mind more and try to live life and stop living in her movies and songs. Life is not a fantasy unless you go out and make your dreams come true.

I have not finished this book yet, but Blanche is some character. She is out for number one and is all about money. At least that is what she seems to me so far. I didn't understand why she kissed the young man who was collecting for the paper. It seems to me that she has failed at everything but her teaching career. Well maybe she is good with the guys, and not long term either. I have to keep reading to find out about that. Well I will have to add to this once i finsih the book.

I know the first few blog entries didn't seem to go over too well with anyone. I didn't know what I was to say and no one commented, But now it seems like there is a lot more to talk about. I have to say that I think my best blog entries have come with this last group of poems. They have seemed to touch a few nerves and get the blood flowing abit. "The World Trade Center" hit a sensative spot for me because it changed my life and forced me to grow up and mature overnight. This would be the blog entry that has the most meaning and feeling behind it. I really don't know what category to put it in. To me, it falss under everyone that there is. It sparked many comments from others, and it recalls stuff that was gone over during a presetation in class. There isn't any research behind it except my own personal experience, and that is the best kind if you ask me.
The following entries are the ones i will include in this portfolio; "In the Old Age of the Soul" ; "Daddy" ; "The World Trade Center" ; Gatsby, Take 2 ; and Machinal

To be honest, I don't think any of my other blogs show enough to even place on this. They don't show much contribution to the class or to much discussion. I could put them on but I don't believe they deserve to be on.

I also have made some comments on some of my fellow students blog entries and I would like to include some of them if i may. I am not sure how to do that except for linking you right to their sites if it works. Kayla Turano, Tiffany Brattina, and Karissa Kilgore These three have sparked conversation between us on different topics. I have learned severl things from there comments or blogs and they havve commented on mine and have hopefully learned something from mine. I believe these should take care of my xenobloging.