Mentor Text: The Lying Game!!!

            The Lying Game is a series of books written by Sara Shepard that was later produced into a movie. Books are always better than movies so I’ve read the first two books of the series and I’m waiting until February to get the next one when it comes out. The book is about two girls who are adopted twins that never knew each other until they met on facebook one day with intentions of meeting in Arizona, where one twin lives. The twin that lives in Arizona’s name is Sutton Mercer and the day they plan to meet, Sutton disappears. Emma is the other twin and she finds herself in Arizona among Sutton’s friends who all think that she is Sutton. Coincidentally, she slips into Sutton’s life hoping that she forgot to meet her and will be coming soon. Her life is turned upside down when she receives a note saying her sister is dead and she will be too if she doesn’t play along.

            Sutton is an antagonist and part of The Lying Game, which is a group of three of her friends who play mean pranks on people for fun. Emma is the opposite; she is a protagonist that came from many foster homes and just wants a real family to love her. She realizes her sister did many wrong things in her life and knows that she went too far with a prank that cost herself her life. The story is about Emma trying to find Sutton’s murderer when she is constantly being watched and no one believes that she is her twin sister. No missing body means no crime.

            The Lying Game relates to my book because it’s about bullying and my story is about one girl being bullied her whole life until someone finally stands up for her. The ideas I will take from the lying game are the pranks because my story is all about bullies hurting other kids verbally and physically. I like the idea of bullying through pranks so it’s not as obvious but everyone knows that it’s happening. Another thing I got out of The Lying Game is how the characters in it partied regularly and there were all different cliques. There are certain people that you just don’t talk to and I’d like to incorporate cliques into my story as well to make it seem more realistic. Not being invited to the parties that everyone goes to is embarrassing and something I could add to my main character’s troubled life.

            Reading The Lying Game gave me many new ideas for writing my children’s story because I was thinking about it while I read the books. I read both books in two weeks and was completely unable to put them down. When I stopped reading my book, I thought about it and wanted to know what happened next. Not only did I find a great mentor text for my book, but I also found an amazing book that I would recommend to anyone that loves to read. The book was recommended to me by my mother and it puts life into a new perspective once you read it.

20 Questions for Holly Mathews!

Interview By: Kailey Mazzilli

Interviewed: Holly Mathews

Q: What is your story about?

A: Her story is about a man named Bud who loves to hunt but finds himself in trouble when things don’t go as planned. There is a climax at the end that Holly refuses to give away to anyone that hasn’t read her story.

Q: Why did you change your storyline?

A: She felt that the original story was too complicated for her writing skills and she wanted to write about something she was more comfortable with. She chose hunting because she has firsthand experience with it so it is easy to write about in detail.

Q: Does the story relate to your life as a whole?

A: Yes. Hunting relates a lot to her life because her, her father and her brother grew up hunting together as a family. The story is also based in Nantucket where Holly remembers riding the ferry numerous times and making numerous memories. Lastly, the main character loves horses as well as Holly. Her passion is horses and she has one of her own at her home so she included them in her story.

Q: Did you reference any outside sources while writing your story?

A: No because the story relates to her life so all of her ideas come from real life experiences.

Q: Is there any romantic relationships in your story?

A: No relationships in the story are highlighted as much importance because it is not a love story. The only relationship in the story is between the main character and his wife who bear a child together. They are only talked about at the beginning of the story as a couple.

Q: Were there any points you struggled with while writing your story?

A: She struggled with the ending a lot because there were so many possible outcomes. She overcame it and chose to end her story with a surprise twist.

Q: What type of story are you writing? (Poem, novel…?)

A: Holly is writing a regular descriptive novel.

Q: Do you have a lot of dialogue in your story?

A: Yes there is a lot of dialogue but it is weaved in throughout the story. She loves dialogue and said “dialogue is my favorite!” when asked about it. One of her talents is weaving dialogue into a story so it is evenly matched with the words.

Q: Does the main character in your story resemble you or anyone in your life?

A: No. The main character is just the typical selfish, dominant male. He believes he is better than anyone else and is rude to others.

