Post B #2

Response: Dear Peter. High school is tough. It is only my first year that i have been here but i know already this journey will be a very difficult one. People whom you thought you knew can turn out being entirely different people than you once thought they were. Through all the jerks and mean people i try to remember that they are meaningless in the scheme of it all. I am not saying that i know how you feel because i do not. I have had tough times but nothing like what you have been through. I do know that after these painful awkward school days, we can grow up in a completely different direction that we were once headed. I will not take pity on you because i know that if all of the teens around the world expressed their anger in the way you did, there woudn't be many teens alive today. Life can be tough but it is what we make of it. You shot people, some that you hated and were trying to get back at and others just because you were in the heat of the moment. I will not take pity however i will not blame you and tell you what i am sure you have heard hundreds of times from your peers and other adults. "you could have talked to someone..." etc. i know that it is easier said than done but why peter? i ask why you did what you did. High school may be one of the hardest battles to fight, but once we're done...we're done for good and you will never get to expirence that. i think knowing that is punishment in itself for your actions.

Post A #1

"if we dont change the direction we are headed, we will end up where we are going"-chinise proverb page 1. This quote relates to the book in the sense that peter could have changed his attitude towards life instead of being depressed he could have channeled that energy but instead he made a big drastic decision that he could never take back.

The emerging theme of the book is forgiveness. instead of condemning their son peter, they know that there is good in him and they try to forgive him.

Post B #1

Response: Dear Josie. I understand the troubles and changing’s that go with the whole high school. I know that high school is hard and that friends can consistently change but I cannot understand why you excluded peter from your life. He was there for you when you needed him and unlike your new more “popular friends” he was a good friend to you and deserved much better than you left him with. With great sorrow I say that you play a role in peters reasoning’s for shooting at the school caused by him being so depressed. With you he felt that he had a home, a rock that would not move but as high school came around you shouldn’t have been afraid to be yourself. Don’t get me wrong sometimes things like this sound easier than they are but i think that you would have been happier. Peter knew that Matt was cruel to you. Peter would have never laid one finger on you if it was to be cruel. In life we can walk on the road, doing what we feel is right, walk in the footsteps of others on the sidewalk because sometimes it is easier, or we can walk on the grass and do our own thing. What we wish to do and what we actually pursue are two different things but I think that you made a mistake. I am not blaming you for what happened but I think that you should feel some guilt towards the situation. Life has its ups and defiantly its downs but I think that life is too short to blame. Peter will probably be in jail for a very long time and instead of blaming you, I feel sorry for you that you will never get the opportunity to make up what you did. Being happy and being content are two different things and sure you may be happy in this life again, maybe even tomorrow but until you pay your dues having a content life will be very, very difficult.

dbatb

The book, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly has truely changed my life. After reading this book it makes me think about how lucky I am to not be like Jean. The conditons he lived with every waking day is something I could not handle in my life. Jean does say it he would have almost rather died, but for me I would have rathered die. Never being able to eat, talk, even go to the bathroom on my own would bring me so down I wouldnt be able to stand living. The courage and patience Jean had is unreal to me. I do not understand for about a year Jean would sit dreaming about how life was great. In most cases people let reality take over, but Jean was different. He tryed to dream and think about what he used to have and not let beeing locked in his body stop him from being himself. The struggles he faced with his wife and family to me seemed the hardest. Not having someone with me who truely loved me 24/7 would kill me. Litteraly kill me. I dont understand how his wife could just leave him like that after all that happened. I mean I understand she would never be able to talk to him, or know what real love was like again but he was in a desperate condidtion. To me, if I was in this situation as the wife, i would stay with my housband until his last days. I loved the book and I would love to read another memoir just like this one!

I am a musician kind of like Bob Dylan. i play the guitar and have now for about a year. i think that when you set your mind to something, you can really do it. when i first started the guitar i didnt know how fast i would progress. i had no idea that i would accel to the level that i am at now. I love what i do with my music. i love to write songs etc and Bob dylan does as well.

hw memoir

In the beginning of the book about Bob Dylan, bob is really trying hard to really make it into the business and he tries so hard that it is making him fatigued. i think that Bob has some of the greatest persistincy to stick with his business and what he felt was right through all of his toils in his music. it is very inspiring.

dbatb hw

The memoir The Diving Bell and The Butterfly has left me still determining how I feel about the situation of which the author was in. I have thought about the book’s meaning and still have not been able to find a true meaning to why it was written. I have some ideas such as he wanted to show people how life was for him, or maybe to show others that he could accomplish something while being “locked in”. I feel three main things about this book. One of these things would be great sadness. I feel sadness because the author could not move besides the blinking of his eye. When I read a book, I always put myself in the shoes of the main character, with the main character in this book being a paraplegic it was difficult for me to relate. Another emotion that I feel towards this book is confusion. It was difficult for me to figure out how everything really pieced together. The part that mainly confused me would be when he began talking about the matron of the hospital and how they were dancing together. It was difficult for me to visually picture those chapters. A final emotion that I feel would be achievement for the author. I thought it was really great that he achieved so much for a person in that situation. He wrote a book-I would definitely not think of writing a book with my body so confined. I would rather have people mope and feel sorry for me, which I know is not the right way to go about that. So, in my opinion this book was not one that I would chose to reread or commonly suggest to people. The genre of memoirs does not really attract me to start out so I may already have a bias.

dbatb hw

The memoir The Diving Bell and The Butterfly has left me still determining how I feel about the situation of which the author was in. I have thought about the book’s meaning and still have not been able to find a true meaning to why it was written. I have some ideas such as he wanted to show people how life was for him, or maybe to show others that he could accomplish something while being “locked in”. I feel three main things about this book. One of these things would be great sadness. I feel sadness because the author could not move besides the blinking of his eye. When I read a book, I always put myself in the shoes of the main character, with the main character in this book being a paraplegic it was difficult for me to relate. Another emotion that I feel towards this book is confusion. It was difficult for me to figure out how everything really pieced together. The part that mainly confused me would be when he began talking about the matron of the hospital and how they were dancing together. It was difficult for me to visually picture those chapters. A final emotion that I feel would be achievement for the author. I thought it was really great that he achieved so much for a person in that situation. He wrote a book-I would definitely not think of writing a book with my body so confined. I would rather have people mope and feel sorry for me, which I know is not the right way to go about that. So, in my opinion this book was not one that I would chose to reread or commonly suggest to people. The genre of memoirs does not really attract me to start out so I may already have a bias.

this i believe...

1. http://www.npr.org/templates/story.php?storyId=72935982. Ann Karasinski3. There is No Blame; There is Only Love.4. The mother of a Heroine addicted teen now believes that she cannot blame anyone, not even herself, for the addiction of her daughters...she can only love her.5. -The only thing that connected her and her daughter while she left due to her addiction was believed to be love. - They meet every Friday for coffee, she doesn't try to heal her or change her. She just loves her. 6. "Sometimes there is pain and sorrow, but there is no blame. I believe there is only love."

goals

The thing I am most anxious about at Edina High School is becoming friends with the upperclassmen and being able to hangout with them like i do with my friends in my grade. I know if i keep good grades and let go of my inhibitions i will have a fun high school experience.One goal for myself in my sophomore year is getting and keeping good grades. I believe i can do it although the pressure from my dad is not helping. I know if i pay attention and keep up with all my work i will be able to obtain good grades.