Sloan Winters

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Reflecting and Moving Onto Second Quarter!

       I am perfectly content with my grade this quarter! I got a 100! I was surprised. I am definetly not the most creative and thoughtful person on the planet, but I'm glad that the hardwork that I did put into the blog proved successful. As for organization and focus, all my blog entries were complete and my blog was well organized. For content and ideas, this is coming from my feedback, readers of my blog could understand that I read my book and understood it. My blog provided readers with informational websites, personal vlog, etc. Then, thankfully, my grammer and spelling proved adequate to the criteria. That was one thing I was worried about when doing this blog assignment. I overall have good grammer and spelling skills, but I do have problems from time to time. I think this quarter I can definetly become more creative when responding to blog prompts. Although I still don't know how this will turn out, I can always try. Whenever trying to be creative, unless I come up with an idea right away, there's like a wall preventing me from coming up with a solid, creative, idea or response. Also, I hope that this quarter I picked a more meaningful, interesting book. Three Black Swans was an alright book, but it got repetitive and was just very fictional.
       When presented with this blog assignment, I was indifferent. I don't read to often on my own, but when I do get around to it, I enjoy it. Soon enough, I began to dread the blog days. This really is only because it challenged my creativity and it took more effort than I was usually willing to give on a Thursday at the very end of the school day. I soon got behind by putting off the blog prompts. I then decided that I just had to go it, just get through them all. I gave myself a lot of time to do so, and to my surprise I finished them quickly. I had assumed that they would be very time consuming, but once I had the attitude to just get it done, time flew. At the end of the day, and looking back, I do like this project. It's like nothing I've ever done in any class and like I've mentioned a few times now, it challenges my creativity which trust me, needs challenging. Also, one thing I think this blog assignment has taught me is to just get it done, and do my best. I think this will be very beneficial when I get into college. There are going to many things I don't want to do, but have to do. Who knows, I could end up liking it, and I need to learn the discipline to just get to that point.
       This quarter I'm reading From Baghdad, With Love by Lieutenant Colonel Jay Kopelman with Melinda Roth. My best friend read this book last quarter and really loved it. It's written by a Marine with the help of Melinda Roth. Overall, it's about a big tough Marine who's heart had been hardened by the war, and the concept of it, and the death that inevitably follows it who finds a puppy in the midst of this fight-physically the war, as well as his emotional and mental fight- that changes his life. This quarter readers can expect to see a lot of information on the Army, Marines, etc and their psychological dealings that are a direct result of fighting a war. I think that this book is going to give a unique perspective of this, the problems veterans of wars deal with after the fighting is long over. The fact that a puppy "softened his heart", which is how I like to think of it, is just downright precious. I hope this quarter blog is an successful as last quarters!!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Three Black Swans Animoto

Three Black Swans Animoto

This is a short trailer about the book Three Black Swans by Caroline B. Cooney. I hope this gives you a good idea of what the book is about. I hope you enjoy my blog!! :)

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Video Blogging ittt uppp!

Three Black Swans Background information: Links to help you better understand

http://www.teenreads.com/authors/au-cooney-caroline.asp
The author of my book Three Black Swans is Caroline B. Cooney. This is a website leading to her author profile. It gives you her personal background and discusses some of her books.

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/contributor.jsp?id=2296
This is a short biography of Caroline B. Cooney. It discusses her childhood and why she wanted to begin writing. It also includes a picture of Cooney herself.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7295079-three-black-swans
A very short summary of the book. It's sort of what is printed on the back of the book. It doesn't give any spoiling details.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=map+of+connecticut+and+new+york&um=1&hl=en&rlz=1R2ADRA_enUS424&biw=1366&bih=555&tbm=isch&tbnid=pimEc00QZvMIuM:&imgrefurl=http://www.wvnj.com/about.htm&docid=mTSywflryUga1M&w=496&h=373&ei=ha6ITq-6KKWNsQKt2ZWMDw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=1803&page=1&tbnh=106&tbnw=141&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0&tx=65&ty=63
A picure of a map of New York and Connecticut. Missy and Claire live in seperate towns in Connecticut. Genevive lives in New York.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory
The title of the book is actually a metaphor for the three girls. The metaphor is also discussed in the book. This gives a better explanation.