Q: What is your message or moral to writing your story?

A: The moral is to not be greedy like the story of the dog that sees’s two bones in the reflection of the pond. He has one bone in his mouth but when looking into the reflection of the pond, he sees his bone and it’s reflection. He believes it is two bones and goes to grab the second one but drops the one he already had. He is left with nothing and the moral is to not be greedy.

Q: Do the character’s names mean anything to your life?

A: The only name that means anything is the boy named Scott briefly mentioned in the story. He decorates a tree in the story but the name is a real name of a real person. The role of Scott is different than that of real life but it is based off a true personality.

Q: How is your story broken up? (Chapters, Sections…?)

A: Holly’s story is divided into sections with a line at the bottom of the text to separate each section. Each section is about one page long.

Q: How long do you plan on your story being?

A: Her story is almost done already and it is 15 pages. She still wants to go back and change some things and maybe even add a scene or two.

Q: What is the main climax of the story?

A: Bud and his friends find a huge deer on the island and decide to hunt it. While shooting at the deer, they miss and hit something else on accident. Holly refuses to reveal what gets hit to anyone who hasn’t read her story yet.

Q: What time period are you writing in?

A: The present time period of 2011.

Q: Who are the bad guys? (If any)

A: The main character is the bad guy because he is a braggart. He is a selfish character and realizes it at the end of the story. Once he realizes the way he is, he changes his ways completely and becomes a better person.

Q: Who is telling your story?

A: An all knowing narrator tells the story.

Q: Is there any points in writing that you felt were slow or hard to write about?

A: There is a point where the main character is in a tree stand waiting for a deer and it was hard for her to write about it without rushing it. She felt it was a boring point of her story but had to be included because it showed how Bud hunted for deer.

Q: Do you think that if you had more time you would have wrote your story differently?

A: No. A lot of thought was put into the story and it was changed a few times. There was enough time to realize that she didn’t want to write about her first subject and she included everything that she wanted to in her story.

Q: Is there anything you still need to work on specifically?

A: Not really. She just needs to re-read the story a few times and make sure it all sounds good. She wants to work on replacing weak words with stronger words for the final draft and maybe add a scene to her story. The story is almost done and just needs to be checked for errors.

Read Holly's Story HERE!

Rough Draft for My Children's Story

Story Title: To be announced (It's changed twice already though, I just don't like either of them)

It is 2011 and bullying is widely unnoticed in schools around the world. Freshman are especially targeted as victims of bullying crimes such as hitting, stalking, taunting, and even swirlies in the bathroom toilet. Teachers that witness these crimes would like to stay un-involved in them because of the process that followed prosecuting someone. Other teachers are completely oblivious to everything around them and don’t even notice the children around them want to kill themselves at times. At Cedar Heights High School in Maine, there is a group of bullies that are well known throughout the school. They believe they are better than anyone else and are known as the “cronies” to the kids in school. The trouble makers consist of the couple of Craig Bardsley and Alexa Greene, Matt Dublin, and Brad Aims. All of which wear leather and black clothing to intimidate other students into avoiding them. The smell of fear is in the halls and it empowers them to go on with their actions.

This bullying talk brings me to the story of a young girl of 15 years named Molly Calhoun. Molly has high honors in school and as a repercussion of it, she doesn’t have many friends. She is constantly doing homework or worrying about her grades. School is all she cares about because it is where she can sit alone in silence. Molly’s mother died in 2004, 7 years ago, of leukemia. Like most relationships between mothers and daughters, Molly was extremely close with her mother. They did everything together and Molly considered her the one best friend she had or needed. When thinking of her mother, Molly always would remember her sweet smell of vanilla that was natural to her. She was unable to bake anything since her mother died because they would always bake together. Her mother would show her how to press the forks into the peanut butter cookies to make a criss-cross and it wasn’t the same any other way.

