In the story i thought it was good how the author told it like he was really talking to his dad through out the whole thing.  I liked how there would be a little clip of his dad riding his bike and talking about what had happened to him.  i though think the story would have been better if his father had not burnt all of his mother’s diaries  because then you would get more of her perspective on it all.  There was probably alot of details that he had forgotten at the time that the mother would have written down. 

Overall I thought that story was a good story and that you definately need to read the second part of it to really understand it better.  I was hoping by the end of this book though that i would have a better undertsanding as to why the dad acts the way he does.  He seemed so emotionless and didnt really care about his son or new wife.  He blamed everything that happened to him on his son when he was telling his story.

At times though I think that if I was to run away I am not sure if it would be to a big city or if it would just be to a quiet little town out in the country on a lake, like having a house in the Lake of the Ozarks.  That way I could enjoy the little things in life and be able to watch the sunset and have alot of open space to myself.  This way i could do a lot of thinking and have fun doing it by laying out on the lake everyday relaxing.  I love the big city life but I also love just being alone and having peace and quiet and sitting out by a lake watching the sunset with fresh air.

I think if i was to run away it would be hard for me to decide where to run to.  I might just end up like a traveler like Chris did because i would not be able to choose what life was right for me or I would try both out and then see which one I liked better.  Maybe this is way Chris did so much traveling because he saw that he could fit into many different places/ life’s but wanted to see which one was right for him.

I beleive if anything Chris was a free soul, an advanturer.  He was someone that lived for the little things in life and beleived that was all he needed.  He lived to see the beauties that God had made!  In our society today many people get critized for being different but still Chris didnt care and i think thats why people are critizing his story soo much because they just dont understand going outside the norm.

I have always been a good kid, do not get me wrong, but lately now that I am off at college I have slowly started to rebel and I know my parents can tell.  Back in high school my parents never really thought that I partied but little did they know I was having parties right down in the basement while they were sleeping upstairs.  Now do not get me wrong these were not huge parties they were a couple of my closest friends and a few boys.  My mom was always against me drinking and only once did she ever question if we were drinking downstairs.  Now these were nothing to fancy or crazy some might not think that these was too rebellious but to me it was, even though my mom always told me that if I was going to drink she rather have it under her roof.

Now that I am off at college though she knows that I drink and it feels good that I can openly tell her about it and not feel guilty.  But since i have been off at college I have done some more rebeling in a way that if my parents ever found out they would seriously be mad.  My parents have been more against getting a tattoo then anything in the world pretty much.  But I have always wanted a tattoo and have been determined to get one now that I am away from home.  To me getting a tattoo is one of the biggest ways I could ever rebel against my parents or even my family.

I am not a rebel child but I do have some rebellion in me!

1.10 Things I Hate about You

2. Lion King 2

3. A lot Like Love

4. Mona Lisa Smile

5.The Knights Tale

The Favorite movie that I can watch over and over again is 10 Things I Hate about You.  It is one of those movies that no matter how many times I see it, it never gets old.  It is about a rebelous girl Kat, Julia Stiles, and a boy, Heath Ledger, who end up falling in love in the most unromantic ways.  Kat’s sister is known as the princess of the school and has all of the guys wanting to date her, Amanda.  The guy that she wants to date though is a senior at school and is a model.  The only thing is that the girls dad does not allow them to date until they are in college.  Then one night he comes up with a new plan that Amanda can date when Kat dates because he knows that Kat will never date.  So they hire Heath Ledgers character to date Kat so Amanda can go out.  I think I like this movie so much because I became a huge fan of Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger after this movie!  I love how the writers put in scenes that could happen in real life when Kat pukes on Heath’s leg at a party.  It is a movie that just appeals to the teens because it is things that we have all gone through or will go through our high school and college years.  Its about love and finding love in places and people that you wont normally look for it in.  I also love the music in the movie, especially the last scene!  In the last scene Kat walks out to her car and sees the guitar she has been wanting sitting in her front seat and slowly Heath comes into the picture and asks her if she likes it.  Then they slowly start laughing and kissing and cheap trick starts playing in the background.  Slowly the camera starts to movie to the roof of the school building were a band is singing the song. I think right there is when I fell in love with this movie because everything came together in the end.  after seeing this movie I became huge Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger fans.

My next favorite movie is the Lion King.  How can you not love a Disney movie especailly the Lion King.  I still love to watch this movie even though i am alot older now but i think it is because it will always be considered one of those classic movies that will never go out of style.  This movie i think was written really well because it teaches people of all ages great life lessons besides who doesnt love a baby lion.  Lion King will always be one of my favorite Disney movies because of the life lessons you are able to take from it.

Another movie that I really like is A Lot Like Love.  I think I like this movie so much is because I am a sucker for love stories and this one reminds me of something that will probably happen to me.  I love in this movie how they meet my chance and start out as friends but you can slowly see it turn into a deep love even though they dont show it.  In the movie when one is ready for love the other one is with someone else is not ready for the commitment.  I like how they both keep coming back to each other and in the end when you think that it is over the director surprises you and then end up running back to each other.  It is one of those funny romantic movies that keeps you on your toes because at first you think you have it figured out then it takes a different spin.  A Lot Like Love is one of those movies I think alot of people can relate to when it comes to a relationship or a friendship that no matter the distance if something is meant to be it will work out. 

One of my favorite actresses is Julia Roberts and i pretty much love any movie that she is in.  In Mona Lisa Smile she plays a teacher at a college that is all about getting young ladies ready for marriage.  But of course she is against that and thinks that a woman should play a strong role in society just not in the home.  She tires to show the girls that it is okay to be eduacted and smart and have a job.  This movie is a movie that reminds us what it used to be like for woman and how difficult it was to brake them of that habit.  This movie gets me thinking of how lucky i have it and that is why i like it so much.

