CPR Blog #1 Book #2

The book I chose is The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I have been wanting to read this book since 9th grade but haven't had the opportunity to read it until now. My friend read it when she was in 9th grade and told me that she recommended the book because it was really interesting so then I was going to read it but kept forgetting to get the book from the library. When I saw it on Rachel's book shelf in her room, I kept wanting to ask her if I could borrow it but I kept forgetting and when I remembered we had to read a CPR book this month I automatically thought of The Lovely Bones. 

The lovely Bones is a very well-known book and even won the "Book of the Year" award. What really caught my attention was when I was reading the back cover of the book because it says that the book starts off with this sentence, "My name was Salmon, like the fish, first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." That just caught my attention because of how she was murdered when she was 14 and how it seems like the book will be from the perspective of Susie's spirit, so a ghost. I want to read this book to find out more about Susie and how she was murdered and who murdered her. 

CPR Blog #2

I think what it means for a book to be a classic is that it has been around for quite a long time and it's still read and liked by each new generation and has a great story and style of writing. It is also powerful with its words. I think that the book, Great Expectations is a classic because it has been around for quite a long time and it is still liked and it  has a strong powerful story about the growth of the narrator, an orphan called Pip, and a great style of writing. It is even considered by many to be Charles Dickens's finest novel. Throughout the book there are many powerful words and phrases and descriptions of what is going on in the story. There are also very unique characters that have a major part in the story.

As I started Reading Great Expectations, I was having a little bit of trouble reading through it because I am not used to that writing style and this book was written a long time ago. This book really thought me to think about my expectations for myself and seeing if they are reachable or just way over my head. It also thought me to always stay humble and never forget about the people who have loved me the most because they should always be an important part of my life.

Great Expectations talks about an orphan boy, who when invited to play at Miss Havisham's mansion,and sees what it is like to be rich and educated, he has great expectations for becoming a gentleman to become good enough for Estella, Miss Havisham's adopted child. This makes him separate a little from his family and even his best friend, Joe, his brother in law because he is ashamed that they are "common" and not like Miss Havisham and Estella. Pip really hopes that Miss Havisham will give him a gentleman's fortune but is very disappointed when she offers to help with the papers to officially make Pip Joe's apprentice. This teaches us that with great expectations come great disappointments. As the story progresses, we notice as Pip starts losing his innocence due to his increasing hope and dream of becoming a wealthy gentleman and becoming good enough for Estella. As he becomes working with Joe, he wishes to visit Miss Havisham and see Estella and be around her.

Although it seems as if it is not possible for Pip to become a gentleman anymore since he is currently working with Joe, Pip still keeps dreaming and he is overjoyed when a lawyer tells Joe that Pip will soon inherit a large fortune and his education as a gentleman will soon begin in London, but the person who is giving Pip this wants to remain secret so Pip assumes it must have been Miss Havisham. As he leaves for London, he starts to feel a little bad for having behaved poorly towards the people who actually cared about him.  He keeps dreaming that Miss Havisham is his benefactor and that she wants him to marry Estella.  

Later on Pip finds out that his benefactor was a convict who unlike Pip, worked hard in Australia and earned a huge fortune. He is disappointed again as he finds out Miss Havisham wasn't his benefactor and that he isn't going to marry Estella. Towards the end of the book we start to notice how as Pip becomes older and more mature he starts to change and realize that maybe that his great expectations for himself and his life might not have been the best for him because he had became distant with the people who had loved him, and had also treated them poorly because he thought he was better than them. As he changes, he decides to help his friend Herbert and also tries to help his benefactor, the convict to escape and takes care of him. I think if Miss Havisham would have been Pip's benefactor, Pip wouldn't have changed, because he wouldn't have became of the reality and what kind of person he had become. He would have also still keep dreaming of marrying Estella and just worrying about himself and being a gentleman. When, I began reading the book I didn't really understand why the author had put the story of what happened with Pip and the convict if he was just going to leave but when I finished reading the book I noticed why he put it there and it was kind of like a loop because the convict shows up towards the end of the book and changes Pip's life. I think a big theme for this book is ambition, because of how Pip changes because he wants to become a gentleman to impress Estella.

