Lit Circle Reflection:

I am struggling to join in conversation because of my insecurities understanding the novel. I need to speak more quickly when I have something to contribute. My insecurities are resulting in me not speaking, and my thoughts are being spoken by other people. I feel I am succesful in actively listening to my discussion group. Usually, I do not interupt people in their sentences. In my discussion group, we are having some difficulties staying on task. Also, we struggle with interupting one another and not letting eachother finish our sentences. Our strong suit is in analyzing the story and discussing the symbolism in greater detail. We can achieve this by really paying attention to one another and not letting ourselves get distracted. We decided as a group, to not talk randomely but to take turns following a pattern.

Lost and Lord of the Flies Leadership

    Jack from Lost and Ralph from Lord of the Flies are both leaders. However, Jack simply rose to the occasion, versus Ralph who was voted leader by his fellow islanders.

    The children in the novel wanted someone to be in charge so that chaos did not result on the tropical island. Ralph discovered the conch shell therefore he was in charge and helped locate the frightened lost children that were sparsely on the island. Since Ralph found all the kids, they immediately voted him as leader in charge of the boys. Over time, the boys started to listen and obey Ralph and took into thought his reasons why they should save civilization. On the other hand, Jack from the t.v. series Lost, naturally rose to the occasion of leadership. The reason Jack took on the role of leadership was that before the plane crashed he was a medical surgeon. He was used to saving peoples lives and performing surgeries that helped the patient tremendously. For example, beginning in the first five minutes of the series Lost, Jack rescued, and saved someone from being sucked into the airplanes jet. While living his everyday life at home he acted

as a perfectionist, he felt that he always needed to save lives and help people. Because there were injuries from the crash, he fixed up individuals and helped them feel better. Although both Ralph and Jack are leaders, Ralph has little experience if not any, while leadership was a part of Jack’s everyday life.

Throughout the chapters in Lord of the Flies, and the few episodes in Lost, leadership is performed in many ways. Jack is more helpful and wants the best for every individual person, while Ralph is just a young boy and tries his absolute best to keep order and civilization. Each leader has different strategies and ways they think is best for the people.

Sarah Jio’s “The Last Camellia”. A Mixed Bouquet of Flowers, Murder and Mystery

Reviewed by Sarah Bura

The New York Times Bestselling author, Sarah Jio has picked up her pen and written another page turner in “The Last Camellia”.  This novel exposes the secrets that surround the Middlebury Pink, a rare camellia, long forgotten which blooms mystery in every petal.  The two heroines, Flora and Addison are living in two distinct decade Yet both attempt to discover the secret location of the Middle bury Pink as they strive to hide damaging secrets from the men they love.  The story is set in a grand, manor in England that once was full of servants and the Livingston family.  Now sixty years later is purchased in disrepair and shows no sign of it’s glory days except for the persistent beauty of the flower garden.  The story is intriguing with few predictable plot twists and turns and is genuinely a pleasurable quick read.

This story is almost like two stories in one book.  Each individual chapter focuses on advancing the story of either Flora or Addison and the two linked together tell the story of the Middlebury Pink.  The ladies have many commonalities.  Addison has a deep secret from her past that continues to haunt her present with her husband.  Here secret taunts her and follows her  as she  vacations at her husband family manor in England.  Flora is hired as a nanny by a flower thief to locate a prize flower which is complicated as she falls in love with the oldest son of the manor.  Each woman is linked to murder in some way as either the accomplice or the one being sought after.  As the reader shifts from the two generations the writing style is clear and descriptive.   Sarah Jio has decided to tell the stories of each woman in the first person. This stylistic device   allows the story to feel more like a personal memory than a third party retelling. The writing style is full of vivid imagery allowing the reader to see the scene clearly in their mind.” The clouds had parted to reveal a stream of moonlight that filtered through the trees, just enough to illuminate the spiderweb pattern of the cracked windshield and the spot where my head had made impact earlier”( Jio 273).  This describing her feelings after her car had been run of the road by Addison’s attacker. Her vocabulary selection is simple enough for  the  young reader to read easily but also keep the interest of the more advanced reader with a larger vocabulary. 

The ending of the story links the passage of time from the distant past over 100 years ago to the hope of the future.  The seed of the Middlebury Pink had survived through much and so had Flora and Addison. “As I lay there, I closed my eyes, envisioning the camellia tree the seed would grow into, the beautiful blossoms it would sprout.  Its journey, like mine, had been a harrowing one, fraught with uncertainty. With pain. But now it would put down roots and thrive. It would live with dignity, peace, and forgiveness. I would too”(Jio 299).

