Blog #15

   Everyone sure will have secrets in their lives. People needs privacy and secrets are the one that keep our privacy from others. In the essay, "Secrets We Tell" , Sante gives three reasons for secrecy:Soviet Union, internet, and confessional culture/media. 
   I don't really understand what the author is trying to discuss about Soviet Union, but I think it's about the privacy of that society. Like how the government doesn't want outsiders to obtain their real information in the Soviet Union, like the used of propaganda. 
  Next, Sante discusses about the internet. The internet is like a digital world full of secrets. We can go to news and there will be tons of news that will come up, from a girl got shot yesterday to a person that won a reward in science fair, etc.... Internet is a place full of gossips, we can easily obtain an information, well if we know how to search it right. Anyway, internet is a place where rumors spread the fastest. For example, this celebrity has tons of surgeries (fault) but within 5 minutes, thousands and thousands of people will see that topic. 
  Lastly, Sante discusses about our culture and the media. Since everyone has secrets, sometimes the only way to relieved themselves is to reveal the secrets, like to their best friend or to a dog/cat. As long as someone that will listen to the secret without making a big deal on it. I supposed that what Sante meant when he discusses about the culture.

Blog #14

   I believe that ethics and personal values should not be taught in public school. School is a place where we gain our knowledges from, it is where we learned academic subjects that was not taught in our house. So schools should not teach students values and morals because those should be taught by their parents or whoever raise them. Also, students should learn and decide for themselves what is right and wrong. Like me, I decided on what to believe and what to live by.
   Everyone is unique with different beliefs and values so school should not brainwash them. As far as my opinion go, school should not get involve with people beliefs and values. It should stick to academic subjects. 
  School already does its job by teaching us responsibility and be organized. Since we're growing older and older (higher grade), we have tons of homework to do, if we're not organize and responsible for the homework, then we would fail the class. 
   So again, schools should not teach students ethnic and values because school should be a fun, safety place to learn academic lessons. For students values and morals, they should be taught by whoever raise them and decide for themselves whether or not what is right and what is wrong. 

Blog #13

   Movies. I'm not really a movie kind of a person. Its been awhile since I last watched any type of movie, the latest one that I watched is the romance movie at Nicole's house (normally I watch movie without knowing its title...). Anyway, I remembered I cried at the end on the movie, which is something I really hate to do. Even so, it's still a very good movie and I enjoyed it a lot.
   There are so many kind of movies out there, from a happy musical one to a terrifying horror one. Different people has different taste in what kind of movie they like. Sometimes it depends on a person's mood, perhaps they're sad and want to watch a comedy movie (or tragedy movies). Again, everyone is different. Since I only watch movie because my family is watching it or a friend of mine want to watch it so I really don't have a favorite genre. 
   I'm sure everyone of us have seen a movie and thought, "this is the worst movie I've ever watched." or something like "I just wasted my precious 2 hours to watch this stupid movie.", because I have. After watching the famous Twilight movie, I felt that I've wasted my times watching it. ( this is my opinion, so don't attack me!). It's not the worst movie but it's not something that's worth watching either, perhaps because I read the book? Who knows.... However, some people loves that movie, not because they're in love with Edward or Jacob (or maybe they do...) but because they felt that it was a good movie. 
   This is what I want to point out. People has different opinion on what's good and what's bad. There is no right answers in what make a movie good because it's all right in the eyes of the watchers. However, a general answers on what make a movie good is good acting, real scenes (like in horror movie, not real real scenes but like make it looks real), and sound affects. 
   

Blog #12

Debrief & Reflect on Price’s “The Plastic Pink Flamingo” timed write. Use the Debrief & Reflection handout in the Blog Locker


Self-Check:

1. Yes, I believed I answered the prompt. However, I should of explained it more, since this is my second time essay and I'm not use to it yet, I rushed through the explanation of Price's view on American culture. 
2. Even though my intro was not so good, I did have a clear thesis statement.
3. My essay was focused around the theme. My paragraphs were linked, however my transition between the introduction and first paragraph wasn't too good.
4. I focused on the imagery and tried to give evidences on it, but I feel like I should of also include the Price's diction. 
5. I used quotes from the text to support my thesis. Also, I tried my best to explain my analysis.

Reflection:

1. I managed to have time to organized and be able to finished the essay on time. I have quotes to support my thesis and my paragraphs were linked together.
2. What didn't went so well is I didn't have time to reread my essay. Since I finished right before the time ended. I didn't have any times left to go over it one more time.
3. If I have more time, I would reread what I wrote, and maybe I will catch those misspelled words or those awkward sentences.
4. Yes, my organization on the essay turn out how I wanted it. 
5. As I was writing, I began to understand more and more on Price's writing, and those details that I did not catch when I first read through it. 
6. If we have another time essay, I would quickly start the intro. I always have problem trying to write the introduction of each essay, and that is what killed most of my time. 

