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!

Comments Round TWO!

Comment to Walker Upton:
      I'm glad you actually got your blogs mostly finished up, and I'm glad you aren't completely unhappy with your grade for it. Overall, it sounds like you really just need to sit down and take everything seriously. My attitude was sort of similar at the beginning of the blogging, I just didn't want to do it. Maybe you should read my reflection, I feel like it could help you. I basically was talking about how I didn't want to do them, and I also procrastinated,  but once you just sit down and focus and get it done, it'll really not that bad. I think at the end if you really put more effort into, you will have an awesome sense of accomplishment because it's really kinda cool looking at all your hard work in one place and saying "this is mine". Keep working at it Walker! I know you have the potential to make a really great blog!! Bring out your true creativity, we all have it in us somewhere.
--Sloan Winters :)

Comment to Richard Ketter:
     I'm really happy you got such a good grade on your blog! I sincerely think you deserve it. A couple times when I was complaining about the blog assignments, saying I was having a hard time with them, you sarcastically encouraged me and prompted me to believe that maybe they are not too bad. Thanks! My favorite thing about your blog entries are your humor. I find myself laughing out loud at them often. I think that maybe, though, still you should take your analysis seriously, which I think for the most part you always did. Just make sure you maintain a good, strong, serious note in your blogs! I think it's awesome that you are reading a book of poems this quarter. Poetry can be overall challenging and most kids doing this assignment wouldn't even stop and think to read a book filled with poetry. Poetry is hard for a lot of people to understand so good luck!! You've heavily praised The Great Gatsby, and either third or fourth quarter it's definetly of my list to read!!
--Sloan Winters :)

Comment to Laurel Stewart:
     Hey best friend :)I took your advice and am reading the book you read last quarter, this quarter. I think I will enjoy it, especially since you did so much. Sorry that your grade wasn't what you hoped for, but now you know what to improve! The points msised because your vlog wasn't showing up, that's a real bummer, and there wasn't anything you could do! I know you run your own blog on your on time,a very successful one at that. So, I definetly think you have the full potential to run this, new, reading related blog really well!! Good luck with your new book. You are transitioning from a true story to a fictional story, and I'm doing the opposite. This quarter I already enjoy the book you read last quarter much more than my last quarter book, and I can safely assume you will prefer your first quarter book over this fictional one. I hope I'm wrong though! I will be following you...
--Sloan Winters :)

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!!