Ode to the Ocean

Gradually climbing the shore
With its tides
And crashing against the sand
With its power.
Leaving a salty smell
In the air
And that beachy feeling
In my hair.
Giving a home
to countless fish
And a place for me to swim.
I stand with my feet
in the shallow waves
And let them become
covered with sand.

Choices and Consequences

Life is a web of decisions that must be made—and depending on the choices you make when confronted with these decisions, you will receive the appropriate consequences. When you’re a kid, your biggest decision might be: who do I want to play with at recess today? But as you go through life, you face obstacles that become a little more complex. Sometimes you’re asked to make decisions with which you don't want to be bothered. When you reach high school, depending on the crowd you run with, you might find yourself face to face with decisions about time management, what you do outside of school, partying, and ways to “fit in.” When you’re presented with a problem, no matter how big or small it is, it could sway what happens in your day-to-day life. But no matter who you are, or where you come from, you will be exploring the concept of choice and consequence for the rest of your life.

Santiago, a colloquial fisherman from cuba, is watching his career slowly become hopeless. He has not caught a fish in 84 days, and he decides to set sail by himself. "'Eighty-five is a lucky number,' the old man said. 'How would you like to see me bring one in that dressed out over a thousand pounds?'" (16). Santiago insists on carrying out his fishing career, and this quote shows that he appears to be optimistic about the circumstances. This was a major choice that was reflected throughout the whole story. The old man's life is defined by fishing. He has been a failure for over eighty days, and yet he is still determined to prove to his cynical community--and to himself--that he is capable of overcoming the bad luck that had been upon him. His judgment lands him in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, on his pitiful boat, with a massive, argumentative fish hooked on the end of his line.

Along with going out sailing by himself, Santiago brought no food with him, very little water, and almost no supplies. The amount of water he brought was enough to last him about a day. Because he had no food, he had to catch albacore and flying fish to eat raw. The reason he didn't bring very much of anything was because things were looking bleak. He didn't expect that his luck would change. He had seemed to be acting optimistic before, when in fact he was not as confident as he seemed. He didn't expect to catch a marlin, especially one of this gargantuan size. Since he was doubting that he would catch a fish in the first place, he deffinitely did not think that he would be out to sea for three days, therefore not needing much food or water. “‘I had better re-bait that little line out over the stern,’ he said. ‘If the fish decides to stay another night I will need to eat again and the water is low in the bottle. I don’t think I can get anything but a dolphin here. But If I eat him fresh enough he won’t be bad. I wish a flying fish would have come on board tonight. But I have no light to attract them. A flying fish is excellent to eat raw and I would not have to cut him up. I must save all my strength now. Christ, I did not know he was so big’” (66). This is a good example of the things he had to think about when he began to realize that he would be needing food if he was going to pursue this marlin. His choice was to bring a small amount of supplies, and the consequence was that he ended up staying out there longer than he expected and now he isn't prepared.

Santiago knows that this fish is the thing that could threaten his life, but also make or break his career. He decides that it is more important to stay with this fish, rather than let it go and play it safe. He wants to be able to return home with a prize. Going home empty-handed would only make him look worse. "Fish, I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends" (54). This shows how determined he is to be successful. I'm sure his patience is running thin, and that he's getting tired of waiting around for this fish to just give in. He's being thoughtful and cautious, and overall calm about being in such a complex situation. He chooses to stay with the fish, and the consequence he is given is that he's realizing that it's going to be hard doing this by himself, without the boy.

“‘Unless sharks come,’ he said aloud. ‘If sharks come, God pity him and me’” (68). The final obstacle Santiago is faced with is when the sharks come and try to get his precious marlin. The old man seems sure that he will lose this battle, but he goes into it with all of his courage and strength. As much as he tries to fight him off, there are forces working against him. He is a very old man, with no one there to help him, he does not have the proper supplies, and he has an injured hand. But, I believe he also had things that were driving him to fight. He could use the anger he felt toward the people who believed he was unlucky and who did not support him, and the anger that I'm sure he was feeling toward the sharks that were in the process of stealing the fish that he had been after night and day for three days. Santiago chose to attempt to fight off the sharks, and he ended up losing the marlin. Even though he lost the fish in the end, he never truly gives up.

The choices made by Santiago may have left him returning home with only the skeleton of the marlin, but that skeleton also resembled all of the effort and will power he had. The choices that we make every day will impinge on the rest of our lives, no matter how big or small those choices may be. When faced with a big, scary decision, most people will cringe, turn around, and walk the other way. Santiago rose to the occasion, and the choices he made, though the result was not what he wanted in the beginning, earned him the respect that he deserved.

