Oh What A Slaughter by Larry McMurtry

Q: "Nephi Johnson, one of the participants in the Moutain Meadows Massacre, died crying "Blood, blood, blood"
Q: Is trauma that bad, I wonder if this is the same type of thing, the troops go through when they come back from combat?
C: I think trauma in general is an interesting study, I mean why does he brain choose to hang on to the bloodiest parts of our lives, or the parts we try to forget.

Q-Q-C A Man Without A Country by Kurt Vonnegut Reading Journal

Q: "No, but what you respond to in any work of art is the artist's struggle against his or her limitations."

Q: Why would you respond to that?

C: This is a very interesting quote, and the only reason I wrote it was because it made me stop and think, which I have done many times while reading this book. I still don't totally get it, but I like the quote anyways.

Quote: On Beethovens Third symphony"He called his symphony Eroica, which means heroic, and intended it as a tribute to courage rather than to a single man. This is information I've gotten from Nathaniel, a patient teacher who seems to offer me a gift of his knowledge." Question: I dont know what it is that sounds unbelieveable about this story because I can understand how someone has a passion for something, but how someone can keep grasp of all the music theory or whatever passion they have, after 30+ years of living destitutely on Skid Row, one of Americas biggest homeless communities. So the question is how can he retain all of this information, while living with a mental illness, and living homeless? Comment: I think Nathaniel is amazing and I think his illness is fascinating, which might sound weird, but I think that something that makes your brain have unpredictable mood swings and makes you remember odd facts that you learned 30+ years ago .

Quote: "Hey you hear what happened to Rabin?... No. what happened?...He killed himself... That was Julliard. The pressure could shore up your belief in yourself." Question:Why would someone want to strive to be in a place where the pressure of the atmosphere made you want to kill yourself? Comment: I want to say that there is no point to strive to go to a place like Julliard, but if I had the chance to go there I would jump at it. So all I'm going to say is that the people there arent God and they shouldnt be telling you how good you are, or make you feel bad about yourself.

The Soloist by Steve Lopez

Q: "He doesnt answer he's(nathaniel) discovered the cello. Oh my gosh, he gasps, carefully lifting and cradling the instrument as if it were a newborn child."
Q: Why does he do this?
C: I think Nathaniel does this because he loves music so much that he takes pride in being able to use an instrument like this one. I think he just is in awe, from not playing a cello from some 40 years that he just wants to make the one he is about to receive last as long as it can.

#26

A Man Without A Country by Kurt Vonnegut Quote: "Don't use semicolons... All they do is show you've been to college." Question: Why does he feel so strongly about semicolons? Comment: I agree, I really never knew the point of semicolons, so I will never use them now!! hahaha

#25

A Man Without A Country by Kurt Vonnegut Quote:"I was a writer in 1968. I'm A Hack. I would write anything for money" Question: Why is he calling himself a hack, Is it because of the fact that he would write anything for money, or is their something deeper that I am missing? Comment: I think he thinks that he is a hack, because he set his standards low, and didn't stick to his values because he just wanted money.

I have just started a book called the Invisible Man. It is an interesting book about this guy who is confused about himself and where he is in life. SO he is "invisible and inn the first couple of chapters he walks us through the events that happened before he became invisible... Overall its a good book so far, but I am not that far yet.

So this weekend I read and completed Burn by Ellen Hopkins which was a very good book.

Quote:" The didnt have a clear idea of what radiation, so they tracked where the wind blew it, and what happened to those who came in contact with the fallout."

Question: Why would they test radiation in the US, if they new it could be pontentially harmful?

Comment: I think the Government in this instance made themselves look really stupid.

Reading journal

Ok so another day of school, another day of a pleseant mixture of drama, boredom, and laughs another day I will never remember 10 years from now or even two weeks from now... Another day that is just a blur, mixed with all the other days in the week. Ok so I am kindof having a Charles Bukowski fedish right now cause again I am reading another one of his books, and again I am going to finish it in a day in a half. I really like this author, because he is funny and literal. He talks about real things that are going on, but from a writers perspective.