Warren Harding Error

In the Warren Harding Error: Why We Fall For Tall, Dark And Handsome Men the article enlightens us as to why we fall for the "tall. dark and handsome man" almost like those 5 words are one long word.  IT is an attraction that we have in our unconscious as we associate the pairing of good looking with competency.  One might find it interesting that although he was good looking President Harding was one of the worst President's.  "He was vague and ambivalent on matters of poluicy". P. 7e3.  It was fascinating to me that when doing the IAT our minds so quickly decided between pairs of ideas that we are familiar with in the past and have presently grouped them together.  I was intrigues with the statistics  of the tall CEO's in the Fortune 500
companies.  I had no idea there was such an obvious discrimination of shorter people.  The takeaway message was one of quick judgment is not a wise way to base your opinion and the old saying there is more than meets the eye.

A good leader is someone that possesses qualities such as strength, determination, honesty, commitment, the ability to delegate, good communication skills and finally a good sense of humor.  Physical attractiveness is not necessary and shouldn't even be considered  when choosing a leader.  If our unconscious biases is truly based on what we see we should experiment with interviewing people over the phone, or on paper.  A more radical idea would be to interview people behind a screen where the interviewer and the interviewee  could not have visual contact.  We as a society need to be educated with articles such as the Harding article to make us more aware of our unconscious biases.  I have heard it said that admitting we as a society have a problem is the first step to healing and correcting the problem.

After taking the Race IAT the founding stated that I did not have an unconscious racial preference.  I was not too surprised by this finding.  I have contact with African Americans on a regular basis.  One of our close family friends is an African American family and we do many things together.  I also spend a lot of time volunteering to feed the homeless with our church.  The African Americans have been friendly and I don't have some of the natural stereotypes that kids my age might have.

Monday Late Start

Monday late start is more beneficial to High School students than Tuesday early dismissal.  A late start on Monday not only follows the weekend allowing for the students to either do homework later, or sleep in longer but also provides a respite for busy parents driving younger siblings to school.  The typical High School student is involved in many extra curricular activities not to mention possibly having a job, making their weekends busy.  Their social life is a high priority thus not completing their homework.  Given a late start on Monday, Sunday night allows them to study and work later in the evenings knowing they can wake up later and get more rest.  A high school student who values family time can use the extra hours on Sunday to not focus on completing their homework and missing out on family interaction, such as going out to dinner, since they know they can stay up later on Sunday.  At a  recent Dr. appointment it was discovered that teenagers need close to nine hours of sleep a night.  Lack of sleep can cause difficulties focusing in school, more anxiety and causes kids to eat more than necessary.  Therefore a later start  supports a happier, healthier teenager.

Some argue that an early dismissal on Tuesday is  more convenient.  With an early dismissal there is more time to socialize with ones friends.  For the students that are employed they can arrive to work earlier and therefore leave earlier allowing more time for family interactions and homework.  However, most teenagers mismanage their time and would use this extra hour unwisely.  One might even argue that the extra unsupervised time in the afternoon could possibly lead to temptations that are not beneficial to the student. While it may be true that early dismissal might benefit a few, the majority of students could use a late start.

About Me

Interests and hobbies seem to change from season to season, mine however, have stayed the same. I have one interest, musical theater,  although it is a three spoke wheel. Singing to me is like breathing.  I sing in the shower, in the car, at the mall, walking to my classes,  really all the time and everywhere.  Dancing is a bit more of a challenge  but I love to move my body to the rhythm of the music. My feet are often sore from from my assortment of dance shoes.  The last spoke of the wheel being acting is a great expression of my personality.  Most often I am cast as the comedic actor and my purpose in the show is to be funny, make my audience relax and forget their worries and cares.   I have been participating in musicals for 5 years and just recently performed my 22 show. I aspire to see the big green street sign say Broadway St and Times Square  and  I will have  reached my ultimate goal.

   
Reading is not really something that I enjoy doing and because of this I choose to not read many books.  My favorite book is  The Outsiders. I read it in eight grade. The plot kept me interested and and I viewed the action as if a movie playing in my head.

 The development of the characters intrigued me.  I liked the sense of loyalty and family that was evident in the book. 

Writing comes very difficult for me something like pulling teeth.  It is hard to get started and my thoughts just kind of spill out in a random fashion.  My vocabulary is not very developed and I have to consult the thesaurus often.  I am hoping that this year my writing will come easier and be full of specific and detailed language.  I often ask for help in my writing and I would like to stop that and feel confident about what I have written.

A quote that I like and can relate to is, " When you're going through tough times, don't worry.  Things will get better and you will get stronger".  I feel like I go through tough times at school as I have learning disabilities and academics have always been a struggle for me.  Everything

takes me longer to do, longer to write, longer to read and understand and longer to accomplish.  I have developed perseverance and a stubborn determination to succeed.  I also have become a compassionate person to those that society sees as different and that makes one mature.