outside reading #17

I have continued reading Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer.
Bella is currently having a “slumber party” with Alice. Edward has left for the weekend to go hunting and he wants to make sure that Bella is safe, so he forces her to stay at his house for the duration of his trip. During Bella’s stay at the Cullen’s house, Rosalie tells Bella the story of her life and how she became a vampire. Bella can see why Rosalie wants Bella to stay human and have the life that Rosalie never had. The next day, Jacob shows up at Bella’s school and takes her to the beach. Jake talks about how each werewolf has a “soul mate”. Jacob says that he will never have a soul mate because his was Bella and she is already in love with Edward. When Edward returns from his hunt, Bella expects him to be mad about her seeing Jake, but he isn’t. He decides that he is going to trust Bella. When Bella returns to her house after her stay at the Cullen’s she finds her room to be clean and things to be missing. When Edward comes to her house, he can smell that a vampire had been in her house, but he doesn’t recognize the smell. This sends Bella into a panic because that means that a vampire wants to kill her. Edward says that he wont let anything happen to her no matter what happens and Bella can’t not believe him. After all, he is an immortal vampire.

outside reading #16

i think we are suppose to write about Cesar Chavez. Chavez was a very determined man. He kept marching all the way to Sacramento even though he had hurt himself. He fasted in order to promote non violence. Doctors thought that he could die if he didn't eat, but Chavez stuck with it and people eventually listened to him. Cesar was also a very cooperative man. He worked well with the people on strike and the others that were supporting them. He didn't lash out at the growers, he only took non violent steps toward getting the proper wages and working conditions. Chavez is also a man with great intelligence. Even though he never had proper schooling, he understood human nature. Cesar Chavez was also great with words. He inspired workers to fight for what they wanted and needed. He also spoke his message in court and in Sacramento. With all of these characteristics, the one that showed the most was his strong will. He never gave up. Even though he didn't have a lawyer or anyone to defend him, he still stood up against the grape growers. Cesar Chavez was a very prestige man. He had the courage of 50 men. He did everything he had to in order to get his message across and to have his conditions met. I think that Chavez showed the courage that everyone wish they could have.
(Ms. Roehl... my Internet wasn't working yesterday, so I couldn't post this then.)

outside reading #15

I started reading Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer.
Edward is very excited about Bella going to college, so he keeps giving her more applications to fill out. Bella says she doesn’t want to fill out any more because she already got accepted at a University in Alaska and that was good enough because it was rarely sunny their so it would be perfect for Edward and soon to be Bella. Bella has been grounded since she got back from saving Edward, but her dad finally let’s her go. Edward decides that Bella should go visit her mom before she graduates. Edward goes with her to Jacksonville. Bella’s mom notices that Edward is very protective of Bella and she thinks it is very strange. Bella knows the truth, but tells her mom that she is just seeing things. After getting back from Jacksonville, Jacob shows up at Bella’s school. He comes to tell her that Victoria is back and is still trying to kill Bella. Jacob also says that Edward already knew this and that is why he wanted her to go to Florida. After Jacob leaves, Bella passes notes with Edward and finds out the truth. He didn’t tell her about Victoria because she didn’t need to be afraid because he would never let anything happen to her. Bella is satisfied with this, but is still nervous about Victoria being back.

outside reading #14

I finally finished New Moon! I read for about three hours today, but I finished!
During the final parts of the book, Bella comes home to find Alice at her house. The next day the two of them find out that Edward has gone to Italy to get himself killed. He thinks that Bella is dead because Alice had seen Bella jumping off of a cliff in her vision. Bella did jump off of a cliff, but for fun, and she survives. Alice and Bella go to Italy and find Edward. The three of them have to go talk with the other, most powerful vampires. The powerful vampires say that they can be free, but Bella must be turned into a vampire. When the three get back to Forks, Bella decides to go and talk to the whole Cullen family. The family votes on whether or not Bella should be turned into a vampire. Edward and Rosalie say no, but everyone else says yes. It is decided that Carlisle will bite her, but not until after she graduates. At the very end of the book, Jacob shows up at Bella’s house with her motorcycle. Edward is very protective of Bella. Jacob says that they can’t be friends anymore because Edward is back. Jacob also reminds them of the treaty that says that if the Cullen’s BITE a human, the treaty is broken, which would interfere with Bella’s plan to become a vampire.
This book was amazing. I can’t wait to see the movie tomorrow. I would recommend this book to anyone.

outside reading #13

Today I read another section in New Moon by Stephenie Meyer.
"And then to discover the key to hallucinations." This quote describes what happened in the book. It started off with Bella and Jacob getting on their newly fixed motorcycles. Bella can't really get the hang of it, so Jacob has to help her. After many failures, Bella finally gets going. She is going really slow for about 5 minutes and the whole time she is hearing Edward's voice in her head telling her to stop and get off the motorcycle. When Bella decides she wants to go faster so that she can hear his voice more, she doesn't see the turn on the road an goes crashing into the woods. Jacob finds her with the motorcycle on top off her. The two go to the hospital and say that Bella tripped in Jacob's garage and hit her head on a hammer. After getting her seven stitches, she starts thinking about riding the bike again so that she can hear Edward. The next day, Jacob says that they should take a break from the bikes. Reluctantly, Bella agrees, so the two decide to go hiking. Bella decides that they will go look for the meadow where the Cullen's had played baseball.
The quote shows that Bella figures out that in order to hear Edward's voice, she needs to do dangerous things. The more dangerous it is, the more she will hear his voice. This drives her to find the most dangerous things possible and do them, just so she knows that he really did exist.