Without a mother in the picture, the question is raised ‘who is raising this child?’ When her mother was alive, her parents were happily married with much unfinished business left to complete. The father took over since she died but Molly always struggled with building a meaningful relationship with him. He was constantly working when her mother was alive and never made an attempt to talk to her even when he was home. There was an awkward feeling between them in general while growing up because he never quite understood how to connect with a child. Anyways, Molly will connect with her father at the end of my story through many different obstacles they will overcome. I want them to fight a few different times in my story and have Molly feel bad afterwards as well as her father. I haven’t yet worked out the fight scenes but I have one dialogue scene so far:

Molly: I need some money for the store, dad.

Dad: What do you mean you need some money? You don’t ask me for money young lady, you ask me to bring you to the store.

Molly: DAD! I don’t understand why I can never just do anything on my own without you knowing every little thing about my life!

Dad: What’s the big problem with your father coming with you?

Molly: Ever stop to think that I’m getting older and I don’t want you knowing everything I buy at the store.

Dad: Where’s the incrimination?

Molly: If you really want to know so badly, I need to get pads. There. Are you happy now? Now you know that I’m currently having my period and I need pads. I hope you’re happy.

Dad: Molly! Don’t talk to me like that! And when something changes in your life like that you need to notify your father.

Molly: Mom knew all of these things about me, I just would never tell you because you never even cared until you had to. Now you’re overwhelmed and think you need to know everything at once.

Dad: You’re wrong Molly you know I love…

(Molly storms off in a rush and a door slams upstairs)

The walk to the bus stop is filled with anticipation and nervousness. Molly walks 1/3 of a mile alone, kicking stones up with every step to pass time. She moves at a slow pace because she is never excited to go to school. To be perfectly honest, sometimes she purposely missed the bus just because she didn’t want to go and knew her father would believe she missed the bus on accident. Three out of five days the school bus leaves without Molly, even if she is chasing after it. She runs trying to catch up to the bus, frantically waving her arms, until she gets to the fourth street down from hers. She walks on knowing that everyone saw her running the whole way and was just talking about her. “Wow Molly, Way to make us late to school again” and “Why don’t you just stay home, no one likes you anyways?” were among the comments Molly had directed towards her as she walked onto the bus. The front seat is always open so Molly sits there alone, listening to the children whisper things about her. The only problem was no one ever really whispered because it was loud and intended for the person to hear it.

When the bus arrives at school, Molly stands up and puts one foot out only to be shoved back into her seat by the girl in the seat behind her. It was a chain reaction after that because everyone thought of it as normal to push Molly into the seat since the first girl did it with ease. She decides to wait for the bus to evacuate before making her move into the school. When she walks into the school, she is greeted by her friendly teachers and granted her only safe time of the entire school day. While the teachers are around, no one can say anything mean to her and she is a whole different person. Walking into the classroom is dreadful because Molly anticipates the lack of seating from the start. All the classrooms are set up with 30 desks, rows of 5 and 6. The few open seats are occupied by book bags of un-approachable students. Molly is forced to go into the one open seat in the back row, the delinquent seat. The desk is covered in writing like ‘skool sucks’ and other words about the teacher. As someone who loves school, the environment seriously affected how Molly learned in school and listened. When she raises her hand in class, students glare at her to put it down. No matter what she does, people are mean to her and don’t even attempt to talk to her if they aren’t mean.

As she walks off the safety of the school bus to begin her journey home, she hears the 8 footsteps following her closely behind. She knows it is Craig Bardsley, Alexa Greene, Brad Aims, and Matt Dublin. The moment the bus pulls out of sight, Molly’s instincts kick in and she begins to walk noticeably faster. As presumed, the group does the same, only they jog to Molly and catch up extremely fast. Once Alexa grabs her shirt and pulls her to the ground, the boys begin to chime in with rude remarks. Alexa beats up Molly on the daily basis because she is the only girl in the group and Craig tells her to. They take her shoes from her so she has to walk home without them and explain what happened to her father. She is badly bruised from the beat down and contemplates ‘why do these things happen to me?’ When she finally gets home, her father notices the cuts right away.

Dad: Oh my God Molly! What in the world happened to you?