I think two of the most captivating characters were Pip and the convict. Pip because he was the main character and as he tells the story, when notice how he grows from a little boy who was scared of a convict and being arrested for giving him food, to a gentleman who was willing to help the convict until the end. The convict was, I would say, one of the most important characters in the book, and even though he is not always mentioned throughout the book, he has always been there because he was Pip's benefactor. He was in the beginning of the book and then at the end of the book. I would recommend this book to anyone because, as Alejandra said, everyone should read Great Expectations at one point in their lives.

"I took the opportunity of being alone in the courtyard to look at my coarse hands and my common bots. My opinion of those accessories was not favorable  They had never troubled me before, but they troubled me now, as vulgar appendages...I wished Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, and then I should have been so too." I thought this was an important quote for the book because it shows the first time Pip brings up the idea of what if he was more like a gentleman. It shows how he becomes aware of how "common" he is and those things began to bother him.

Sound Blog #7

1. “Evander and I had a dog named Lassie ... ”
Link:  http://storycorps.org/listen/bernard-holyfield-and-charles-barlow/

This was one of the best stories I heard from all the sound blogs because it was very interesting, it had the rule of empathy, and it kept you thinking about it even after it was done. This story was a really good story because it was not just a story about a dog being shot, Bernard starts by describing his dog so that we are drawn to like Lassie and so that when he is shot, we also feel that sadness that Bernard and his brother felt. 

Bernard also adds to the story by mentioning how the sheriff was like their hero, but he was the one who shot their dog. He says how his brother and him would play cops and robbers so for them the cops were like the heroes so it was more shocking for them to see that their "hero" was the one who shot Lassie. Bernard also mentions how the skin color was important in this story. Lassie didn't do anything wrong but because the man that bothered Lassie was white and because the kids were black, the white sheriff shot Lassie without questioning the white man's word, he just believed him and shot Lassie. This story kept you listening from the beginning until the end. 

2. “As he's walking away, I'm like, 'Hey, you forgot something...'”
Link: http://storycorps.org/listen/julio-diaz/

This was another story that I thought was really good because it just so unique and not the kind of story you hear about all the time. This story is good because it flows together, and it is very powerful. It expresses emotions in the listener. After you are done listening to the story you are left with lots of emotions and feelings, emotional engagement, like amazed, shocked and happy to know there are still nice people in this world, like Julio, the guy saying the story, who do nice things for people who aren't nice to them, because as Julio said, "you should be nice to everybody." 

I also liked how he added some humor to the story. It includes the rule of empathy and makes you laugh and go wow and aww. It also teaches us about the experience Julio went through when he got robbed, and he has a very interesting story because it is not like any other story of someone being robbed. It has a defined main character, which is Julio and is a very nice person, and also specific details to make it a really good story.

3. “I called his name into the phone over and over...”
Link: http://storycorps.org/listen/beverly-eckert/

This another story that I thought was really good because of the person who is telling the story's voice because with her voice and as it breaks when as she remembers that last conversation she had with her husband, it makes us feel what she is feeling. It is even hard to understand a little because she is almost crying and that adds to the sadness in the story. It makes the listener want to cry too.

 I think this story is very powerful because of how it makes you feel as you listen to it. It makes you feel that sadness Beverly must have felt after she realized she had lost her husband and that he would not come back. It also leaves you thinking on what you would have done if you were in her shoes or if you lost someone you really love and have been with for a really long time. I also like how it starts off by having Beverly describe her husband and how he was a good huger. I also noticed how she never mentioned this happened in September 11th but the way she tells the story you know for sure that it was during September 11th. I really like the ending and how Beverly says that she lives life for both of them now and that she knows he would be proud of her.