outside reading #12

I read an article on the Kare 11 website about the U of M Children's Hospital. The article said that only only one child has had a heart transplant since 2005. This is shocking because the U of M Children's Hospital is the only hospital in the Twin Cities that performs heart transplants. It turns out that some children have had to go to other hospitals because the Children's Hospital takes too long to set a date for the transplant. There is a system that shows which patient needs the heart the most. 1A is the most urgent and then 1B. When kids at the Children's Hospital have been moved up to the 1A list, the doctors have moved them back down because of the surgeons vacation schedule. THAT IS RIDICULOUS! These kids should not have to be put on a lower list because of the doctors vacations. The system obviously has a major flaw. There was a story of a little girl named Abby who was born with a birth defect. The medicine she was on out her on the 1A list because it compromised her immune system. This seems right, but the family wanted to have her at home because they thought that would be the best place for her to be. But, their doctors said that if they took care of her at home, she would have to be put on the 1B list. Abby, later went to a hospital in Missouri to have the heart transplant because she couldn't get one in Minnesota. Later it was stated that Abby could have still been on the 1A list if she was taken care of at home. Abby's doctors made a huge mistake that could have cost Abby her life.

outside reading #11

I was reading the newspaper this morning and I came across an article about the Minnesota Senate race. In the article it stated that 32 absentee ballots were found. The Coleman campaign filed a lawsuit that questioned the truthfulness of these ballots. They think that this ballots were just filled out after November fourth. From my point of view I can see where the campaign is coming from. It is hard to believe that these 32 ballots just mysteriously just showed up. The Franken campaign says that it is only fair that these ballots are counted, otherwise we would be denying the right of those people to vote. A chief district court judge in Ramsey County came to the confirmation that the temporary restraining order on the ballots, wanted by the Coleman campaign, was not going to happen. It is very hard to know if these ballots were really filled out before November 4th or whether people filled them out after they heard that the race was to close to call. These ballots might change the outcome of this race, so I don't think that it is fair that the fate of the candidates lie in the hands of 32 ballots that were not counted on the day of the election.

outside reading #10

After listening to John McCain's concession speech last night, I decided to take a closer look at it. I read his whole concession speech to really understand what he was saying.
Throughout the speech he talks about how this campaign has been so long and difficult. This is completely true. This campaign has gotten so many peoples attention because of the direction our country has been going in for the past couple of years. McCain also talks about the respect he has for Obama. He talks about how Obama inspired the hopes of so many people, by reminding them that hey do have a voice in the election and that every voice counts. I do believe that every vote counts and that everyone should get out there and have their voice heard, but I wont even get into how I believe the electoral votes take away from the people. I also liked how McCain urged Americans, even the ones that supported him, to congratulate Obama and wish him the best of luck. I also appreciated the thanks that McCain gave to all of his supporters. Even though he wanted the outcome to be different, he was still very grateful of all of us who believed in him. "A lost election will never mean more to me than the privilege of your faith and friendship." This quote made me smile. I love how McCain wasn't angry that he lost, he was very calm and just wanted to wish Obama the best of luck.
"to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here.
Americans never quit. We never surrender.
We never hide from history. We make history."
I think that this quote shows how optimistic McCain is. He knows that we will never stop fighting for what we believe in and he knows that everyone can make a difference.
Even thought McCain lost the election, I think that he was very classy with his speech. He let everyone know that Obama will be a great president and that he will do his best to help our country. This speech was amazing, even though I wish he could have been saying his acceptance speech.

outside reading #9

Today I read an article about the Minnesota Senate race.
The article, which was in the Star Tribune, was about the recent accusations that money was wired to Coleman's wife through business. The article says that a businessman names Nasser Kazeminy "steered" $75,000 from a company in Houston to a Minneapolis insurance company that employs Senator Coleman's wife. This accusation turned into a law suit that was filed on Monday.
Coleman says that this is "an 11th hour attack". He stats that Al Franken can make ugly smears at him, but is crossing the line when he brings the Coleman family into it. Franken claims that he or his campaign didn't do anything wrong. The Indepedent Party candidate Dean Barkley says that these accusations just prove how dirty this campaign has been. I have to say, I agree with Barkley. This campaign has been horrid. Every other commercial I see is a negative message about coleman or Franken. It is getting ridiculous if you ask me. Of course I prefer one candidate over the other, but this whole campaign has had a negative effect for both candidates. We all know the negative ads are a part of elections, but this race between Franken and Coleman has gotten out of hand. I will be so glad when Wednesday morning comes and there will be no more political ads.