Third Quarter ORB Review

Twilight by Stefenie Meyer. Little, Brown and Company, 2005.
Genre: Romance/Fantasy/Action.


Twilight is a story about a seventeen year old girl named Bella who moves from living with her mom in sunny Arizona to living with her father, Charley, in Forks, Washington. She goes to a new school, gets new friends, and finds a new boyfriend – Edward Cullen. When she sees him at lunch, he immediately draws in Bella. He’s handsome, and just attractive; but Bella comes to know that he and his family are all outcasts. Bella and Cullen become closer as the story progresses, and Bella has her suspicions about him all along. But it took her a while to put the pieces together that he was a vampire. After he tells her, she is accepted into his family and things get a little crazy. Bella ends up being chased by other enemy vampires, who trick her into falling into their trap. She is bitten by one of the vampires, and Edward saves her in the end.

“About 3 things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him, and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be, that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.”

I love Meyer’s descriptive writing style. She uses vocabulary that really gives a visual of the setting or situation. She doesn’t use lengthy, confusing sentences or any of that. She gives just enough detail so that you don’t get bored while you’re reading, or have to go back and read it again. Since her writing lacks much bulk, it allows the reader to breeze through paragraphs without too much thought. It’s a lot like the book I’m reading now for school: The Old Man and the Sea. Ernest Hemingway doesn’t use much detail in his writing, either. Some people would criticize this quality, but I personally think it makes their stories much easier and more interesting to read.

“Edward in the sunlight was shocking. I couldn’t get used to it, though I’d been staring at him all afternoon. His skin, white despite the faint flush from yesterday’s hunting trip, literally sparkled, like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in the surface.” (ch 13, pg 260)

I really enjoyed reading this book, so much that I read it twice. I like the topic because it’s very mysterious and compelling. Although the book is very lengthy, especially for a young reader, don’t let that convince you to avoid reading it. I really enjoyed this book because it was unlike anything I’d ever read before. Twilight is a story that you won’t want to end.

The Non-believer Meets a Talking Reindeer

Benny was dreading this holiday season, even while he saw everyone else just loving the jolliness of it. He hadn’t believed in Santa Claus ever since the previous year. He longed to, but he couldn’t bring himself to truly believe like he used to. He was pondering all of this while walking through the mall with his mother and father. It was late December, the snow was falling outside, and the mall was packed with bumptious shoppers. His mom pointed over towards the entrance of Macy’s where she saw “Santa’s Workshop.”
“Santa’s Workshop? Yeah right,” said Benny.
“Look! There’s Santa now,” said his mother.
“That’s not Santa. There is no Santa,” he replied.

Benny’s mom shot his father a distraught look. He shrugged and said, “What can ya do?” His father did not want to enter a discord.
They continued to walk through the chaotic mall, looking curiously into the clear glass windows of each store. There were people outside endorsing all of the stores' best products. The racks in each window were messy and unkempt. Benny pointed out things he wanted, while his mother, determined to muster a smidge of belief in him, kept saying “Alright, write that on your letter to Santa.” Benny decided to keep quiet and cut his mother some slack. After all, it was Christmastime, and his rebuttal would not help anything in the situation. She would always win this argument, for she was tenacious with her opinions.
Nearing the opposite end of the mall, they came across a petting zoo. “Go on, Benny! Go pet the reindeer!” Said Benny’s dad.
He gave in, hesitantly. “Okay, Dad…”
He walked over to the pen, and the cheery woman standing there unlatched the gate for him. “Go ahead, kiddo. They won’t bite!”
He glared at her. But there he went, dragging his feet into the smelly reindeer pen. He approached one way in the back and reached out his hand to pet its back.
“So, Benny. I hear you don’t believe in Santa.” The reindeer spoke.
For a moment, it didn’t register that he had just heard words come out of a reindeer’s mouth. “Did you just talk to me?”
“Yes, but that’s not the point. I’ll show you that Santa exists.” His voice sounded very prudent. He felt silly thinking this about a reindeer.
“Whatever you say!” Benny said sardonically.
“Go hide in a bathroom stall until the mall closes. It should be in about fifteen minutes. Then, come find me.” The reindeer’s nose glowed red.
He did what the reindeer said, though he didn’t know why.