Sound Blog #6

“At my house, only one person got the mail, and that was my mother. ”

Link: http://storycorps.org/listen/nathan-hoskins-and-sally-evans/ 

1. 5 questions
What grade were you in when you met your friend who was also gay?
What did he give you? How did he give it you?
Who got the mail at your house?
What did your mom do when she saw the letter?
What did you do after the whole shotgun experience?

2. 6 Details
-Valentine's card
-Sent letter in the mail
-Mom waiting for him with the letter
-Loaded shotgun
-The tree
-Many years later, mom did not apologized and even laughed 

3. Feelings
confused, mad, fear

I picked this story because it was really shocking. Nathan starts out by saying how in 6th grade he had met a friend who was not interested in girls. Then he said that one day his friend told him he had a Valentine's day card for him so Nathan asked for it but his friend said it was so special he sent it in the mail. I think it is interesting how after that Nathan says, "He didn't know he had done a very terrible thing." That phrase makes listeners want to continue hearing to the story to find out why that was so terrible. Then Nathan says that the only person that got the mail at his house was his mother. At first the listener has questions like why it was so bad that his mom got the mail so we want to keep listening in order to find out. Then he says that on the bus he was thinking of how he was going to get that letter but when he got off the bus, his mom was already waiting for him on the steps with an envelope and he knew it was it because of how it had hearts and everything, I like how he describes that especial envelope by saying how it looked like and what it had on it.

Then he says that his mom asked her to read it and he did everything he could to convince his mom that he didn't know about the letter, that he didn't even ask for it. Then we get to what seems like the climax of the story because the mom goes into the house and grabs a shotgun and loads it in front of him and then told him to hold it. This causes the listener to ask lots of questions like what's going to happen? what is she going to do? The listener also thinks that the mom might shoot him even though we know he is going to live because he is telling the story but it really brings up the rule of empathy.

After that, his mom put him in the back of the car and she drove out to the country. I think it's interesting how he goes back and says what he means by country, which for him is "No man's land." The mom stopped at the side of the road, and he is still holding the shotgun. Then, she stood him up against a tree. Then she grabbed the shotgun and put it up to his head and said these very strong words, "This is the tree that I take my son to and blew his head off if he ever decide to be a faggot." This is really shocking because the mom was willing to kill his son if she ever found out he was gay, she was extremely against her son being gay that she would prefer to see him dead. I like how after that there is a little pause so that the listener can take that in and then he continues. Nathan says that from that point he did whatever it took to not be gay and confesses that he was a great liar for many years. Then there is another pause and he brings us to 2 years ago, and he asked his mom if she remembered and she just laughed and she couldn't say that what she did was wrong. After many years, the mom still thought that what she had told her son back when he was in 6th grade was the right thing. Because of that, Nathan was always trying very hard to please others as a child but as an adult he realized he should be who he is suppose to be.

“She died on an incident that I sent her on. ”

Link: http://storycorps.org/listen/max-voelz/

1. 5 questions
When did you deploy? Where were you?
What did your wife do?
What happened the day you sent her on that mission?
What were her wounds like? What would you do while she was in that coma?
How did you figure out she was dead? What did you do after you knew she was dead?

2. 6 Details
-He sent his wife on that mission
-His voice as he talks about her
-Her wounds
-She was in a coma
-She died in his arms
-Letter from the government saying "Mrs. Voelz"

3. Feelings
sad, empathy, sympathy, compassion, disappointed, mad

 Max starts off by saying that they deployed in 2003, and he says where they were. He basically sets up the time and place for the story and we know that this is going to be a story that has to do with the military or army because of the word "deployed." Then he says that "she" ripped bombs apart just like he did back in Iraq. He says that they never talked about being scared or the possibility of either of them dying. Then Max says,"But she died on an incident that I sent her on." Even though the listener knows what will happen because he just told us, we still want to keep listening because we want to know who is "she" and how she died exactly.