One day when we were on one of our many shopping trips to Woodfield Mall with my mom, we went into Abercrombie and Fitch just like any other trip to the mall and I found this shirt that changed who I was for the next couple years of my life whenever I wore it.  The shirt that I found that day was in one of my favorite colors red and was long shelved and on the front of the shirt it said ‘Over-Achiever’ in blue and white letters.  The shirt just happened to fit perfectly so I bought it not knowing that that saying on the front of the shirt would change who I was when I wore it.

One of the first times that I wore the shirt was to school function where the 6th graders put on a breakfast for their class and the priest in the parish that helped with reconcilation.  While I was serving bacon to one of the older priest, he asked me questions about the things that I do and then asked me what I did to receive that shirt.  Here this priest thought that I had done something special and received this shirt as an award.  When he said that it made me think of who I was and for the rest of the day I worked extra hard to help people aka to be that over achiever that he thought I was. 

As the times went on of me wearing the shirt I always seemed to present myself differently when I was in that shirt.  I wanted to people to think that I was awarded this shirt for something special that I did.  I would always give 100% when doing something or helping someone.  As time went on and I out grew my shirt I started acting as though I was always wearing that shirt and it was just turned into my personality over the years.  I try to do whatever I can to help people and do my best.  I have never forgotten that day when the priest asked me what i had done to be that over achiever.  It is something that will stick with me forever and always push me to do my best so I do not dissappoint myself or that priest from so long ago.

Example of Paraphrasing: Roger Sipher starts his eassy by stating that one of the main crisis to America’s education decline is the mandorty attentence laws that force children to go to school who otherwise would choose not to.

Example of Quoting: According to Roger Sipher private schools have no such problem because, “They can fail or dismiss students, knowing such students can attend public school” (Page #).

The other website that I read today talked about the 22 reasons why someone should go vegan.  It stated that someone that is vegan is more likely to live 15 years longer than the average person that eats meat.  It said that by going vegan you are less likely to have heart problems, cancer, and will help you lose weight.  It talked about that alot of people which to vegetarian is because their doctors will highly recommend it for their health problems.  We that are vegetarians are usually a lot happier and have a lot more energy since they do not have all the heavy meat holding them down.  It talked about that people turn vegetarians for different reasons too besides just for their health.  One reason is because they are against animal cruelty.  They refuse to eat meat because they can not stand how animals are treated and how they are killed.  Some people do it for politic reasons but most of the time those reasons do not last and those people turn right back to eating meat because they realize the reason is not worth not eating meat.  This website also talked about how to turn into a vegetarian.  It said that if you chose to turn vegetarian then it is best to do it cold turkey because it would be harder to cut back little by little even though some people do it this way.

The two websites that I looked at today gave me a lot of information that I will be able to use in my paper.

       I started my schooling at St. Ritas Catholic grade school in Rockford, Illinois and went there until I graduated 8th grade.  Unlike many of the other schools around me, I started school before Labor Day and got out before anyone else.  I would have to go to school mass every Wednesday morning with the rest of the school.  Every morning for me started out the same for years, we would get to school sit in our seats and listen to the morning prayer and say the pledge and then everyone in the school would have religion class for 30 minutes.  When I was in grade school it was not considered all that bad and you really did not hear much of the name calling from the public school kids but once I got into my 8th grade year I started hearing more of the name calling.  We were considered to be wealthy bratz that could get whatever they wanted with daddy’s money.  That was so untrue though because the catholic school that i went to did not have all the money, we were considered one of the poorer catholic grade schools in Rockford.  But that still did not stop the name calling especially for me because I was considered one of rich girls in my class.  Even when you are in a catholic school your classmates will even called you a wealthy brat it you have more money they do.  So let me tell you Catholic school kids can be bruttle even if they are in the same class as you.

        When I finally got to high school, Boylan Catholic Central, I was there with a lot of kids that were not even catholic.  They were there though because Boylan offered one of the best educations in the area since our public school system was so bad.  As my freshman year began I soon learned alot more about the things that were said about us.  We were the school that was hated by everyone even the newspaper.  Everyone considered us to have the best drugs and alcohol since we had daddy’s money so we could afford only the best.  We were also known as a very good at sports but that was because every thought that since we had the money we would go and recruit players from different schools to play for us but none of that was true.  Most of the kids on your teams had come from the other catholic grade schools in the area.  Not only did the pick on our sport’s teams but the girls from Boylan got picked on alot too.  We were considered to be easy or huge weathy bitches.  Where were not liked by alot of the girls from different schools for this reason because all of the guys would want to be with us.  They had a saying ‘Boylan girls are like bowling balls, you use them once and throw them into to gutter but they keep coming back for more.’  A lot of this is false, yeah we did have some girls that were like that but what school does not.  We did our share of partying just like all the other schools in the area if anything we were the school with less drugs and partying.  Even though everyone was considered rich we were far from that.  We had our share of rich people but most of them did not go around flaunting it.  If anything we had alot more poor people and middle class then rich! A lot of the kids there were there on scholarships or would help pay for their our tutition by working it off through the school.  Every year we would have fundraisers to help raise money for all the kids that wanted to go to Boylan but their parents could not afford it.

    Some of the things that are said about Catholic school girls are true but alot of it is just made up because they are jealous.  I am a Catholic School girl and I am proud to be one! i am proud of my background and all the things that i have learned about people.  It has made me stronger to have to deal with these kind of people.