Blog #11

Culminating Writers Profile

1. I'm aware that AP English class requires lots of writing, still I chose to be in it. I must admit that I'm not a strong writer, however, I've changed the way I used to write. Before, I always used a casual tone, but I've learned that we need to be a little more formal in some essays. My grammars have not change but I'm working on it. 
2. I'm not a good writer, so I feel like I don't have much of a strength, but I do feel like I can stick to my thesis and support it all the way.
3. I have many weaknesses like: writing convention, tying the conclusion, and zoom out. I'm trying to improve my writing convention by reading more books and paying attention to the sentence structures. Every times, I came across a prompt that I don't understand, my mind became blank. So instead of reading the prompt over and over again, I try to break it apart and slowly comprehend it pieces by pieces.

 Evaluating Your Writing Process

1. If I can write one more draft on my essay, I would try to get rid of the "to-be" verbs. Also, I need to organize my thoughts and make the paper flow easier. Some how, I felt like my essay is a bit cliche, so maybe I can make it less cliche?...
2. After having the feedbacks, the easiest one to be fix is the wording since my sentences are awkward. I did have feedback on the ideas of death, but it's a little tough to do.
3. The hardest problem in this essay is trying to write something that is not too cliche. I have a hard time trying to make the reader see my topic in a different ways and I feel like I didn't do too good on it either. 

Evaluating Your Successes

1. My biggest successful large-scale revision in this essay would be the organization of the ideas on my topic.
2. I didn't combine the elements, but I used mostly descriptive and a little similes. 
3. Since everyone has a different perspective on "death" (or not), I tried to have a different counter arguments for the readers to see.

Being Honest with Self

1. I was intimidated by the fact that it was the first AP essay, not only that, it's the first essay where I have to explain/show the reader a different perspective on the topic I've picked. I read through the example definition essay, the viking, and tried to come down with some ideas on how I should organize my paper.
2. My essays have always been weak, but through the text and all those preparation, I learned to use a stronger tone. I also added more description and a little bit of vivid imagery.
3. I like how students used their personal experiences in this essay. So I tried using personal experiences in my essay as well.
4. My peers helped me expand on my ideas, since my essay look like I've put everything into a big clump of thoughts. 
5. After completing this assignment, I feel like I've improved in my writing, not tremendously but little by little. I might need more practices to create a strong essay and I think I can do better job next time. 

Blog #10

Write 1-2 paragraphs defining “Nobodiness.” Analyze and explain 1-2 particular causes of feeling like a “nobody.” You will use this writing tomorrow to analyze/revise your own sentence variety.

  Nobodiesness. No one is a nobody. Perhaps there are times when we might have felt like a nobody, but that doesn't mean we're a nobody. What causes nobodiesness? There can be a lot of reasons to feel like a nobody, but the main factor is social awkward
  When we look around us, there may be a person that we see everyday yet fail to know their name. We can just described that person as a nobody. However, just because we don't know them well, we can't simply call them a nobody.
  Everyone is different whether or not they're sociable so no one deserves to be described as a nobody.

Blog #9

In Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom addresses the materialistic nature of our lives – and what Morrie has to teach him about how to live.  What did you take away from reading Tuesdays with Morrie?  Has it changed any outlook or previously held beliefs?

    Mitch Albom wrote Tuesdays with Morrie in hope of spreading Morrie's message to the people. Morrie wants people to live their lives with meaning, to love and beloved. Morrie, who was diagnosed with ALS, lives a life of happiness. Eventually he will die but that didn't make Morrie give up on live. 
   Tuesday with Morrie, had taught me the important of lives and what it means to live a "happy life". Myself, like most human being, have always thought that getting a good job (money) was everything. However, that wasn't the case, money isn't everything. Like Mitch Albom, who spent years working and working, but he wasn't happy. 
  Most people just live their life without knowing/appreciate the people around them Morrie stated, "when you learn how to die, you can learn how to live." emphasized that people only realize/look at things in a different perspective when they know they're dying. 
  Tuesday with Morrie is a good book. I learned many lessons but the most important is to live my life with meaning and to view it in a different picture.

Blog #8

Choose a word from today’s discussion and compose an essay in which you fully analyze the connotations of the word.  Make sure you provide personal readings, observations or experiences as concrete details.


   Truthful is use to describe a person that tells the truth. When a person is praised as a "truthful person" it can be a negative or positive compliment. When a truthful person tells the truth, it can be a positive or a negative comment, therefore they might ends up with lots of haters and little of friends because theirs truth tended to hurt more than the lie. 
  A synonym for truthful is trustworthy, then wouldn't that make a truthful person a good person? Americans see truthful person as a negative thing. Sometimes, their friends rather ask someone else questions like "How do I look" or "Isn't this pretty?" etc,... rather than asking them. Everyone has different opinion, so what's wrong if they replied it as "it's ugly." or "you look a little chubby today." ?
If we've threw out the question, shouldn't we prepare ourselves for whatever response coming our way? Wouldn't we rather know the truth then to hear a lie? Even if the lies are mellifluous to our ears, it is still a lie in the end.
   I was described as a truthful person when I was younger and I took it as a compliment because I know then that I'm being realistic to myself and others.  
   A truthful person lives a realistic life. Sometimes the truth hurts but that person rather get hurt then to live a life full of lies.