Then he goes into talking about that night he sent her on the mission and how he tried to communicate with her to tell her to be careful but she had already left. Then he doesn't keep talking about what happened to her, like how it went on the mission he goes into describing her wounds. He does a good job at painting a picture in the listener's head of how she might have looked like. He says she had severe wounds, one of her legs was blown off, and she was in a coma when he got to the hospital. We notice how Max's voice starts to crack as he tells us that he talked to her the whole time she was in there. At about a minute into the story, we find out that "she" was his wife because he says, "I mean, what are you gonna tell your wife who's dying? That you love her and you don't want her to die." At this point he is almost crying and then there is quite a long pause and then he says that he knew she was dead because when he held her hand it felt different. The way his voice changes, and the way he says how he was there with his wife at the hospital talking to her all the time as she was in a coma, makes you want to cry because it is really sad especially for Max.

He then says that he called her parents and told them that she died in his arms, this makes the story even more sad. Then, he goes into talking more about her and saying how he doesn't want people to think that what happened to her was because she was bad at her job or because she was a girl, because for him she wasn't and she was very brave. He then says that he is an army widower and that there are not many of them out there. I thought the end was really sad and made you kind of disappointed at the high-ranking government official for what he wrote on that condolence letter. It said, "Mrs. Voelz, we're sorry for the loss of your husband." That's why at the end Max says, "It just makes it seem like nobody knows we exist." This ending really leaves you thinking about how he must have felt after he lost his wife and then receiving a letter that instead of saying they were sorry for his wife's loss, it was directed for his wife saying they were sorry for his loss, it showed how much they really cared.  

Sound Blog #5

“I just hugged the man who murdered my son. ”

Link: http://storycorps.org/listen/mary-johnson-and-oshea-israel/ 

1. 5 questions
Where did you meet Oshea, the guy who murdered your son?
How was Oshea different than how you remember him from court?
How did your feeling towards him change?
How did it feel like to hug the guy who murdered your son?
How would you describe the relationship you have with Oshea now?

2. 6 Details

-Met at the prison Oshea was in
-Now Oshea was a grown man
-She hugged the man who murdered her son
-She forgave him 12 years after her son was murdered
-They live next door to one another
-She sees Oshea as a son

3. Feelings
confused, surprised, impressed, happy

I chose this story because it was really striking to me. Even the name of the story, "I just hugged the man who murdered my son," is really powerful. Mary Johnson starts off the story by saying that they met at a prison because she wanted to know if Oshea was in the same mindset that she remembers from court. She says that at court she wanted to hurt him but now he was not the same 16 year old. So far in the story, we don't know exactly what she is talking. The listener has many questions like why Mary wanted to hurt Oshea? Why they met at prison? Why were they at court? This questions make the listener want to keep listening to the story in order to find the answers to these questions. Then, it is interesting how Oshea's voice comes in and he says his perspective on what he thought about her son now that she was talking about him. He also mentions that he wanted to hug Mary as his mother, which is something that is important later on in the story. About a minute into the story is when Mary says the quote, "I just hugged the man who murdered my son." So now a lot of the listener's questions are answered and we know why they were at court and why they met at a prison and all that information but even though we have the answers to those questions we still want to keep listening to find out more questions that are brought up by that quote like how did it feel like to hug him? as well as other questions.

I thought it was really good how the story builds up to the quote about Mary hugging Oshea because it makes the quote a lot more powerful than if it would have been the one that started the story. If that quote would have been right within the 10 first seconds of the story, then the story wouldn't have been as interesting and maybe not all the listeners would continue to listen to the story because they would straight out know what the story is about and what happens. After Mary says that quote, I like how she describes how it felt like to hug him and how all that anger she had in her heart for 12 years had disappeared. I think it is really interesting how the idea of Oshea comparing Mary to his own mother is brought back and Mary says that she sees him as a son, that they live next to each other and that she wishes to be there at all of Oshea's important events like his college graduation and his wedding because she knows she won't have the chance to do that with her son because her son is dead. Even the story ends by Mary telling Oshea, "I love you too, son." This story really gets to you because it's hard to believe that that mother forgave the guy that killed her son, and now sees and treats him as her own son, and even loves him.