Molly: Don’t worry about it Dad, you never cared before mom died.

Dad: What’s all this ‘I never cared’ stuff you keep talking about? You know I always cared about you Molly and I would do anything to spend more time with you.

Molly: Pfft… (Sarcastic expression with mouth)

Dad: Molly, answer my question. What in the world happened to you?

Molly: I’m a loser dad if you didn’t realize by my appearance. People beat me up after school and pick on me in school. That’s my life. That’s me.

Dad: What! You can’t be taking that from anyone Molly. Any daughter of mine should be standing up for her rights and herself.

Molly: So this all goes back to you. Sorry I’m such an embarrassment to you Dad. Sorry I’m not your perfect athletic daughter you always wanted.

Dad: Molly, don’t say that you know it’s not true!

Molly: I’d like some space if that’s okay. In my room. Alone.

1.      I need to add the exciting scenes. I have a lot more I’m working with I just don’t have it all written.

2.      Molly and Alexa are going to become best friends at the end and Alexa will leave Craig. She realizes that he used her and doesn’t really love her. She also never wanted to be mean to Molly in the first place; she just did so Craig wouldn’t leave her.

3.      Molly will meet a guy in the story named Ben Dell who will stick up for her in front of Craig and the group. Alexa will influence her to be with him because she realizes he truly loves Molly.

4.      Molly and Ben will end up together and happy. Alexa will be best friends with Molly. Molly and her father will end up getting along in the end and working out their differences. There will be a huge conversation about when her mother was around between the two of them because it is brought up so many times in my story. One day they will really talk about it all and the truth will come out.

Success: In My Eyes

People often ask the question, how is success determined? Success is determined through any specific individual’s eyes and varies on the person. There is no correct way to go through life, except to be happy in doing whatever you decide to do. Never do something because of someone else; be yourself, have individuality, and always go above and beyond. Success is determined in many ways but to be truly successful, happiness is a must. A successful person is happy doing what they do and confident that their career is right for them.

Occupational Therapy is the career that I chose. My mother is a physical therapist and owns a business that I worked at for numerous summers of my life. Seeing her be the direct result of the happiness on her client’s faces has interested me in her field from the start. My mother has all the money she could ever ask for and is happy doing what she does for a living. Helping people is the greatest joy in life anyone could have because the happiness brought to them will always be remembered as a life changing experience. I will change lives and make a difference in society, which will prove me to be fully successful.

Success involves money as far as the eye can see. As someone who reaches for the stars, I won’t settle for anything less than perfect. I will succeed and have immense amounts of money in life because of my intuition. I’ve grown up in a family that has given me everything I’ve ever asked for since I was born and it made me realize that I would also like to provide my children with that exact opportunity. Anyone who believes they can do something and wants it enough will surely get it in the end with hard work and determination.

Determination is a key factor in becoming a successful person because without perseverance, nothing be given out for free. Six years of college is ahead of me and it is a necessary piece in my upcoming success. Focusing on school is the most important thing to me because I believe that without it, success is impossible. Talking to friends in school is useless; as they will be gone one day and family will be there forever. Family and school are the components of my life and the reason that I am going to be successful.

So what is success? Success is interpreted in various ways by all different people but all has one thing in common: perseverance. As the great Vincent T. Lombardi once said, "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will."

Comments From November 13th and on...

November 13 Comments:
1. Comment on Liz's Choice Blog!

2. Comment on Sarah's Choice Blog!

3. Comment on Chandler's Choice Blog!

4. Comment on Holly's Choice Blog!

5. Comment on Jesse's Choice Blog!


December 4th Comments on Rough Drafts:
1. Comment on Will's Story Rough Draft

2. Comment on Grant's Story Rough Draft

3. Comment on Erin's Story Rough Draft

4. Comment on Sarah's Story Rough Draft

5. Comment on Holly's Story Rough Draft


January 2nd Comments on Blogs!
1. Comment on Adam's Mentor Text!

2. Comment on Sara's Mentor Text!

That's all so far.. will be more when more people post blogs!

