Personal Admiration for Ms. Vera Dietz

       A big reason why I loved Please Ignore Vera Dietz was becaue of the main character-Vera. She endured an incredibly traumatic event in her life and she just held on even when everyone would have understood if she fell apart. She inspired me in the fact that I find personal strength an extremely attractive quality and me, myself, would love to have more of. Vera suffered a few very impactive things throughout the book. The first one is that her mother left her and her father when Vera was 10. Her mother left them for a wealthier man and never really contacted them. She sent Vera $50 dollars on her birthday every year- a cheap excuse for having a girl grow up without a mother. This obviously had affected her growing up. She was left with feelings of being completely unwanted and unloved. Early in Vera's life, Vera's mother had to become a stripper in order to make finanicial ends meet. A reoccuring theme throughout the novel is how strongly Vera felt about becoming nothing like her mom. She was constantly afraid of falling into the same path her mother fell into. So there was the first one. Secondly, Charlie. Charlie gave Vera enough trouble when he was alive. He ditched her in high school and as soon as she started feeling okay about losing him in the sense of him just changing, he would show back up in her life only to let her down again almost instantly. This is hard enough for a teenage girl to deal with-losing her best friend due to high school changes and loving him in silence. He quiet frankly played with her heart. Then, of course, the big one- Charlie dying. He already hurt her enough while alive and then he decides to die-as Vera's attitude was- and leave her with all these daunting questions. He is no longer there at all to answer anything--so Vera is left with the unknown about everything Charlie was into and what Charlie was feeling and doing. Then, lastly, she develops this...condition...after Charlie dies. She hallucinates that at times, thousands of Charlie's are suffocating her asking her to clear his name. She is too mad at Charlie to do this right away, so the Charlie's don't leave her alone for a long time. They come at the same times Charlie did- right when she starts feeling better. In fact, since the novel changes narrators, some chapters include dead Charlie's opinion on things. He says he sends these things on purpose because he knows and wants Vera to clear his name since he obviously can't. But anways, Vera is very scared of these Charlie's appearing and she becomes extrememly frustrated with them.
       So that is an overview of how strong Vera Dietz HAD to be in order to overcome all these obstacles in her life. I know that I already have a heard enough time balancing my school-work-soccer-social life schedule. I recently got in a car crash and have been dealing with the consequences of that which include a lawsuit against me. And I know one of the hardest things I deal with is boys and heartache. After reading this book, it made me think about how much worse it could be. My boyfriend could be dead. I could be living only with my father with no mother figure and no siblings (I love my brother). I could be having mental problems as an after effect of all that has happened to me. I could feel like I am destined to be absolutely nothing when really, I have an incredibly bright future with much less darkness than Vera's. Therefore, I really became attached to Vera's character and how she carried herself. It made me appreciate what I do have. At for that, A.S. King, I thank you very much.

Hey 2012 how are you?

       

         2012 is finally here! That means third quarter is starting as well. That also means a new book! I really had no idea what kind of book I wanted to read, so I just went with one. A classmate told me it was good, so I chose Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King. I honestly thought I was just going to have to suffer through it, but I ended up absolutely loving it. I agreed to the book after I read the back cover because it had to do with first loves and losing someone you love, both of which I have experienced, thankfully not together. So the book did interest me, but I kind of had the impression it was just going to be another teen romance novel that would be hard to get into and enjoy. How wrong I was! I finished reading it last night, it took me about a week and a half to get through. My first quarter book was one of those sort of books, and my second quarter book was based off a true story. I am really excited that I'm getting a taste of everything by this blogging assignment. Next quarter I hope to get another book based off a true story. But anyways, my third quarter book is officially Please Ignore Vera Dietz  by A.S. King.
       The novel is set in a small Pennsylvania town. The town is a mix of run down neighborhoods, middle class neighborhoods, and rich neighborhoods. You only really know this because Vera, the main character, is a pizza delivery "technician" for a pizza place in town. The book is mostly in Vera's point of view, but transitions between four people's viewpoint: Vera, Charlie, Vera's dad, and the pagoda. Vera and Charlie grew up together. They have been best friend's virtually their whole lives and only woods separate their houses. Then when the transition to high school came, that's when everything changed. Vera stayed the same: responsible, quiet, undercover, and determined. Charlie stayed the same in the sense that he was still wild and free spirited. However, he did this the wrong way. He started hanging out with the wrong crowd. This eventually led to his death three years after high school started. The book switches from present time to a time in history--flashbacks really. So Vera is left with the unresolved feelings of losing her best friend after he continually hurt her in many ways and in some ways hating for him, all the while being in love with him and he now being dead. So throughout the whole book, you are left trying to figure out how Charlie dies and the dark secrets he left behind. It was a fantastic book that capture's your attention instantly and keeps it until the very end. I highly recommend it!