“I broke a hundred and sixty-four bones. ”

Link:  http://storycorps.org/listen/barbara-esrig/

1. 5 questions
Have you ever been in a car accident?
How was the car moving on the road?
How would you describe when the car crashed?
What happened to you because of that car accident?
What were your thoughts as you were in that hospital room? 

2. 6 Details

-huge, white, explosion
-silence
-she broke 164 bones
-"Life isn't worth living if you can't eat cannolis"
-doctor gave her a hug
-she was something other than a car accident 

3. Feelings

scared, worried, afraid, funny, happy, thoughtful

I chose this story because I liked the way Barbara, the lady telling the story, was strong and positive through everything that happened to her. They didn't know is she was going to be able to do anything again and then she made a joke about cannolis. She has a very bright personality. Barbara starts off by describing how the the accident happen and then she describes the car crash. She explains how everything went white and then there was silence. She then goes into saying everything that was wrong with her. She says how now she had 164 broken bones and she says that everything was broken except for her neck, spine, hips and her pelvis. I like how she laughs a little after she says everything she broke because it shows how strong she is and how she doesn't look back at this memory as something sad but rather as an experience from which she learned. I also like how she says that everyone didn't think she was going to make it but she knew she would, this shows how confident she was about overcoming something like this.

After that, Barbara goes into describing the experience she had with the doctor. The doctor came in saying that he didn't know is she was going to be able to talk again, to smell again or to taste again because that's how badly hurt she was. But instead of Barbara being sad or depressed about what the doctor just told her, she spells out, "Life isn't worth living if you can't eat cannolis," and then she laughs and the doctor just looks at her because that's not how he would have expected Barbara to react to what he had just said. Something that is also very powerful is how after that, she tells him to give her a hug and he does and then later on the doctor tells her that that experience reminded him of why he wanted to be a doctor. It is important how at the end she says that it was nice to have people who didn't see her as a car accident or a diagnosis but as a person. This story has a very good plot to keep you listening from beginning to end and then leaves you thinking about it even once you are done listening to it. 

Sound Blog #4

“Evander and I had a dog named Lassie ... ”

Link:  http://storycorps.org/listen/bernard-holyfield-and-charles-barlow/

1. 5 questions
Did you have any pets when you were young?
What was your dog's name?
Can you describe Lassie? How did he look like?
How was your relationship with Lassie?
What happened to Lassie? Can you describe how that day was like? 

2. 6 Details

-Lassie was kind of like their protector
-Lassie was tied up in chain
-White man was drunk and taunted the dog
-Lassie chased the man out of the yard
-The sheriff shot their dog

3. Feelings
scared, angry, mad, sad, sympathy

I chose this story because since the beginning it caught my attention and kept me listening to the whole story. It started off by Bernard, the guy telling the story, describing the dog he and his brother Evander had when he was little. He said his name was Lassie and look just like the dog on TV. He also mentions something that is later on important to the story, which was that Lassie was always tied up at the house with a chain. Bernard also says that Lassie was like their protector. Once he is done describing Lassie, he goes into the memory of the day Lassie was shot. He says him and his brother were playing outside when a drunk white man passed by and told them to go over with him but they didn't so he started coming in the yard and then started bothering Lassie. So then Lassie chased him out of the yard, because he was protecting Bernard and his brother. About an hour later, a sheriff came in with the drunk white man and the man told the sheriff that Lassie was the dog that attacked him. So then Bernard and his brother were told to go inside and the sheriff shot their dog.