My Influence: The Last Song

            With hopes of influencing my children’s book that I am currently writing, I watched the 2010 movie The Last Song. The movie is about a teenage girl named Ronnie Miller who struggles to cope with her parent’s divorce and her recent move into her father’s house. She learns to get along with her father near the end of the movie but it is too late. Her father dies of Cancer just as she begins to get along with him. In the midst of the sad story, Ronnie Miller falls in love with a boy named Will Blakelee who comforts her through her father’s deterioration.

            The Last Song relates to my children’s book immensely. I am writing about a young girl whose mother died of cancer when she was younger. She struggles with bullying and friends, but eventually falls in love with the boy who stands up for her through it all. Both stories are extremely similar and many ideas can be taken from the movie and imported into my story as my own. One particular part of The Last Song I loved was how Ronnie always loved playing the piano and was a fantastic player until her parent’s divorce. She stopped playing when they divorced but started again when she and her father began to get along. I would like to include something like this in my story, in the sense that I want my main character to lose a part of her when her mother dies but regain that part when she regains her strength and confidence back.

            Ronnie Miller is a loving teenager and in one scene in the movie, she is startled by a raccoon going after turtle’s eggs on the beach. She barricades the eggs to save them and stays out all night just to protect them. Eventually they hatch and it is beautiful how they swim into the water. The idea of animals or pets was something that never crossed my mind at all. A pet in my story could be the best friend of my main character and could symbolize a lot. I would like to include some type of pet in my main character’s life to enhance the story a little and make it more unpredictable.

            Many great ideas arose out of watching the movie The Last Song and I’m happy my mother recommended it to me. Although the stories are very similar, there are many variations between them to separate them from each other. I would like to use a few ideas from the movie I watched but transform them into my own thoughts by changing them around a little. The relationship between Ronnie and her father showed me a lot about the love in families and taught me how to write things when implying something else at the same time. I have been greatly influenced by The Last Song and it is one more step towards my completion of my children’s book. 

My Girl: A Closer Look

                The movie, My Girl, opened my eyes to multiple new ideas for the children’s book I am writing. The main character, Vada, is a young girl whose mother died giving birth to her. She struggles with many things but throughout the story she has her best friend, Thomas J to comfort her. She is extremely close with her father and tells him everything about her life. When he can’t help her, Thomas J is there to be her friend and tell her how perfect she is. One day Thomas J went out into the woods by himself looking for a ring that Vada had dropped the day before, but he never came back. The ring was next to a bee’s nest they’d knocked over by accident and when Thomas J went to grab it, he was attacked. Because of his allergies to bees, he did not survive.

                It is then that Vada realizes that she loved Thomas J and would do anything to have him back with her. She struggles to overcome the death of her best friend and helping her, is the new girl friend she meets at the end of the book. This relates extremely to my book because I am also writing about a young girl whose mother died. Best friends are also a main component of my book in the sense that the people that are there for you now, will always be your best friends. In my story, a boy will stick up for my main character when she is made fun of in school and eventually they will become best friends, thus falling in love in the end. The story lines are extremely similar and I will adopt many ideas from the movie My Girl.

                One scene in particular that I would like to redo somehow is when Vada and her father are sitting outside one the hammock talking under the fireworks. The scene itself was beautiful but the conversation was moving because it showed the real relationship between the two of them. This is important and I would like to include a scene like this in my book. Another thing I liked a lot from the movie was when Vada yelled at the end about Thomas J’s glasses not being on his dead body. The violence and anger was a great point in the story and it made the climax more exciting to watch.

                Both stories have similar character personalities, especially the main characters of each that just happen to be girls. Molly from my story just wants to be left alone or talked to politely, as well as Vada from My Girl who just loves her best friend and wants him back. They are passive characters, unlike the antagonists of both stories. In My Girl, the girls that taunt Vada and Thomas J about dating each other are antagonists because they start trouble. In my story, the antagonists consist of a group of four boys that taunt Molly just out of pure enjoyment and pity for themselves. They are extremely similar and because of this, I will be able to use many great ideas from the movie and rework them to be my own.

