Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

9-11 Poems

One month following the attack of 9-11, eleven year old Aaron Walsh wrote the following poem in his school notebook, trying to make sense of this horrible thing that had happened:

I Hold in My Hands

~ Aaron Walsh, 2001

I hold in my hands ...
The dust.
The dust and wreckage of the towers.
Even though I wasn't there,
I can still feel it.
It has damaged my hands with dirt.
It has damaged my heart with sorrow.
It has damaged my body with fear,
and it has damaged my life with war.

I hold in my hands ...
My life.
My life could soon be filled with war,
cruelty at its worst.
Miles away, I can hear the planes' roaring engines, gliding through the air.

I hold in my hands ...
My future.
My life ahead.
Whether it will be filled with war or peace, we will not know.
My future keeps me going from dawn to dusk.

I hold in my hands ...
Hope.
Hope for the future.
Hope for peace.
Hope for my country's freedom.
And hope for America to win this war on terrorism.

(This poem was not written by me but by Aaron Walsh. Poem was found on http://www.celebrate-american-holidays.com/9-11-Poems.html)

                                                                               

This poem is true for millions they could not be there to experience it but they can still feel the pain it left emotionally and the toll it had on their life in the future. I am using this poem for what I am going to write about a book next.    

This book is about a boys dad who dies in the 9/11 attack on the twin towers, after that he finds a key that he is inspired to find out what it opens, his name is Oskar and he wants to find what that key opens no matter how long it takes. This book is also a very new movie. I do want to see the movie but I can’t. This book has inspired me in so many ways.

First of all when the 9/11 attack happened I was too young to remember. I have seen videos, heard things and have seen the construction place of the memorial. I understand how this hurt the families of the innocent people who died.

This story of what I have read so far which is very little has showed me to never give up on hope. Oskar is so determined to find that lock to that key that he has pretended to be sick from school so that while his mother is at work he went searching the city for that lock. He has done research, asked people, and has done every other possible thing to find what he is looking for.

He has also taught me that to do the impossible you must thing of the impossible. There are millions of locks in New York City and not yet has he found his lock but he knows it’s not impossible.

When I finish reading this book I hope to find out something new that will hopefully change my life forever.

City of Glass

Valentine, valentine why are                                                                                              

you so EVIL!!!                                                                                                         

Destroying everything in your path                                                                              

they have to suffer from all of your rage                                                                        

they don’t even get to age                                                                                                                 

you kill them for no reason                                                                                            

doesn’t even matter what season                                                                                   

winter summer spring fall                                                                                                         

why do you have to hurt them all                                                                                    

for they have done nothing wrong                                                                                             

bet you all they want to do is sing                                                                                            

a song of hope

           

          I wrote this based on the evil guy in the city of ashes, Valentine. He is the father of Jace and Clary and he is the most evil person in any world. All he wants to do is kill and take over, not realizing he might kill himself in the line. The people he hurts literally have done nothing wrong; they are in pain they are suffering, why? Because he just want to the best, the most powerful.

            This poem shows who valentine is in real life. He tried to kill his own children. I think that he is really dumb because he doesn’t realize that people are more powerful than him and that. In the book he has found out many ways to hurt people. I think that this book even though I m not done with it, it has taught me a lot about people and who they truly are.

The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore

         In the book the power of six by Pittacus Lore, the characters made the story. John Smith, Sam, six, marina, Ella, and the mogadorians. They made the story real.

        This book is about aliens from a different planet; only people just don’t know it yet. Nin e to be exact came to earth with a guide to help them on their journey. The mogadorians are the bad guys who want those nine dead and three are already. John smith A.K.A number four must find the other five and defeat the mogadorians for good. So far he has number six, and a human named Sam. As they journey trying to stay hidden and find the other four they have faced several threats. Later on they find seven, nine, and ten. Now all they have to do is find five and eight and win. There is also marina and Ella. Marina is number seven and she was living in an orphanage with her guide and 18 other girls younger than her. As her life went by she discovered new things and new abilities. When Ella came along her adventures became more real, changing her life around.

        When I say that the characters made the story is that the actions of the characters that make the story what it is. For example john smith had a girlfriend named Sarah and they were in love. One night he went to find Sarah and she ratted him out to the police. This made the story so much better because it was something you would have never expected to happen. This is something that showed how these characters made the story.