http://kmci.org/alllifeisproblemsolving/archives/the-black-swan-metaphor/
This is an article also discussing the Black Swan Theory. It gives other examples of "Black Swan" occurances. It gives you a better idea of the metaphor.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1101746/A-truly-unbreakable-bond-Twins-separated-birth-lived-miles-apart-30-years-came-twist-fate-.html
An article talking about the true story of real identical twins seperated at birth. It is similar to the book not only for that fact but because they lived very close together but never knew each other. This is like Claire and Missy to Genevive.

http://articles.sfgate.com/2003-03-04/news/17480641_1_friend-adopted-birthday-celebration
Anothe true story about twins being seperated at birth. It discusses their similarities when they met, such as how Claire and Missy and Genevive were so similar. It also discusses their different upbringings.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23431996-shock-for-the-married-couple-who-discovered-they-are-twins-separated-at-birth.do
I just found this article interesting and somewhat relevant. It's about twins seperated at birth discovering each other. The twist? They married each other before they realized it.

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20077622,00.html
This true story about adult triplet's finding each other is similar to the book. First, two of the three met each other, then the third one found them by media ways. In the story, he found out from a newspaper. In the book, Genevive found out through the internet.

http://letsrollforums.com/9-11-triplets-separated-t22106.html?s=bb370ac21448adc0c59c3959e56eb579&
This story gives you an idea of what could have happened if the triplet's never found out they were triplets. This is a story about adult triplets who had never met each other all dying on the same day in the attacks of September 11th. It's crazy how fate works sometimes.

http://www.tripletconnection.org/
This is parenting website offering help to parents with multiples. Genevive's parents were the biological parents of the three girls. This website could have been something their parents would have looked at that led to their decision to have adoptions for the two other girls.

http://www.scienceupdate.com/2007/01/identical-triplets/
An interview with a scientist discussing identical triplets. They discuss the odds of it happening naturally. It also includes the radio interview.

http://multiples.about.com/od/funfacts/a/identicaltwins.htm
This article includes general information about identicals. It discusses the process by which the egg splits. It also discusses similarities that multiples inevitably will have.

http://multiples.about.com/od/funfacts/tp/10thingsabouttwins.htm
This website is a collection of frequently asked questions about twins, therefore it would apply to triplets. Very informational and answers many questions you may have about twins and triplets. Some of these questions were the same questions Claire, Missy, and Genevive asked themselves when finding out about each other.

http://multiples.about.com/od/funfacts/a/twintelepathy.htm
Many times Claire and Missy had weird occurances where they thought they were thinking the same thing. This article discusses whether of not twins have telepathy. It gives a scientific explantion for the weird occurances that Missy and Claire had.

http://multiples.about.com/od/funfacts/a/twinbirthrate.htm
This link gives statistics about twins and mulitples. It talks about how many times multiples have been born. It also gives statistics about the death rate and race factors of multiples.

http://www.theadoptionguide.com/process/
This is a link to the adoption process followed in adoptions today. It gives a timeline of what should be happening from the baby's development to its birth and after that. It also gives advice to adoptee's. Claire and Missy were adopted.

http://family-law.freeadvice.com/family-law/adoption_law/illegal_adoption.htm
This link discusses what makes an adoption illegal. Missy was adopted illegally in the terms that her papers granting legal guardianship were never filled out. On the other hand, Claire's papers were somewhat legit.

http://www.emkpress.com/rollingsguide.html
This is a true story about how an illegal adoption impacted a family. Many times Missy's legal papers were needed to start school or for security purposes and Missy's family always had to make up excuses. This is an example of what could have happened to her and her family if their illegal guardianship ever surfaced.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Stalking other blogs!

