jaynam’s Blog

~~~ My Mind Map: http://www.mindmeister.com/22366484~~~

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed”

The blog I was reading was about Gandhi and how his actions have impacted the world around us now. He had 10 fundamentals for changing the world and each of them are a step to a peaceful world. Gandhi was an awe-inspiring person, he gained independence for his country through peace and has spread awareness to the world. He believed in changing many things such as women rights, and ending untouchable and poverty. He still remains to be India’s Father of the Nation and a recognized peace maker in all the world.

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

Out of all the 10 fundamentals, I believe this one (change yourself) is one of the most important ideas. For example when telling someone that they should change and do something differently, don’t be a hypocrite and do the same thing that they did. It’s what so many people do now, they say help the world, then they litter. You have to train yourself to motivate yourself to change into a better, healthier person. One person can make such a big difference. Many people think that is ridiculous but if you really look at it, it’s not. Let’s say you’re trying to save water, so you use 1 liter a less a day, you tell your friends. Now 15 liters are being saved a day, the entire neighborhood helps and now you have, about maybe, 1500 liters are being saved. One person can make a difference, but will only go so far. Others need to join and help to make a really big difference.

Changing yourself can mean many things. It could mean becoming a better person, becoming a worse person, or changing physically, mentally or socially. In this case we are talking about changing to become a better person, mentally and socially. But It’s hard to change yourself. You must fight against temptation, peer pressure, wanting, your mind and so many other things that will stop you from changing.Sometimes people don’t understand why we might want to change a certain way, maybe theProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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just like the way we are. But if you’re changing in a positive way, which will obviously end up as a positive impact then why not?

For some reason the “School Learning” that I can connect to ‘Changing Myself’ is when I took the Environmental Studies class. Mr. Dyke always talked about how if you adjust just a little bit of your life, you can make a difference. I never thought that was true until I came into his class. You think that 1 person out of 6 billion people would not make a difference, even if you do do something good, it won’t make that big of a difference/impact. But once many people change, and more change then there is a big difference!

~~~ My Mind Map: http://www.mindmeister.com/22366484~~~

In the beginning of the year, I struggled with organizing my thought and words while also trying to figure out the sentence structure. But, now because of how I improved my organization, I have improved within the sentence structure category. I used to struggle a lot with expressing my feelings and writing about the sights, sounds, taste and all the 5 senses. Now when I explain my feelings or description I have much better sentence fluency. This helps my story run smoother and also lets the readers feel like they’re reading something really deep, instead of reading something with no meaning. I’m happy with the improvement of my writing but wish to continue my success in all the 6 categories of writing traits.

Mind Map~~~ http://www.mindmeister.com/21798238 ~~~Mind map

Helllo!!!!!! Jayna Milan here again and I have some news for you today! Just to update for people who have not read me before, I am in 7th grade at ISB, Bangkok Thailand. I’m in Mrs. Ulster’s class, room 305 and every week we write a blog post about the regions we were assigned. I was assigned The Middle East and am really happy that I was because it is such an interesting region to learn about.

This week I found a really interesting story about The Oprah Winfrey Show in the Middle East by a blogger named Kristen Gillespie. Kristen Gillespie is a free-lance blogger multimedia journalist whose work has been on many famous newspapers and magazines. She lives in Jordan and even speaks Arabic. I found this article on the website World Focus: http://worldfocus.org/blog/2009/01/22/watching-oprah-in-a-syrian-refugee-camp/3698/ I like Kristen’s writing because she actually has connections that go with the story. For example her friend lives in the Middle East and can see how the show has really developed in this region. When you have a connection with a story and you come to write it, you’re writing with a lot of voice because you can relate to it.

The article was talking about how Oprah’s show has expanded over many years and how many Middle Eastern women are now watching it. The show was introduced in the Middle East 4 years ago and now is reaching 6 million viewers in the Arab world each day. find this very surprising, although I can see why the women like to watch it. Oprah’s show talks about all kinds of problems, about personal private problems people would usually not talk about it. They let people know that there are other people like them. They might talk about self-confidence one day, gays the next and bulimia the day after. Her show covers a range of topics, and when people watch it they learn a lot about serious problems. This is found rather interesting to the Middle Eastern ladies, I think this is because of how different their life is from ours. In their country they don’t have many rights, they must do what their husbands say. They can’t just wear whatever they want, they must follow customary rules. Their lives are very narrow compared to ours. For example after finishing high school we usually go to college, that’s the normal thing to do. To many people living in the Middle East that is a very lucky but unusual thing to do.

The director of the channel that airs ” The Oprah Winfrey Show” said that many people comment back saying that they have learned more while watching the show than when they go to school. I don’t find that so surprising because if you think about it they learn something at school, but it’s different learning.These women are fighting to get a new life, to break free of the poverty that runs through their neighborhoods. These women don’t go to school, many of them must stay at home, taking care of the children. “The Oprah Winfrey Show” lets them think of what more they can be. In the Middle East countries people don’t bring up the taboos that are talked about in the show. The show answers probably answers many of their silenced questions.