Letters About Literature: From Baghdad, With Love

                                                                                                                Sloan Winters

                                                                                                               

Dear Jay Kopelman,

            I’m an11^th grader at Carbondale Community High School and in my English 3 class we were assigned to blog about different books included on the Read for a Lifetime list. For my second quarter book and blog, I chose your book: From Baghdad, With Love. My best friend read it as her first quarter book and loved it and recommended it to me, so I went for it. I have never been interested in war. I have never overly adored warfare or the military or anything. It’s not that I’m anti-war and military, but I just do not enjoy the idea of people killing each other and if anyone-my dad, my brother, my boyfriend or my future husband- was employed in a war I would be quite frankly, torn up and a nervous wreck. I am so thankful for all the Military Forces, but I just don’t want it to affect me too personally. After reading your book, my perspective changed. I never would have chosen a book that was set in a war on my own. Since my best friend recommended it I figured she knows me well enough to accurately recommend a book for me. I was, of course, touched by Lava changing your heart so much, which I will get to later, but my perspective on war and the military, in your case the Marines, was changed. I now have a new pride and respect for military veterans and current soldiers. Soldiers aren’t just tough, strong men devoted to killing for a cause-they are still human and they still have human emotions. I also learned from your novel about how war works. I don’t watch the news, especially when newscasters start talking about war because really I just don’t understand. Living in your shoes by reading your novel put that understanding in my mind and heartbreak in my heart. I could never be a soldier. I don’t have what it takes. Therefore, I’m in awe of the military work now.

            I’m in all reality a big softie. Stories about how one person changed someone’s life, or an activity, and in your case, a feisty puppy; it just touches me.  I also adore the concept that your life could be going one direction and then all of a sudden, something happens and it is changed forever. This is exactly what happened with Lava to you. This gives me hope for humanity. So many people view people as at the core-bad. They view the world as a dark, cold place. They believe there is no pure good and that everything is corrupted. For you, this is what you were living with and I would not be surprised if this was your standpoint on the world prior to Lava leaping into your life. But then he shot across your horizon like a falling star and nothing was ever the same. You were living and working in hell until this furry friend got into your heart, softened it, and changed you. Though I am not to speak for you, Lava was your hero. He saved you from the world and from yourself. As a sixteen year old with much more life ahead of me, I can only hope I find something or someone in my lifetime, like Lava did for you, to ignite the fire inside me and change my life forever.

                                                                                                Sincerely,

                                                                                                Sloan Winters

Sparknotes=Bad

I went on sparknotes.com and read the extremely short and pathetic summary of my second quarter book From Baghdad, With Love. This novel is an incredible and inspiring book and this "summary" of the book is nowhere near the deserving amount of credit to the whole novel. This novel is deeply emotionally moving, and in this summary I wanted to fall asleep. Sure, it spoils the entire book for you and points out obvious symbols. But, how is this enriching your attitude towards Marines, or war, or how people's lives can change in one day, or how good things come out of bad situations, or the pure goodness of reading a book! I've never used Sparknotes for any school assignment. I always really try to read a book whether or not I like it. Like the catchy phrase of the Disney movie, Holes: "It builds character". That is repeated to the campers when asking why they must dig holes all day. I'm pretty sympathetic towards anyone who uses Sparknotes or doesn't read outside school let alone an assigned text. They are cheating themselves. What's it gonna hurt? Going to gain knowledge you wouldn't have originally gained? Going to expand your reading skills and therefore, believe it or not, your writing skills? Reading an entire novel is nothing but a benefit and an enriching experience. When taking the easy way out like reading Sparksnotes, you get practically no benefits but maybe an A on a quiz or test. I consistently see that the people who do take this shortcut, take other shortcuts in life as well, if you get my drift. Reading is one of the simple joys in life and when you completely disregard this fact, no good is done. Even if someone has to sit down and force themselves to read a novel, in the very least they can say that they did it, and they conquered something they didn't want to do. In my case, whenever I've had to sit and force a novel down my throat, I always was thankful I did so, because the best part of the book is always the end when everything makes sense- you just have to get there. Specifically in reference to my second quarter novel, you completely miss the attachment to Lava and adoration for Kopelman, the emotional connections to Kopelman when he doesn't know Lava's fate, and especially you don't get the build-up and climax of when Kopelman and Lava are reunited again and for the rest of their lives. The summary that stated pretty much that the novel was about a Marine who found a dog and went through a lot of trials to get him to America is a terrible representation of the treasure that this novel truly is...the treasure that any and most novels are.