Blog #7

The Secret Life of Bees, is a story of a 14 years old girl, Lily Owens, who lives with her unloving father, T.Ray and a few memories of her mother. All the memories she has of her mother was the items she found in the attic and little stories from her father. One day T.Ray and Lily got into a big argument and he told her she was an abandoned kid. In search for the truth, Lily went searching for the Boatwright sisters. August Boatwright, told Lily that Deborah was having a metal breakdown and she has no choice but to left home for awhile and came to live with August. When Lily heard that her mother left home and abandoned her own child to escaped from sorrow, this angered Lily.

One of Sue Monk Kidd's argument is "forgiveness". At first Lily was very angry at her mother for leaving her behind with T.Ray but at the end of the story she learned to her mother, T.Ray, and herself. 

In life, there will be time when you're betrayed by someone you love but learning to forgive is the right antidote in curing our broken heart.

Blog #6

I am Vietnamese and proud to be one. There are times when someone would asked where I'm from, and I would answered Vietnam. And guess what question come next. ...

The next question would be "North or South?" ... Does it matter where in Vietnam I'm from? I understand the lost of American soldiers during the Vietnam War, but that war doesn't have anything to do with me. I find it's wrong to ask whether I'm North Vietnamese or South Vietnamese because all I know is, ever since I was born, Vietnam has always been Vietnam, and nothing else. There are time when kids would described me as ching-chong or chow mein because they thought it's funny. I find it ignorance.

Being a different race isn't always a bad thing, it's what make this world interesting. So we should be proud of our own race because that's what make us special.

Blog #5

The Box Man tells a life of a homeless man. We can assume that the Box Man is happy with his life. People might look down on him or see him as a lonely man, but he is happy with his own life. He has standard and pride in picking his own box and be comfortable in it. Unlike him, the other two women was abandoned by their own kids. They didn't chose to be lonely, yet they are lonely. 

It's okay to do things like other people are doing and sometimes it is even better to make our own decision. The moral of the Box Man is to teach us in making our own decision. To follow our decision (dreams) as long as we're happy. It is our own choice, our own life, doesn't matter what other people or society think.

Blog #4

The Box Man tells a story of a homeless man and two lonely women. They are different in a way because the Box Man chose to be alone, away from all people. Unlike him, the two lonely women didn't have a choice. Even so, they all are the same, they all are lonely people.

Just like unpopular and popular people (not celebrities but the people at school). They both are different yet similar in away. The unpopular people are the one that disappears from the crowd, the one that are least noticeable. Unpopular people are the one with few or little of no friends. They are lonely creature that need attention.

The popular people are the one that stand out from the crowd. The one that are not shy, the one that make all the bold moves and the one that make the different. They received most of the attention from the crowd, whether or not if it's love or hate.Yet, deep down, they too might be a lonely creature. I'm not saying all popular people are lonely, but MOST of them are lonely inside. Popular people are the one that do things just to get attention because they're tired of being unpopular.

I personally believed these two group of people are different but ironically similar.

Blog #3

What is it like to grow up without a mother? Out of all the books I've read this summer, the Secret Life of Bees would be my fave. It's about a little girls growing up under a mean father. He hasn't done anything for her, all he does is yell and yell every times she brought up the topic of her mom. They got into a big argument and T.Ray , her father, told Lilly that her own mom abandoned her when she was little. This angered Lily and she decided to run away from home with Rosaleen. On this journey, Lily learns about racism and love. 

I would recommend this book to anyone with a similar life or not. The book is well written with lots of emotional parts.

Blog #2

Normally I don't read nonfiction books because I think it's boring. I did read other types of nonfiction like journals, articles, biography but these are the three nonfiction books that popped up in my head right now.   

List of my nonfiction books:

1.  Diary of Anne Frank
2. All But my Life
3. Founding Brothers

The first nonfiction (diary book) I've read is the Diary of Anne Frank, during 8th grade. The book is basically about Anne's diary that she recorded during her time in hide out. When I first read it, I didn't like it, but slowly toward the middle of the book, I find it interesting. I started to wonder what it is like to be a Jews then. Is believing in different religion is a wrong thing to do that Hitler just have to pick on them?

Out of all nonfiction books, All But My Life is most interesting one. I personally love that book. Gerda Weissmann Klein gave lots of details that we can just picture it in our head. The book has lots of emotional scenes like when she has to part from her family and never see them again. I can't even imaging what I would do without my family there to support me. This book also show that not all Nazi are bad, because one of Gerda boss (can't remember the name now) helped Gerda when she was sick. By that, we can assumed that there are warm heart-ed Nazi too.  

The last recent nonfiction book I read is Founding Brothers. It's a historical book through six different point of view. It jump back and forth a lot and I didn't like it much. But through the book, I did learned some important American history events.

Blog #1

My name is Hoai Nhi. I love pink, it's the most prettiest color on earth. I really hate crowded, noisy places. It makes me go insane. Reading and sleeping is what I love to do. I think without the bad guys, this world is "perfecto" =]