Kristen talks about a girl who lives in a refugee camp in Syria who likes to watch “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. I find it interesting how they even receive the show. Saddam Hussein used to ban satellite dishes, but the government can’t stop the people from connect to other regions. Kristen says that the show talks in English but there are arabic subtitles. There are many Middle Eastern Oprah fans all around the world.

I think that it is good how the Arab people and now watching the show. I don’t really watch Oprah but every time I see it on T.V it looks like they are in a deep conversation. I hope more Arabian people, mostly women begin to gain hope in having a new life. Oprah was actually born from a very poor family and lived in poverty, but she began doing little jobs that ended her up in the media buisness.

Mind Map~~~ http://www.mindmeister.com/21798238 ~~~Mind map

Sixth grade is so different from seventh grade. There are different teachers, different classrooms, different friends, so much things are different. I came to seventh grade feeling really nervous, but not as much as when I first arrived in middle School. When time came to start seventh grade I felt really pressured about my classes. I missed 2% of getting into the Pre-algebra class. All my friends were in the advanced class so I felt like I was behind, when I was actually in the normal grade class. I have to say that you do receieve more homework when you get into seventh grade. I look back at my sixth grade homework and compared to my homework now, it’s nothing! You have to learn to manage your time well or you’lll be caught doing too many things with no time. At the start of every year I sit down with my parents and go over what I think i’ll be doing this year. This helps me so much because, I might want to do all the activities but my parents help me decide if I have enough time for it.

What I love about middle school is that there are so many activities and programs you can participate in. In sixth grade you have a lot of things to do, but in seventh grade you have a even bigger range of things to do. Don’t be shy, participating in activities helps you meet new friends and learn new things. I’m so happy that I began participating in activities, it’s helped me become the person I am. Your parents help you find your way through middle school, don’t avoid them. Whenever you have homework or social problems open up to your parents. There is a big difference when you do open up and when you don’t.

Seventh grade is the halfway point through middle school. Don’t let it go to waste. These are the years that you will remember and treasure the most.

1.) I heard a sound I have been waiting so long for. The distant deep rumble and splashing of rain falling on my hut. I went outside, fighting my spirits to not be raised so high. But it was real and I myself could not deny it. I let myself soak in the feeling of long wanting and raised my hands and head to the dark sky. Thanking the lord I opened my eyes and saw a million arrows pointing at me, then crashing down and soaking me. I looked around and saw my brothers and sisters playing in the rain, happy at last. My father had even managed to stand in the doorway, with a far off long in his eyes. I snapped back to reality and brushed past my father into the hut. Although my happiness may last a while, the rain can leave as quickly as it came. I scurried to find the 5 large jugs used to collect water. After placing them out in the rain, I finally let myself relax, a feeling that I had not felt in a long time.

2.) Glancing up from my math worksheets I heard soft, but slowly growing noise on the rooftops of my classroom. I could see thin, grey pellets dropping from the sky that began to form bigger and louder. I feel like I’m missing out on something, instead of being inside I wish I was outside with the pouring rain.

3.) Getting ready to leave the house, I slipped on a pair of new shoes.  Once outside I opened the gate, looked up and saw dark clouds beginnning to form above my head. I quickly began walking, hoping to dodge the coming storm. But there was no use trying, the rain fell in heavy droplets wetting myself and my new shoes in less that 10 seconds. I hurried back to my house where I dried off, changed and decided to call a taxi

HEllO!!!!!
Jayna here again, and I’m here to write about a story that occurred in Iran with a girl of the age of 23. Her name is Dalara Darabi ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delara_Darabi ) and was accused of killing her father’s wealthy female cousin when at the age of 17. She spent 5 years in jail after her conviction and was executed on 1 May 2009. Dalara’s family was not even informed of Dalara’s execution because the judge felt as if the world already knew about the case. Dalara had a passion of painting since she was young and has a collection of her works displayed in Tehran with her supporters, that were demanding for her release. So when she was placed in death row she had a collection of drawings and paintings that told a story of her incarnation.

She was born in the northern city of Rasht, in the province of Gilan. She was still in High school when she was arrested. Her three sister Elaheh, Ghazale and Sheida where in college the time of her execution.

Many people were in favor of Darabi living, many thought so because she was still a minor when executed. There was a campaign launched on Twitter and Facebook called the Save Dalara Campaign. Also the Amnesty International in London protested outside of the Islamic Republic’s embassy.