To Abbie Weil:
Dear BESTIE,
We are reading the same book! Yay!! I loved your 20 pictures blog post. It totally brought out your sense of humor! I especially liked the one of the two boys cheering. They look familiar? What do you think of the book so far? I know that for a book as cheesy as a plot line of long lost triplets, I thought it was well written. I definetly think the emotions the girls were feeling was well potrayed. What do you think? Sometime in your blog I think you should mention how freaked out you would be if you found out you were a triplet. I think that would be entertaining! :)
LOVE,
Sloan :)

To Laurel Stewart:
Hola mi mejor amiga! This book looks darling, and I'm really considering reading it for next quarter! This book fits your personality perfectly. I know how much you love animals, and especially dogs. :) I love the message sent across in this book. We always hear about these tough Army men and how emotionally distraught they become and a result of war. Its precious that this sweet puppy is there way back to healing, or forgetting, back to normalcy.
Catdaddy,
Sloan

To Stevie Dailey
Hey Stevie! Your blog background is super cute. I love the hummingbirds. Anyways, I really thought the plot of your book sounds really good. I can kind of relate, and I bet you can, to how busy life gets and how things get really hard at times! I feel like this book could maybe be an outlet to these feelings. You did a great job summarizing your plot, maybe I will read this book next quarter!!
:)
Sloan

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Swans Through Music

http://www.classicalconnect.com/music/5214

I chose a piano piece titled Nocturne by Arno Babadjanian. I wanted to chose a piano piece because not only do I love piano but also I believe it to have a certain feminine touch to it. This book is about three girls, so a feminine sounding intrument suited well for the plot. The piano in this piece is very..busy sounding. A lot seems to be going on in the piece. Many different keys and tones are being played and it portrays a scene of busy people, and their busy lives, and drama in my mind.The piano goes from deeper to lighter keys and tones throughout the song. It pauses in between these changes from deep and light sounds giving the listener a chance to collect thoughts. Although the pauses simply represent another set of deep and lighter sounds, the sections of these still have a slightly different beat while still holding that busy characterstic to it.
The book begins by introducing the characters of Claire and Missy. They are best friends that happen to be cousins. Everything begins happy and simple until Missy puts on a hoax for her science class pretending that Missy and Claire are long lost identical twins who just found each other. It's all fun and games until both Missy and Claire see the video of them putting on this hoax. They both start to think that maybe they are twins. This is the first dark, or deep part of the story. Just like the book, the piece I chose begins happy sounding with light sounds and keys. Then, the darker and deeper sounds come in, representing the confusion that followed the hoax. The music slightly pauses. The music increases to a slightly more complicated piece for the piano player, which represents the growing complexity or drama growing in the girl's lives. The next part of the piece is just fast piano playing. I think that this shows the whirlwind of emotions and events that take place from when the hoax was made up. The video of the two go viral. Everyone has seen it, and both Claire and Missy start having major suspicions. Another set of starting out simple and happy music starts, and then soon gets complex and deeper. This is Genevives life. She would have never found out she had twin sister's, and she was the third, is this video hadn't been made. Her life was simple, she had it all figured out. Then the video hits, the music grows more complex, and everything she knows is torn to shreds. This is the overall theme of the book Three Black Swans. Things are simple, then get complicated. Things slow down, then get more complicated again. Finally, things are at a constant medium of the two. The girl's lives would never be the same, but they now know where they came from and have a better grasp as to who they are. As mentioned earlier, each section of light and deeper sounds was just slightly different. This is representing that each girl lead a very different life. Each was raised differently, had different interests, and had a different personality. However, they were still the same in the sense of genetics and fingerprints and all the wonders that goes along with identical twins or in this case, triplets. The music is all piano, but the sections are just a little different everytime.