His parents searched around the mall for him, frantically. They were talking to the mall cops after all the stores were closed. Benny’s father chuckled to himself at the officers’ silly uniforms. He glanced at the cop’s belt. There was a walky talky, and a slot on the belt that was gun-shaped, but lacking a fun. “Not surprising,” he muttered to himself, unimpressed with the mall cops’ tiny amount of authority.
Benny’s mother was on the verge of tears, becoming very anxious about where her son could be. She wasn’t happy with her husband, who went about this whole situation in a very puerile way.

Benny emerged from his hiding place and made his way to the small petting zoo. The reindeer directed him to climb onto its back and hold on tight. So he did, and they began to lift off the ground!
Soaring across the now vacant mall, Benny tried to keep his composure, but he couldn't help screaming with delight. This caught the attention of his parents and the cop.
“Benny, what are you doing up there!?” Cried his mother.
“No time to talk, mom!” He bellowed.
They reached macy’s and came to a hault on the ground with no turbulence at all. “That was exhilarating!” Benny exclaimed.

The reindeer lead him into Santa’s Workshop. Returning to reality, Benny got sucked into the same sarcastic attitude he had earlier. But, he followed diligently. He heard a noise, and all of a sudden, Santa appeared right in front of him!
“Believe in me now?” said Santa.
“How do I know you’re real?”
“Give a tug on my beard!”
So he did. Sure enough, it didn’t budge. The wizened old man snapped his fingers, and Benny was abruptly surrounded by mountains of presents. The dreadful feelings that he had about Christmas earlier that day were waning, and his excitement was augmenting. His parents acclaimed this new light they had been longing to see in Benny. His concise meeting with Santa was something he would never forget. That Christmas was the best he ever had, and Benny believed in Santa for the rest of his life.

Quarter 2 Book Review

Three Little Words
Three Little Words is a memoir about a little girl named Ashley Rhodes-Courter who was born to a teenage mom and was surrounded by the people she loved. However, her mother got a new boyfriend, who turned out to be abusive, which completely shaped Ashley's future.
Ashley, her brother, her mother, and her mother's boyfriend Dusty are on their way to Florida when things take a change for the worst, and her mother and Dusty get arrested. That moment caused the next nine years of Ashley's life to be spent in fourteen different foster homes, separation from her younger brother, and years of longing to be with her mother. Her mother always told her that they would be together soon, but Ashley never knew when “soon” was, or how long it would be until they could even just have another monitored visit. Eventually, Ashley's mother does not come to see her anymore.
Ashley remembered her mother's words throughout her time in foster care: “You're my baby, and I'm your only mother. You must mind the one taking care of you, but she's not your mama.” These words prevented Ashley from forming any kind of relationship with the families who took her in, no matter how nice they were to her.
A few of the families that were selected to be Ashley's foster families did their best to make her feel at home and be a regular kid, while others, especially one wicked family, put her through hell. As she moves from place to place, she rarely gets to keep the few possessions she has, and she does not get to see her brother Luke very often. She's moved from school to school, social worker to social worker, and her hope is constantly being built up and torn down. As she is moved around, she sometimes finds herself breaking rules and getting into trouble.
In Three Little Words, Ashley tells her touching story of how, through the worst of times, one can believe, have faith, and succeed. Although her childhood was spent in many abusive situations, Ashley Rhodes-Courter finds her happiness at the end of the story when a family who loves her very much adopts her when she is twelve years old. The title implies the three words she says in court when the Judge asks her if she wants to finalize the adoption: “I guess so.” Her record of switching families so much left her unsure of this one, too, and just anticipating her relationship with the new family to end someday.
I would definitely suggest this book to my friends and family, because I thing that it addresses many important issues and topics. It's also just a good read for anyone, with its enticing vocabulary and hypnotizing storyline. I could barely put the book down. Ashley says that writing this book helped her to make sense of her troubled life, and though I cannot relate to her story, while I read about her childhood, I felt like I had a better understanding of the tough times some people go through that you wouldn't realize.

One pair of Ugg boots: $144.00. One week at Camp Calumet: …Priceless

The idea of values has drastically changed to amount to money and material things. They say that money makes the world go ‘round, but does it, really? From expensive jewelry to designer handbags, the question that is raised for most people is not “what do I value personally?” but it is usually “what’s fashionable now?” Or “What should I buy next?” For me, there are priceless moments in life that are important to me, as well as the objects in my life that have financial worth. Everything in existence holds a certain value that differs from person to person, whether it is a personal value or a value with a dollar sign in front of it.