The Importance of Family: Not Even a Question

"The Family is the corner stone of our society. More than any other force it shapes the attitude, the hopes, the ambitions, and the values of the child. And when the family collapses it is the children that are usually damaged..."   as the great Lyndon Baines Johnson has said. Family is my first priority in life and to me, it is all that matters. There are no words to describe the love within a family and the bonds made between them. They would do anything for each other and give themselves up just to make the other happy.

When people talk about family arguments, I pity them because I know that they are angry and don’t mean what they are saying. No one can hate their family because they are the people that have housed you since day one. They feed you, care for you when you’re sick, keep you warm, and buy you whatever you want. The parents of a child will go to the ends of the earth to make their kid happy and will not hold grudges like most people. They will always be there for you and no matter how bad you mess up, they’ll catch you when you fall and help you get back on your feet.

Without my parents, I don’t know where I would be right now. We used to fight occasionally but my respect has grown for them over time and I could never find words to thank them for what they’ve done. They got my first car, paid for my education, brought me places, and sacrificed all their free time to satisfy me. Thinking about it all, I would love to give it all back and refuse all their new gifts because it doesn’t seem fair. They went through life to be successful and even though they could have anything they want, they give me what I want instead.

As a child, I didn’t appreciate my family as much as I should have and I’ve realized how much I hurt them. Taking back my actions is out of the question and I spend all my time trying to make them happy now and make up for what I’ve done to hurt the family. Embarrassing them as a kid is a regret that I can’t get out of my head because they’ve tried so hard, just to get a kid that didn’t care.

They say family is forever and whoever wrote that, is a genius. Friends will always come and go but when it comes down to bailing you out of jail, it will be the parents coming to save you. This needs to get stressed more in high school because when we leave, all we have is family to fall back on. It’s the family that is going to push you to succeed because it is their job, their dedication, and their reason for living.

Comparison: Brick

In order to write a children's book, I need an idea to expand on. I will be writing a book with three main characters; one girl and two boys. The main character, Molly, is traumatized by her mother's death and is forced to deal with bullying on a daily basis on top of it all. Things finally start going her way when a courageous boy named Ben stands up for her. In comparison to the book I am writing, I have watched the movie "Brick" in hopes of expanding my story. Brick is about a teenage boy who receives a distress call from his ex-girlfriend, only to find her dead three days later. The movie is about his journey to figure out what happened to her.

The relation between the two is the concern present in both boy's attitudes. The protagonist in my story is Ben because he is not violent but he stands up for Molly anyways. Even though they have never met, he is too kind to sit aside and watch her be tormented. The antagonist is the bully, Craig. His self-conscious attitude makes it hard for him to be nice to people because in order for him to feel good about himself, he has to belittle others around him. In "Brick" the protagonist is Brendan Frye because he is the one who solves the murder of Emily, his ex-girlfriend. He spends all of his time and risks his life many times to solve her murder. The antagonist in the book is Tug because from the start he lies to Brendan, when in reality, he is the one who killed Emily to begin with.

The two books relate in numerous ways and both infer the lesson of standing up for others around you. The antagonists do not put themselves in the victim's shoes and therefore will never know what it feels like to be hurt. I will use some ideas from "Brick" in my story such as how Brendan was constantly pre-occupied with solving Emily's mystery. That interested me and made me want to make my book a little more exciting and add more mystery to it. I would love the protagonist, Ben, to research why the bully is doing what he does to Molly and possibly propose a solution. Eventually the two could end up friends once they settle their differences, but Ben has to solve the mystery first of why he does the things he does.

The movie "Brick" was inspiring in many different ways. Because I watched the movie with the state of mind of writing my children's book, I adopted a lot of great ideas. While watching the movie, I was thinking about how it related to my book and also thinking about how I could ammend some ideas from the movie to fit into my book. Humans are born with compassion and no matter what, it will always be hard for someone to watch someone else get hurt.