I thought it was interesting how Bernard describes how the sheriff got out a shotgun from his car and then they heard the shots. He even says how they sounded like he says "pow! pow!" and then he also mentions how loud they sounded, he says his ears were even ringing. Bernard does a great job at describing the sound of the shots, this makes the listeners imagine how it must have sounded and how it must of been to see that what the sheriff shot was their dog. I like how in his story Bernard mentions how him and his brother, who were 5 and 4 years old, would play cops and robbers and for them the sheriff was always the hero but their hero had shot their dog! This really makes the story more powerful because we can imagine how him and his brother must have felt and how they were in shock. I also think it is interesting how at the end Bernard mentions how at age 5 that experience taught him that skin color mattered because they were black and the drunk man was white. This story was a really good story because it was not just a story about a dog being shot, Bernard starts by describing the dog so that we are drawn to like Lassie, so that when he is shot, we also feel that sadness. Bernard also adds to the story by mentioning how the sheriff was like their hero, but he was the one who shot their dog and also how the skin color was important in this story.

“We'd known death but not like this.”

Link:  http://storycorps.org/listen/hector-black/

1. 5 questions
How did you learn about how your daughter died?
What happened that day she was killed?
What were you feeling after you found our your daughter was dead?
What were your feelings toward the person that did this to your daughter?
What did you learn about the guy that killed your daughter? How did you feel after you forgave him?

2. 6 Details

-He was hiding in the closet
-The daughter was killed by the intruder
-The dad wanted the intruder to feel the pain he was feeling
-The intruder was born in a mental hospital and had a tough life
-The dad forgave the intruder
-The dad's voice while telling the story

3. Feelings
sad, confused, compassionate, sympathy

I chose this story because I liked the way the story was told. Hector, the man telling the story, starts off by describing what happened the day his daughter was killed. He mentions details like how the intruder was hiding in the closet, how he tied her hands, and he says the conversation they had. He then describes how he felt after he knew his daughter was dead, and how he wanted the intruder to feel the pain he was feeling because of his daughter's death. He mentions how he had never been in favor of the death penalty but he wanted that man to hurt how he hurt his daughter. He then goes into how he became curious about the intruder to know more about who was this "monster." He then found out that the intruder's name was Ivan Simpson.

Hector found out that Ivan was born in a mental hospital, and when he was 11 years old his mother took him, his sister and his brother to a swimming pool and there said that "God had ordered her to destroy them." Ivan and his brother escaped from their mother but he watched as his mom drowned his little sister. I think this information about Ivan, the intruder, is really important to the story because it makes us feel compassionate for Ivan because we are exposed to what his life was like, what stuff he went through and what had made him into the person he was now, into the guy who killed Hector's daughter. This also helps us better understand why Hector forgives him at the end even though he killed his daughter and why he didn't want Ivan to be killed. I also think it was really powerful what Hector said to Ivan, which was "I don't hate you Ivan Simpson, I just hate with all my soul what you did to my daughter." I think these are really powerful words that just really make you think about what you would tell the person who killed someone you really love. I like how Hector says how there were tears running down Ivan's cheeks and how he kept saying sorry for all the pain he caused. I also liked how Hector ended the story by saying how much better he felt now that he had forgiven Ivan. It was like a weight had been lifted from him. 

CPR Blog #1

At first, I didn't know which classic book to read so I went to Alejandra. She brought a couple of books and I decided to pick Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. The reason I chose this book was because as Alejandra was talking about it and telling me an overview of the book, she was very excited. She said it is her all-time favorite book and that she thinks everyone should read it at some point in their life. As she talked about it, it made me very interested in it and I decided to borrow it from her and read it.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is "considered by many to be Dickens' finest novel..." It is a story about an orphan called Pip. Pip lives with his sister and her husband, Pip's sister is very mean to him causing him to have a quite miserable life. Pip has a desire to become a gentlemen. He is asked to be a tutor for a very rich child. He has great expectations to be a wealthy and well-educated man, but usually great expectations lead to disappointment. This is a book that I am very excited to read because it seems like a great book because I consider myself having great expectations for myself sometimes.