        Another example of how the characters make the story is when marina found out that Ella was number ten. Marina thought she was just a little girl and so did I. it turns out that Ella had the power to change between ages. When I read this I was shocked because it showed me how the little details can reveal a lot about a book.

        I thought that this book was amazing because of the twist that the characters went through and how much each character has changed.

Body Image Article

     I am going to write a picture book on body image. I figured that if I am going to do body image I have to read on people being too fat (or thinking it) and people on wanting to be skinny and forcing themselves to be. I read a story on being fat and forcing themselves to be skinny (anorexia). http://www.highschoolnotforever.com/stories/body.html.  In the story she says that she was always fat. In high school she had some problems in her house and her life and started to starve her eventually she had gotten seriously sick enough to have a chance of having a heart attack. Her mother was worried and she finally spilled. I thought that this story was really shocking because it showed me what could happen when you try to become thinner in all the wrong ways.

     I also read an article on a little girl who was 6 and how she thought she was too fat. (http://abcnews.go.com/US/body-image-issues-year-girl-worries-fat/story?id=13880833#.TtLnPWNFuso  in the story a 6 year old girl comes home from school to ask her mom why is she fat. She was shocked at what her daughter asked her. She one day took her daughter to the doctor and she checked her height and weight to calculate her BMI and she said that she was normal. Later the girl was called fat at a birthday party and she confronted the boy.  I think that this is sad because they are little kids and they shouldn’t be worrying about being fat because they can think about that when they get older.

     This social issue makes me mad because I think that people should be happy about who they are and what they look like no matter how old.

War in the Neighborhood

In my neighborhood of Crown Heights I feel like there is a lot of racism. There is a mix of West Indian, African American and orthodox Jewish people living here. I am part of the West Indian and African American group and I always feel like the orthodox are always staring me down like I did something to them. They might not like who we are but that doesn’t mean we like the things they do too. Fro example they tend to stand in biug groups in the middle of the street forcing us to have to maneuver through or around them. In my family we say “if they do something wrong to me, I will curse them out or punch them in the face.” especially my sister because she has a patience the size of an ant.

I think this is not right because I feel like we’re in a war that will never end. I think the cause of this is because before the neighborhood was filled with mostly West Indians, then when the Jews moved in it all went downhill from there. I think possible solutions would be if we both try to stop judging each other by the way we are and live as one.

City of Ashes

       I just finished reading the city of ashes by Cassandra clare and I thought that it was an amazing book. It was full of surprises suspense and some unusual changes that were perfect to fit the book.

        This book was about a girl who learns she is a demon hunter and she has a brother who she thought was dead all of her life. Her father is an evil person who was willing to hurt her and her family just to get what he wants. Over the time she knew she was a demon hunter she has killed demons, but she has almost died many times herself. She has gone through many changes over the course of a few months or so. Her best friend becomes her boyfriend, her boyfriend becomes a vampire, and her vampire boyfriend ends up just wanting to be friends again.

        This book has many different kinds of meanings to it. For example it shows you that even though someone you know might not be your family they will always be part of you and your real family. Also that you should never give up. This is because all the times that Clary tried to save someone and failed she never gave up and always went back to try again.

        This book can change the way you think about some things if you read between the lines, it can make you realize what the true meaning of family is and how important it is to some people.

Two Voice Poem

I am thirteen years old

I hate the way I am

I am too fat to see my feet

I am so skinny I can see my ribs

Why am I like this?

What am I doing wrong?

Where did I go wrong?

What can I do to change?

Can anyone help me?

How can I help myself?

How can I change how much I weigh?

I am 209 pounds

I am 87 pounds

If only someone can help me 

But who will because I can’t help myself

        I came up with this poem because I thought about how looks of kids are ashamed about their bodies because they are either they are overweight or really under weight, so I made the poem from the perspective of an overweight person and an anorexic person. I wrote about how they feel and how they wish that they can change.

When I think about this issue I think that the reason why you’re like this is mostly your fault and if you want to change you have to do it yourself. Also that you’re the only person who can change if you try. To me I feel like you’re the way you are because you did it to yourself. You never listened to what anyone else had to say and you’re just making yourself worse by not listening.

     The issue of body image bothers me because I think that everyone should be happy with the way they look and they shouldn’t think that they are overweight or underweight unless someone like your DOCTOR says so.