Link-up: From Baghdad, With Love

http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/from-baghdad-with-love-a-marine-the-war-and-a-dog-named-lava
This link gives a summary of my second quarter blog book: From Baghad, With Love by Lieutenant Colonel Jay Kopelman. Gives reader an idea of what book is about and shortly discusses symbols and themes of the book. Additionally this link gives helpful publishing information.

http://bfgb.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/from-baghdad-with-love-by-lieutenant-colonel-jay-kopelman-with-melinda-roth/
This is an incredible link giving a very short summary of the novel. It gives a high recommendation for the book. Also, it informs the reader that there is a follow-up book of this novel: From Baghdad to America: Life Lessons From a Dog Named Lava by Lieutenant Colonol Jay Kopelman. This is so exciting!

http://catalog.wrl.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1H5250D06H640.8438&menu=search&aspect=subtab63&npp=12&ipp=20&spp=20&profile=dial&ri=1&source=~!horizon&index=BIB&term=580316&x=0&y=0&aspect=subtab63#focus
A quick link to a site summarizing the follow-up book. It summarizes as well as gives publishing information. It also lets you use a website set up like SILNET to borrow book.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLIzyAM5qrQ
This is a fantastic YouTube video of Jay Kopelman talking about Lava and his story. Viewer is able to see actual footage of Jay and Lava's life currrently. This video talks less about what the book is about and more about what happened AFTER the book, after Lava arrived safely in the United States. Must watch if you have read the book!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001923/
Lava potentially saved Kopelman from this common disorder. It's very common with veterans. This link discusses symptoms and causes.

http://www.ptsd.va.gov/
This is the official website for Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It offers help and informs public of disorder. It also includes numerous, true stories of veterans dealing with this condition.

http://www.militarymascots.org/
This is one of the two groups that helped Kopelman get Lava to the U.S. "Military Mascots" helps deployed service members and the pets they love. It contains a few similar stories to that of Kopelman and Lava.

http://www.animalcenter.org/
This is the website for the second organization that helped Kopelman and Lava.  The Helen Woodward Animal Center is dedicated to saving animals lives and enriching people's lives--which happens to be exactly what they did for Kopelman and Lava. This website provides information on the oraganization.

http://www.spcai.org/baghdad-pups.html
This is a really awesome site that pretty much reminds me of Kopelman and Lava's entire story. Operation Baghdad Pups is a mission for soldiers who find dogs in the warzone and become attached, as Kopelman did. It is their mission to save these dogs to keep soldier's hearts from hardening from the influence of war, again, exactly what happened with Kopelman.

http://kennedycanine.net/warzone.htm
This is a nonprofit center that raises money and collects supplies for stray dogs in Afganistan. In the future, any wars in another country where needy dogs reside would benefit as well. It crossed my mind that if Kopelman knew about this project, that he may have been less attached to Lava because he may have had more hope. Then as soon as I thought that, no way. Kopelman and Lava were meant to be.

http://www.wctv.tv/wswg/headlines/Florida_Soldier_Reunited_with_Dog_132514528.html
This is an article of a story about a soldier who was reunited with his warzone dog that fought alongside him in the war. It's so sweet, the soldier got emotional and the dog was so excited. This dog helped this soldier cope.