Here is an interesting quote from Charles Bukowski's book "Hot Water Music": "That was the trouble with being a writer, that was the main trouble-leisure time, execessive leisure time. You had to wait around for the buildup until you could write and while you were waiting you went crazy, and while you were going crazy you drank, and the more you drank the crazier you got. There was nothing glorious about the life of a writer or the life of a drinker. My question is Why would anyone want to become a writer, if all they did was wait and drink, until they came up with an idea? My comment is that the life of a writer seems pretty dull, boring, uninviting to me. But I think people become writers before they really read the fine print in their job description. Because I once had the urge to becomea writer because I had heard stories of the writer that lived in the countryside, leisure as ever and just wrote what came to him. But I think that can be the battle with any profession, the fact that you have to find the balance between work time, and your leisurely time, and make sure that you are dont or rarely have just idle time, because I think the worst things happen when you have nothing to do, so keep busy with other things like hobbies or friends/family.

Quote: " Although most of my neighbors were unemployed he didnt want them to think he was jobless. So he got in his car each morning at the same time and drove off as if he was going to work. Then in the evening he would return at exactly the same time." from Charles Bukowski's Ham on Rye

Question: I found out this past week that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Although Mr. Bukowski, doesnt tell us if the Mr Chinaski is going out every morning to get a job. But the way he describes it makes me think that Mr. Chinaski is crazy, because it says that he does the same thing over and over. So my question is what does he do everyday?

Comment: I think that Mr. Chinaski goes out far from the street he lives on because if he is to proud to be unemployed, then that probably means that he is to proud to be seen by any body who might live by him. I think he goes to the same place everday, because it says he goes and returns at the exact same time everyday, and I think it is probably a bar because when he gets home he usually gets mad at Henry for a dumb reason. Now I dont know if I am right, and there is know feasible way that I can know if I am right so I will just go on a hunch that I have that tells me that he goes to a bar, everyday.

#18

Quote:"I had begun to dislike my father" from Charles Bukowski's

Comment:In this part of the book Henry and his Parents go to see a lot of their relatives ie aunt's and uncle's, and it seems like every they go, Henry's father starts a fight, and makes the visits end on a bad note. Sometimes even when they go out to eat, his father tries to get out of the bill, by finding an imaginery fly or bug in his food. So I guess I am saying that I can see why a kid with a dad like that would start to dislike his father.

Question:If his father would even care, that his only son is starting to dislike him?

Quote: "I hate people" from Charles Bukoswki's book Ham on Rye

Comment: I think this is very peculiar, and I am curious if he hates all people or just the people who arent in his family.

Question: I want to know why he hates people?

#16 Hello ;)

Quote:I feel satisfied, that I didnt break down, didnt confess major sin, open my mouth to widely. from Ellen Hopkin's Impulse


Question: In this quote their is a therapy session, and it seems like the patient is having a competition with the therapist, to not say anything. my question is isnt that what therapy is for?

Comment: Ithink that this character is never going to get any better, if he doesnt open up.

Hola como esta!

I am now reading he count of monte cristo.

My QUote is from the second chapter: "They say that joy never harms anyone"

Question is who says this

Comment Even though this book is about history it has alot of things, that make you think bout yourself and who you are.

media!!! lives in your shoe?

Media media media.... a five letter word.... is all around us..... I think media is anything thats influences you to do something, buy something, even look at something.... Having said that their are countless forms of media from billboards to people. I think that when you think of the media, you also have to think of advertisement, because most media makes you wanna buy something, or the hope of the people that produce the form of media is for the consumer to buy it..... I believe that every you look, you will find some form of media...... So look hard and see what you find....

Well this is the first post since we went on break. So yeah school has been BLAH and all we have been doing is workin on POL's which even though they are stressful, they will probably help us in the long run. So yeah the book I have been reading is called OutKast, and it is about the most awesomesssst hip-hop group since Run-DMC. So basically if you havent heard them then your LAME, but you can redeem yourself from the lame person that you are, by going and at least listening to a song, and then if you dont like them, then its your perogative, but you would to be kookoo aka crazy aka loony I would say more "aka's" but I cant think of any.. Anyhow the book is about how the members of OutKast met (Andre Benjamin aka Andre 3000 and Antwan Patton aka Big Boi) and how they had to work really hard at trying to get signed and had to stay in the studio all day sometimes and just work on writing rhymes and making tracks etc. So I personally thought it was inspirational, because that is what I want to do when I get a job, I want to do something that has to do with music, beacause I love music, honestly I am always listening to music, or if I am not listening to music I am thinking of a song in my head. ALso I think I want to have my own clothing line that specializes in hats and shoes because you can make almost any outfit look fly with a dope hat and a fresh pair of kicks...