Personal Narrative

Regret eats at me on a daily basis. The cause: not fully applying myself right from my freshman year. I was filled with uncertainty as I entered high school, but by sophomore year I began to focus and I received the “ Most Improved Student” award.  Finally, my effort was being noticed and it helped me to endure the pressures of school and to relish rather than fear a challenge. I now realize that improving, academically, is the best way to open doors of opportunity in my future.

The most consistent influence in my life has been my family. They taught me that any degree of success requires hard work and perseverance. They taught me by example and I can never thank them enough. My teachers and my employer can testify that I have the work ethic and focus required to succeed. I have some ground to make up and I intend to spend my senior year demonstrating that I am driving toward a new beginning , not an end to anything.

My next step is to pursue Occupational Therapy as a career goal. My mother has a background in physical therapy and is the owner of an Adult Day Care facility. This has afforded me the opportunity to benefit from her knowledge and to obtain first-hand experience with the OT procedure. For example: I was taught to redirect and reassure clients with Alzheimers to insure their safety and well-being.  I assisted with transfers of non-ambulatory clients, I was instructed on how to provide range of motion to arms and legs, and I observed how the staff dealt with clients afflicted with mental illness and those struggling with anxiety. Being directly involved with the many and varied needs of these clients opened my eyes and guided me to this career choice. Because I had the advantage of direct exposure to this field, I am pursuing this goal with eyes wide open and the confidence that this career choice is right for me.

I have steadily improved, academically. I’m a good multi-tasker. I love working on projects and often seek extra-credit work from my teachers. I work 22-30 hours a week dealing with the public. I love art and being creative. In short, I have the self-motivation, the self-discipline, the people-skills, and the desire to make a difference in the lives of needy people. I am eager for the challenge and plan to achieve this goal as a licensed Occupational Therapist!

Comments I've Posted

1. Comment on Erin's Blog!

2. Comment on Sarah's Blog!

3. Comments on Adam's Blog!

4. Comment on Nate's Blog!

5. Comment on Chandler's Blog!

6. Comment on Chandler's Blog 2!

7. Comment on Cody's Blog!

8. Comment on Tina's Blog!

9. Comment on Sally's Blog!

10. Comment on Holly's Blog!
^ Before September 22nd.

11. Comment on Liz's Blog!

12. Comment on Nathan's Blog!

13. Comment on Nate F's Blog!

14. Comment on Sally's Blog2!

15. Comment on Aidan's Blog!

Responses to Comments:
1. Response to Nate's Comment!

2. Response to Chandler's Comment!

October 7th Comments:
1. Comment on Chandler's Narrative

2. Comment on Winder's Narrative

3. Comment on Holly's Narrative

4. Comment on Chris's Narrative

5. Comment on Grant's Narrative

6. Comment on Nate's Narrative

7.Comment on Adam's Narrative
October 7 Responses:
1. Response to Chandler's Comment

