lois lazy

The end of The Giver left a lot of questions unexplained. Although my entire class wants to know, I guess we never will. Was it a genius ending or just lazy writing? In my opinion, it was just lazy and the author just wanted to get it over with. Although there are many different opinions on what happened, there are 2 that are the most popular. Some people believe he simply died while others think that he found Elsewhere and that him and Gabe and Jonas live happily ever after.

       I think Jonas dies because Jonas lived most of his life in the dark and never experiencing things like pain and being exhausted. I feel that his body would be much weaker and unable to manage crawling through the snow in almost nothing with loads of injuries. However, nobody really cares what I think. It is the author’s opinion that really matters. Although I cannot be sure that the information is correct, I used two different web sources so most of it should be accurate.

Lois Lowry said “It ends with Jonas and Gabriel going downhill in a sled toward a house with welcoming lights. Ho ho ho. Aren’t I a mean author, not to be more specific? I like it when you argue. It makes you think.” I personally think that she was just avoiding the question and that even she doesn’t know the answer. I think it was just lazy writing.

Lois Lowry also said “I will say that I find it an optimistic ending. How could it not be an optimistic ending, a happy ending, when that house is there with its lights on and music is playing? So I'm always kind of surprised and disappointed when some people tell me that they think that the boy and the baby just die. I don't think they die. What form their new life takes is something I like people to figure out for themselves. And each person will give it a different ending.” She wanted it to be a positive ending but some people just took it a different way. I still think she was just being lazy.

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/lois-lowry-interview-transcript

http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/guides/give.html

my 20% project

Shoeb and I and are going to try and perfect our penalty shot, corner kick, curving the ball, goal kick, certain tricks like the bicycle and rainbow, and heading the ball. We will do research on it and then do to the fields either at my house or near Shoeb's house and practice.
Materials I Need
-Me
-Shoeb
-Soccer Field
-Soccer Ball
-Camera
-Computer

Problems
-Not enough time
-Not being able to do it right

People to talk to
-Parents
-Soccer Team

Teens and the Media

                Does advertising affect teen culture? I am not sure I really need to answer that. It is like asking if an orange is orange. HOW it affects teen culture is a completely different question that will take a lot more explaining. I have to write 4 paragraphs though, so I guess I will have to explain it anyway. A wise man once said “Teenagers are a prime target for advertising because they are impressionable and they have lots of disposable income” and by a wise man, I mean the Internet. I only have 3 paragraphs left so I guess I should start explaining it now.

                To be completely honest, advertising affects just about everyone on this planet except for our 300 year old grandparents who still read newspaper, think software is comfortable pants, and think the Internet only happens when you are fishing. However, teens are targeted by the media because that is when you start to get your own money. When you are young, you have no money of your own so you can’t buy anything and by the time you are in your 20’s, you know how spend your money wisely. Teens end up falling for things like “6 payments of $9.99”. This causes teens to buy stuff they really don’t need and they end up wasting a lot of money.

                Advertising also severely affects what teens wear and what they do for fun. Without television and the Internet, teens would be like emo cows with their heads cut off. Totally clueless. It has come to the point where people might actually think Justin Bieber can sing. To be completely honest, we probably never would have heard of him without the media, so the media might even be a bad thing.

                It has been estimated that teens spend an average of $144,000,000,000 a year on food, clothing, and entertainment. The number would be much lower if we had never found out about all of these amazing, brain frying things. Advertising promotes unrealistic views of the world to children who lacking a wider experience on their own and may accept the advertised version as reality. This can include poor choices for role models, an airbrushed view of what the "perfect" body is and the importance of social acceptance.

            As you can see, advertising affects teens in more ways than I can count (I really can’t count very high). If you don’t believe me, just take a step outside. Teen culture is everywhere and it is all affected by advertising.

2013 is finally here and I definitely feel older. I feel about a day older than I felt yesterday! Everyday counts though, because you learn something new every day. In the last 366 days, I learned quite a few things. First of all, never trust people that lived before toilet paper. In case you haven’t noticed, the world hasn’t ended! There are some other things I learned that don’t matter nearly as much. For example, I learned I was going to be heading into 2013 at 5 foot 1 inch. I didn’t know that before. I also learned that school can be a good thing. Never mind, I can’t even keep a straight face when I am typing it. The other things I learned this year are all related to school so those really don’t matter much except the fact that lockers are evil and you can never have too much space. Now people are starting to make New Year’s resolutions to make sure this year won’t be as bad as the last but the truth is, saying “I am going to lose weight and get more exercise” isn’t exactly change your life unless you actually do it. That is why I am not going to make any resolutions this year. I will play it day by day and see where I end up at the end. I now leave it up to everyone else in the world, to see what becomes of me. That is really all I have to say, so I guess you should get off of my blog now.

I just took the Gardner and Gregorc learning styles tests and I think that they were completely wrong. For the Gardner test, it says that I am Logical-Mathematical (which I do agree with) and Interpersonal (which I don’t agree with). I think that I would be more on the Intrapersonal side. On the Gregorc test, I scored a solid 24 on concrete random, but don’t think that is like me at all. If I had to pick one to describe me, I would either be Concrete Sequential or Abstract Sequential, but none of them really describes me. I would have to take a few traits from each to truly explain who I am. Therefore, I don’t think I learned anything about myself, besides the fact that I don’t fit into any category. I am my own, unique person. I don’t feel that this knowledge will really help me in school. I feel that the way I am learning now is fine and the only thing that could make me learn more was if I started studying which I find really boring and I don’t plan on doing unless absolutely necessary. I think my favorite way of learning is to sit in a desk and read the material. I don’t need to build things, to move around, or take notes. I have an amazing memory so I sit down, read what I need to know, and then just remember it. All I think this test did for me in school is to make 20 minutes a little more entertaining.

                One person that I admire is my father, and I can almost guarantee that he was a Logical-Mathematical on the Gardner test and Abstract Sequential on the Gregorc test. I think this because he is a very serious person and tries to stick to the facts. I also admire my mother, and I am pretty confident she is Abstract Random, Intrapersonal, and Musical. I think this because she was a singer, dancer, and she played an instrument. She is a very creative person.  The last person that I admire is my grandpa, and I think he would be Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, and Abstract Sequential.  This is because he learns by actually doing it, not listening about it.

                In conclusion, I feel that these tests were a waste of time and did not teach me anything.
(i commented on alec's and aarif's blog)

Welcome to my first blog post. My name is Nick, and I am in 7^th grade. My favorite classes in school are math, ROGATE, and agri-science. My favorite things to learn about are robots and soccer. My hobby is playing soccer. I play on multiple teams. I have a mom, dad, younger brother, and younger sister. When I grow up, I want to get paid for doing nothing. Playing soccer and eating ice cream makes me happy. That is who I am, in less than 100 words.