I feel bad for Dalara because I feel she’s too young to be executed. But in the other way, she killed somebody. No matter what age, if you murder somebody that means that means that you meant it. It wasn’t a mistake, you took someone’s life. It doesn’t matter if you’re 40 years old, 25 years old or 17 years old; someone’s dead because of your actions. But the other thing is that people probably said that she didn’t know what she was doing because she’s so young.

My mindmap~~~ http://www.mindmeister.com/21050572~~~

In the many blogs that I have read I have noticed some things that seem to pop up in many blogs. I noticed the kinds of books we read (young and old), when we like reading, who we like reading with and on forth. When we are kids we like reading books that rhyme, are colorful, have many adjectives, have pictures and pretty much books that don’t make any logical sense. I read many blogs saying that they could recall whenever they came home with a new book and made their parents read it over and over again. Many of us didn’t like reading dictionaries, encyclopedias and books that have facts in them; actually I still don’t like reading them now. In these blogs, students state that reading helps them get away from reality and escape for a while. It takes the pressure off them and lets them relax. Many students said that they loved reading when they were young but now they don’t.

I find it very annoying how many people talk about liking to read when they’re young but then growing out of it. I know it’s not their fault, but It makes me sad to think of what they’re missing out on. Sometimes people simply just don’t read books because they are too lazy to look for a book that may be appealing to them. Ending up with a book randomly selected by the cover never really ends up with positive results. Many times I may have just finished a book and am stuck with not knowing which book I should pick next. Most of the time I just ask Mrs. Kelsey or get a recommendation from a friend who likes the same books as me.

My mindmap~~~ http://www.mindmeister.com/21050572~~~

This is the link to my Mind Map~~~http://www.mindmeister.com/20794723

When I was young I always remember being read to by my parents. Some of my memories and very dim and some are very bright.
One memory is when I was young about 4 years old and I was playing with my dad’s Nat Geo magazines. Dad has boxes and boxes of them and I thought I could cut one up without him noticing. But unfortunately I, so carelessly left the pile of snipped-magazines and scissors on his desk. He told me to get my favorite books and that he would cut them. I brought the books I hated the most and he knew. He taught me that books no matter whose, should be handled carefully and respectfully.

When I was young I had many books I liked to read. I liked to read the Dr. Seuss collection like any other kid my age. I don’t remember having any feeling when reading those books, only that some of the characters annoyed me. I’ve always liked reading the Walt Disney books. They used to make me feel happy because there was always a happy ending to each one. I still like reading them because …who doesn’t?? But the 2 books that I’ll never forget are ‘The Giving Tree’ and ‘ Love you forever’ both by Shell Silverstein. The giving tree is about a tree that gives everything to this one boy he loves. The boy is greedy and eventually takes all the tree has and sails away. He returns one day, old with no money, and forgives to the tree. The other one is about a boy who grows old throughout the pages of the book and the narrator is the mother who is watching over him. Although he may turn older and messier she always sings “I’ll love you forever and ever more.” These books were the first real emotional books I ever read. Whenever reading these books I would always feel sad because I didn’t want to grow up.

The books that I’m reading right now are challenging and are very interesting. In 6th grade I would just read books that I would pick off shelves, not knowing what they’re about. This year I’m reading more challenging books such as books from the collection of Jodi Picoult. I love Jodi Picoult because her books don’t have such hard vocabulary; they just have such interesting topics and emotional themes. Another good book is Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Alborm. The author is actually the main character in the book, which makes the book sadder. I think the idea that Mitch Alborm creates of heaven is amazing.

Reading is such a significant part of my life. When I have a good book with an interesting topic and a fascinating plot, it’s impossible to turn down. Before I have a big event that’s happening and I’m really nervous for it I read for 10 minutes before that event. Reading helps calm me down and focus; it lets me escape the nervous tension. When I am stressed or frustrated I sit down in a comfortable place and read. It lets me take out all my anger and cool off.

This is the link to my Mind Map~~~http://www.mindmeister.com/20794723

Jayna Milan Period 5/6
My book is My Sister’s Keeper the author is Jodi Picoult
The genre is Drama and Realistic fiction
I am finished with this book.

22/4/09

1.) The theme of this book is different from any other book I have read. It is about a girl, Anna who was born for her sister, Kate so that she can survive a highly dangerous disease, Leukemia. After 13 years of never saying no to her parents and undergoing countless surgeries, she finally stands up for herself and takes charge. She decides to sue her parents for medical emancipation. She is now trapped between herself and her family with not knowing which side to pick. She never had the chance to really live like a normal girl, but her life has always revolved around Kate. If she wants her sister to survive that means giving up her freedom. Her decision throws her family off balance between picking which daughter to choose between. For once they must notice the other daughter, the one who is always the keeper of the rest of the family. Most of the books I read are fantasy and don’t have such a serious theme, but this is one of the first books I’ve read that is about such a serious theme. I’m know many other books have the same issue you know like illnesses but this book is about an illness and many other problems. It connects to the family, friends, love, and it also connects to other people’s lives.

