Post Reflection

http://gabisreadingblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/krista-ramsey.html . I believe that my Krista Ramsey blog showed how I can use textual evidence to support text analysis. I used the text and found a solid quote to help me explain how her writing style is unique. It showed how I am able to use the text to help me prove a certain point about the text that I am reading. I also used multiple parts of the text to further stress my point, and it made my argument clearer. In the post I said, "'They abide by laws – natural laws – that we break without caring.' She uses the punctuation to stress the importance of the laws being 'natural laws'" this shows how I used the text to prove my point. I think this blog is a good example of how I analyse a certain text or texts. 

I have many goals for myself regarding my future reading. I would like to get faster at reading books, because it usually takes me a long time, and to become more adventurous with what I choose to read. I tend to only read certain types of books because I am afraid to start reading something and end up not enjoying it. I want to start reading things more closely, so that way when I have to read things closely I am used to doing it, because at some points this year I found it hard to read things closely enough to be able to write about them unless I was told to. Something else I want to improve on is looking for literary elements like theme, similes, metaphors, etc. in everything I read, again, to get better at the task for when it is during school or a test in the future. I also have many goals for my writing. I hope to get better at incorporating quotes into the text, making my writing flow, and incorporating more literary elements without it feeling forced. Right now I feel like adding literary elements in my writing is too forced, it always comes out choppy and unnatural, I want to use more of these so when they are required they come more naturally and I won't have to think about it as much. I want to work on making my quotes fit into the text too. I think it would make my writing much smoother and it wouldn't be as much of a hassle when trying to incorporate them. Lastly I want to work on making my writing flow together as a whole. I have found that this is something that is very hard for me to do in my writing. It takes me a while to find a good way to connect paragraphs and I really want to fix that. Overall I hope that next year, and maybe even over the summer, I can improve upon most, if not all, of these things and achieve my goals as well.

Scorch Trials: End of Book

The end of the book surprised me. I was not expecting what happened in the end. I really liked how the characters developed throughout the first two books. I loved seeing the relationships develop and grow between the old characters, and also seeing new ones develop between characters that were introduced. I love the way the author introduces new characters using indirect characterization, because it makes the book way more interesting.

I can't wait to start the next book. I was talking to my friends and they all said it was amazing. I am afraid to see what may happen to some of my favorite characters because I've heard rumors and I wish people wouldn't have told me. I'm very exited to find out if there are new characters and new relationships, because to me that's very interesting to read about. I'm happy I can read it over the summer because that way I won't have to stop and I can just read all I want. I'm also looking forward to the movie coming out in September.

The Scorch Trials: Post 2

So far into the book, a lot has happened. At the ending of the last book the two main characters were taking and Teresa, the main girl, seemed to be in trouble. When this book began, Thomas tries to go find Teresa in her room, only to find that she is gone. In the room now is a boy named Aris. He explains that he was placed into another place, like the Glade, except he was the only boy, surrounded by girls. He seems to know more about the experiments than the others.

Since I'm not that far into the book, not much has changed. I still see that Thomas cares about Teresa and now there is a conflict and they need to find what happened to her. I like the fact that there was sort of, an alternate universe going on the whole time that the reader just now knows about. It was very unexpected and I liked the fact that it was a surprise. I really enjoy authors that are able to come up with new and unexpected twists in books because it keeps them from getting boring. I can't wait to read more and to find out more about what happened in the parallel universe the author has created.

The Scorch Trials: Beginning of Book

I have started to read the second book in The Maze Runner Series, The Scorch Trials. I'm not sure what to expect from this book. I've talked to friends who have read it and some of them had complaints and others said it was really good. I really enjoyed the first book in the series, and I hope the writing is as good as the original book. I usually don't like the rest of a series as much as the original, because it gets boring after a while. I'm really hoping this one doesn't.

I'm really excited to watch the characters develop more. I want to see what the author can do with the characters, that's more than what has been done. If I don't see character development I will be very disappointed with the author. I've heard about what happens in this book in the terms of a couple of the characters' love lives and I'm not sure how it will effect the story, but I don't want it to change the characters too much. Maybe it will help push the story along as some sort of conflict? If it doesn't I feel like it would be pointless in the storyline of the book.

Satire Example

This cartoon is an example of allegory. I know this because the characters in the cartoon are playing basketball, where traveling is a term used to describe walking with the ball, and in the cartoon you can see security guards that you would see at an airport checking a player when he traveled. The characters in the cartoon are talking about being strict when a player is traveling. Also at the same time they are making fun of the security at airports with the drawing of the arch and the security guards.

Krista Ramsey

The column I read by Krista Ramsey, titled Bear in the neighborhood? Thrilling, not nuisance, was an article on the sighting of a bear in the author's neighborhood where the author talked about the standards people have when they see a wild animal and how you should react compared to how she reacted.
The way Krista Ramsey writes has an interesting style to it, she uses a wide range of vocabulary and her syntax really impacts the reader. There are many examples of this in this article but my favorite one was when she said, "They abide by laws – natural laws – that we break without caring." This line has a great impact on the reader because of the way she emphasizes using the hyphens. Ramsey also uses the word "abide" instead of saying that the animals "follow" certain laws, which provides the reader with a different choice of wording than someone they talk to on the phone or anywhere would say. The use of different vocabulary shows the reader that the author can be credited with at least some knowledge of the topic they are writing about. 
Krista Ramsey's style is very distinct. She uses punctuation a lot to emphasize what she wants when she wants. In the article "For better vision, kids need time outdoors" she states, "But before parents claw back the iPhones, experts say the problem may not lie in the technology itself, but the amount of time spent on it, the environment in which it’s used and the activities it’s replacing." She uses the commas to make a longer sentence instead of making multiple, to help prove her point. Also in the article "Super Bowl QB's score points for great style" she says, "At work, “Casual Fridays” have morphed into sundresses and golf shirts every day. And almost no one dresses up any more for things that were once considered something of an event – dinner at a nice restaurant, religious services, plane flights." She again uses her choice of punctuation to emphasize what she is trying to prove. In the last article I read she says, "They abide by laws – natural laws – that we break without caring." She uses the punctuation to stress the importance of the laws being "natural laws". 
If I could meet Krista Ramsey I would ask her three things: how does she come up with an interesting topic to write about? What inspired you to be a writer? and what is your favorite thing about writing?