When I got to middle school I realized that many of my friends were beginning to be sporting more expensive clothes, purses, and especially shoes. Every winter it seemed that the most common footwear was Uggs. I would just imagine how warm my feet would be in a pair of those furry boots. However, my parents believed that the quality of the boots could never live up to such a high price. Low and behold, every year I would receive the newest imposters, which provided half the warmth of the boots that I longed for. I was in eighth grade, and I decided that it was about time I got to experience walking around in my own real
Uggs. I begged and begged until Christmas rolled around, receiving the same response over and over. “We’ll see.” It wasn’t very promising.
I moseyed down the stairs sleepily on Christmas morning, with my sisters behind me, and my parents already waiting downstairs in the living room. I couldn’t keep my eyes from wandering to the presents stacked under the Christmas tree. All of the boxes looked the same. But the next thing I knew, my mother approached me with an unwrapped box. My eyes were immediately drawn to the label. Uggs. I couldn’t help but think to myself—maybe they’re tricking me. Maybe they just used the box for some other present to throw me off. I flipped the top open, and I saw the most pristine-looking pair of boots I had ever seen in my life. I put them on carefully and slowly, wanting to take in every detail. I slipped my feet into the beautiful boots, and I had never felt anything so comfortable. There was so much cushiony fur around my feet. I never wanted to take those shoes off again.

I wake up to the sound of the dreaded, early-morning alarm. My eyes open slowly, adjusting to the fresh daylight, and I become conscious of how cold my toes are at the bottom of my sleeping bag. I gather my things and rush across the dirt road to be first in line at the showers. Despite all my efforts, I am last again. We assemble back at the tent and make our way across camp slowly, most of us still half asleep. You can already hear the songs being sung at Luther Hall. We all clap our hands and stomp our feet, belting out the words we now know by heart. I think to myself that most days, I’d rather still be in bed. But at Camp Calumet, I would much rather be awake, singing and having fun with my newly made friends.
The entire week spent at Calumet is full of new experiences. Funyak tipping, dock jumping, singing, playing greasy watermelon, and just having fun. At camp, there’s no judgment. Everyone is family. Sometimes I find myself humming songs from camp, and it makes me so excited about next summer just to go back and see my friends again. Even though we’re apart for most of the year, I know we’ll pick up with our friendships right where we left off when we see each other next year. “Together for 7. Apart for 358. Friends for 365.”

At times I’ll find myself valuing the expensive things in my life more than the priceless moments. But when I think about it, there are so many moments that are really important to me. My Ugg boots and my week at Camp Calumet are things that I value for very different reasons. I value my Uggs because they’re something that I really wanted for a long time, and I love having them when wintertime comes. I value Camp Calumet because I gained new experiences and friends from my week there. When I think about which is more important to me, I could never make a conclusion of which I value more. They’re both things that I feel really lucky to have.

First quarter outside reading book review

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Atria Books, 2004. Genre: Fiction


My Sister’s Keeper is a story about the relationship between two sisters who have been together, going through the same things all their lives, and a critical decision that menaces to tear their family apart. It is an inspiring and emotional story about family loyalty versus independence. The ultimate question is: can parents force an unwilling teen to be an organ donor for an incurably ill sibling? Kate Fitzgerald was diagnosed with Leukemia when she was two years old. Her parents had another daughter for the sole purpose of keeping Kate alive. Every time something goes wrong with Kate, her little sister ends up in the same situations. Finally, Anna is expected to give up a kidney for her sister. After being dragged to the hospital throughout her life, 13-year-old Anna Fitzgerald decides that she’s had enough. The drama begins as she goes to a lawyer with all the money she has, $136.87, and asks to be medically unbound from her parents.

“I have read every one of Jodi's books, and My Sister's Keeper is at the top of the list. I have recommended it to family members and friends, and each of them loved it just as much. If you love a good story with many twists and turns, this book is for you!”

In My Sister’s Keeper, the reader is able to see the situation from every character’s point of view. As Jodi Picoult takes you through the life of Anna Fitzgerald and her troubled family, she weaves plots, storylines, and individual character thoughts together to create a truly enticing story. She provides a variety of characters with many different personalities and values, allowing every type of person that reads this book to feel like they can relate to the story in some way or another. This book gives you a different emotion the entire time you’re reading it. Whether you’re laughing or crying, this book will have you thinking about your relationships with your own family.

''I wasn't the result of a cheap bottle of wine or a full moon or the heat of the moment. I was born because a scientist managed to hook up my mother's eggs and my father's sperm to create a specific combination of precious genetic material.'' (8)

I really enjoyed reading this book, and I’ll definitely pick up another one by Picoult. The storyline kept you wondering and wanting to read more, and the ending definitely surprised me. I would suggest this book to every one of my friends and family. It’s a story that anyone can enjoy.