Here is one of the quotes from the book where Sara finds out about Anna suing her.

“Um-hmm.” Vern shuffles his feet and stuffs his hand inside his jacket, like Napoleon. “I’m really sorry about this, Sara.” he says, and then holds out a document.
Just like Kate, all the blood leaves my body. I couldn’t move if I wanted to .
“What the… Vern, am I being sued?” My mother’s voice is far too quiet
“Mom?” Kate asks. ” What’s going on?”
“I have no idea” She unfolds the paper. I”m close enough to read them over her shoulder. THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS, it says right across the top, official as can be. FAMILY COURT FOR PROVIDENCE COUNTY. IN RE: ANNA FITZGERALD, A.K.A JANE DOE.
PETITION FOR MEDICAL EMANCIPATION.

2.) Why do you think that Jodi Picoult parts the book into sections according to the character?
This book envolves a lot of people and many many feelings. Some people may be happy and some may be sad. Putting the story into character’s stories really communicate the story the best way. If the story was just about the medical part and the fitzgerald family and didn’t include the private life of campbell and julia; we wouldn’t need Julia and Campbell in sections.But the story would be different, it wouldn’t have as much depth and feeling in it. If it was only Anna, Brian and Sara talking there would not be enough to talk about.
Why does Kate not have a section but only at the end?
Well if she did then we would have obviously found out about her big secret. She told Anna that she wanted to die so that’s why Anna went to Campbell in the first place. Once the story was pretty much over Kate came in cleaning everything up. She told about how different her life was now that she was living like a normal person. Kate was always sort of a mystery and we needed to solve her. We never knew that she was the one that started this whole situation.

3.) This book has many twists and turns. It’s like a kid’s maze on newspapers, it has many paths you can take and 70% of the time you bump into an obstacle and have to proceed in a different direction. For some reason, from the start of the book I knew how the book would end, I don’t know how I knew but it was a pretty good guess. Most people usually predicted the opposite of how I thought it would end but I knew by how many twists and turns had been placed in the book, Jodi Picolt would not end the book on a normal prediction. When I was reading this book it always made me feel wanting for more. The book could be exciting at times and could also be calm and mysterious at other times. When ever the book became mysterious for example:

Jesse’s Side:
It turns out that I learned something from my dear old dad after all: firemen are such experts at getting into places they shouldn’t be. It doesn’t take much to pick the lock, and then it’s just a matter of figuring out where I want to start. I cut a hole in the bottom of the pillowcase and let the sawdust draw 3 fat initals, JBF. Then I take the acid and dribble it over the letters.
I take a pack of Merits out of my pocket and tamp them down, then stick one into my mouth. My zippo’s almost out of lighter fluid: I need to remember to get some. When I’m finished , I get to my feet, take one last drag, and toss the cigarette into the sawdust. I know that this one’s going to move fast, so I’m already running when the wall of fire rises behind me. Like all the others, they will look for clues. But this cigarette and my initals will have long been gone. The whole floor underneath them will melt. The walls will buckle and give. ~skipped a paragraph~
The sky , now, is thick and dark with smoke. Sparks shower as the roof falls in. A second crew of firefighters arrives, the ones who have been called in from their dinner tables and showers and living rooms. With the binoculars I can make out his name, winking on the back of his turnout coat like it’s spelled in diamonds. Fitzgerald. My father lays hands on a charged line, and I get into my car and drive away.

During this paragraph I couldn’t understand why Jesse would want to start a fire when his dad is a firefighter. My best prediction is because he wanted to have attention that he never got. His parents were always busy with Kate and Anna that they never paid attention to him. And once he started smoking and doing bad things they just stopped caring about him. They thought it would be better to ignore him then actually try to care.

4.) When ever I came to Sara’s part of the book, I never wanted to read it. I found her annoying and of course being a mom she’s too touchy and tense. Another reason is that her part was usually was in the past during 1990 and 1991. This is when she started to learn about her daughter disease. I found myself wondering that if I had a child, what would I do? How would I act around my child who has a deadly disease? How would I act to others? But the big thing that scared me is that if in the future I had a baby and if he/she also had an uncureable disease. I would be a whole different person just like how Sara is like. She used to be a happy person but changed once learning the news about her daughter. Of course you always would be tense, strict and mad at the world if someone innocent you loved happened to be different from everyone else. You’re always worried that he/she might just collapse and die right now. You feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders and you can’t relax for one second because then the world will crush you and your loved ones. For some reason Sara reminds me of how I would be if my daughter/ son had a serious disease. I would be an entirely different person.

Example pg 174:

She comes up on an elbow. ” You are allowed to take a break, you know. No one has to be a martyr twenty-four/seven.”

Mind Map Link is http://www.mindmeister.com/19847967