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/dogs-rescued-war-zone-safe-fairbanks
This is another story about a soldier being "saved" by a dog, two dogs in this case. They are puppies actually. They were rescued by a soldier through a Puppy Saving Mission and he adopted them when he was back from his service.

http://community-2.webtv.net/Hahn-50thAP-K9/K9History18/
This is a really great website providing information on war dog training. It gives an extensive history of war dogs. It also provides many pictures to go along with the information.

http://www.robinsondogtraining.com/historyofwardogs.html
This is the website for an actual war dog trainer. It gives information on the training dogs would go through. It also provides quite the history of wardogs.

http://www.vet.utk.edu/wardog/background.shtml
This is a really nice website that is a War Dog Memorial. You always hear about soldier memorials and it's nice that dog's involved in war are recognized and remembered as well. It gives history, information on ceremonies, and pictures.

http://www.marines.com/?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=AXW101AXXABX0607#default
This is the Marine website. It gives historical information as well as information on training. This website gives you a good idea of how Kopelman was trained and why he has the attitude he does.

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/marinejoin/a/marinebasic.htm
This is a very informational site on Marines. It gives general information and takes you through what to expect if wanting to become a Marine. It also starts to get into some of the strict rules of basic training as well as being a Marine.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/feb2005/mari-f25.shtml
This is an interesting article about how a man died in Marine training. It gives you a really good idea how tough it is to be and become a Marine. This explains Kopelman's hard attitude towards life.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33585208/ns/today-today_pets_and_animals/t/marine-bends-rules-save-dog-found-iraq/
This is yet another similar story to Kopelman and Lava's. A Marine bends the rules in order to get his furry new friend home with him. There is also a video in this article of an actual interview with the Marine with his dog.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2005/050315-bdu_standards.pdf
This is a excerpt from the long list of conduct rules Marine's have. Kopelman stressed many times throughout the novel that having a pet was against the code General Order 1-A. This is a list that includes a brief part on having pets as a Marine.

The New Age: 21st Century English Classrooms

Nowadays, teachers, classrooms and schools are trying to utilize the new technology that is available to many schools. They do this by incorporating social networks such as Facebook and Twitter that many students already have outside of school and using blogging such as this. This is completely understandable and it works for many students and it does for me to an extent. I give teachers a lot of respect for trying hard to make lessons relatable to their students. I enjoy blogging. I didn't at first but I really have learned to get into it and use it to enhance my understanding of the current book that I'm reading. So, in this aspect I truly believe the attempts at using 21st century technology in the classroom. However, I do not use my Facebook or create a Twitter account educationally. I don't see how this would benefit me because I purely use my Facebook for social things. I keep in touch with my friends and family members from across the country. Facebook is almost something to get away from school. I like school, and I always have, but I don't think I could ever want to use Facebook educationally. So, blogging, yes. Facebook and Twitter, no. I do think the contact across the state to another school is really cool and can really be fun and enhance understanding of texts, but as far as I have seen, the school we are communicating with isn't doing the same kind of assignment as our school. I don't think they are reading Read for a Lifetime books and blogging about them. So, therefore it makes it hard to really have something to talk about most times. But, this idea has a ton of potential. It is a way to connect with people you don't know and learn more about the book than you yourself could come up with. I think by the time I get into college, colleges will be incorporating the same kind of educating techniques as the ones mentioned above. So this is great practice!! Blogging really helps your understanding of the text because it tests your creativty and makes you think more about things, and differently about things. The student across state communication introduces the oppurtunity for other students to mention or discuss something about the book that maybe you missed or didn't think about. This also happened in group discussions in our class and the idea is the same and would work the same. Reading aloud in class gets boring and long. People read at different paces and understand at different paces and reading in class as a class can mess those things up for some people. Books should be read at your own pace and own skill level. Plus, no one looks forward to just sitting in class for an hour listening to a fellow student read a paragraph of a novel, and just passing it on, and on, and on.

Animoto- From Baghdad, With Love

http://animoto.com/play/FZM32NFNPF18XXMBUnjH8g
This is a short trailer to my second quarter book: From Baghdad, With Love by Lieutenant Colonel Jay Kopelman with Melinda Roth. It's a very inspiring true story, I hope you enjoy!