2. Response to Alex's Comment

3. Response to Sarah's Comment

4. Response to Alex's Comment 2


November 1st Comments!
1. Comment on Chris's Mentor Text

2. Comment on Alex's Mentor Text

3. Comment on Kathryn's Mentor Text

4. Comment on Nathan's Mentor Text

5. Comment on Mariah's Mentor Text
November 1st Responses!
1. Response to Chris's Comment!

2. Response to Sarah's Comment!

3. Response to Ms. Kennett's Comment!

The Maze Runner: Morals Tested Harshly

       To start off, The Maze Runner was an amazing book and a perfect example of morals. I would say that there are three main characters in the book, one who appears much later than the others. The main character, Thomas, would have a moral compass consisting of truth, family, friendship, and loyalty. This is because the book starts off with him arriving at a strange place of people he's never seen before, but shortly becomes friends with. He is being tested by scientists and forced to help the boys find a way out of the place, the only clue at all is a giant maze filled with monsters. Honesty and friendship is the only thing that will keep them all alive and together they learn to work together and eventually escape. Thomas faces many challenges including false accusations, greivers (monsters from the maze), his memory loss, finding friends, and getting the truth but he overcomes these by standing up for himself. He explains he just wants to go home and solve the mystery and he does this to give out the message to never give up.
       Chuck was the new kid before Thomas got to the maze and becomes friends with him instantly, telling him all the rules and ways of the place they were called The Glade. His moral compass is a lot different than that of Thomas' in the sense that Chuck was more focused on family, surviving, friends, and fitting in. He wasn't outgoing like Thomas and liked to be the quiet one but still have his share of friends. All he really cared about was family and he always talked about how he wanted to see them or if they were thinking about him. That and surviving were all that was really on his mind, unlike Tom who wanted to escape and be virtuous. He faces a lot of dilemmas in the book, one particuarly near the end when he, Tom, and Teresa go into the Griever hole to shut down the maze and a griever jumps down behind them. Chuck thinks fast, desiphering the code, and he ends up being the reason everyone survived, only to sacrifice himself in the end to save Tom's life. The point of Chuck in the story and his actions is to show love and care, Chuck dies in place of Tom at the end and it shows the reader that he was extremely courageous.
       The last character, the one that appears later in the book, is a girl named Teresa. She is the only girl in the story and when she arrives, things begin to get weirder and weirder. She tells Tom she triggered the ending but doesn't remember much but she is beautiful and has strong feelings. Her moral compass would contain love, loyalty, teamwork, and honesty. Loyalty and teamwork go together in her situation because throughout the whole book she is trying to help solve the mystery of the maze even though she knows it is all her fault to begin with. Without teamwork and loyalty, no one would have made it out of the maze. That also connects to honesty because with lies, there would be holes in the plan, thus making it fall apart miserably. Love struck me as important to her also because she was extremely friendly and seemed to love everyone there even when they said mean things to her. Her biggest dilemma was probably when the kids were all asking her where she came from and without thinking, she blurted out the truth. She told them she sent them there and she was instantly looked upon as a bad guy and locked up for a day. This changed once it was a life or death matter and she was the only one to help them. This message is to keep your head up and stick together no matter what.
       All the characters I read about in The Maze Runner had similar moral compasses or could somehow connect in one way or another. They were all tested too many times to write about in this book and all overcame these tests by following their hearts and morals. When it all came down to it, most of the kids in The Glade decided to risk their lives to live rather than just die and that was the whole point of the test. The book is trying to tell the reader to keep faith and to never give up. That was the point of the book and the moral that everyone should just follow because it's right. The three main characters; Thomas, Chuck, and Teresa, overcame all the obstacles and stuck together, being willing to die for eachother one hundred percent of the way. This is true friendship and it is guided by our moral compasses that lead us to do everything we do in life.

My Moral Compass

       The most important moral to me in life is loving my family. I have extremely strong beliefs that everyone should love their family because those are the people that have always cared for you and will always be there. Family is forever and will always be there when you need them, while friends come and go. My family has taught me everything i know and live by, giving me the strength to go out into the world and succeed. Guiding me in every decision I make is my family because I think about what they would think about what i'm doing before I do it. If my parents wouldn't do it, i'm not going to do it either because they're my guide to success and happiness.

       Honesty is the number one policy and the one thing I don't stand for is liars. I believe everyone should tell the truth no matter how hard it can be because of many reasons. First, I think that if you lie, it will eat away at you and haunt you until you eventually tell the truth. Second, people deserve to know the truth like for example if a boy cheats on a girl and goes on with the relationship. The boy should breakup with the girl before cheating to begin with, and if it happens he needs to tell her right away or he will break her heart. Thirdly, it goes back to "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" who always lied until one day he told the truth but no one believed him. When the wolf was really there no one came to his rescue and honesty should be one of everyone's  morals as humans.

       One of my morals that is a lot different than that of students my age is learning. I have strong beliefs about learning, not just because my grandfather was a college professor, but because I want to succeed. It is proven that reading makes you smarter and I try to read a little every day to accomplish that. Everything you take in while you're in school is going to be useful in life no matter what it is, it's always good to learn it. In order to succeed in life we need to learn all we can and stay in school until were educated enough to go into the real world. I disprove of people that drop out of school because your education is the most important thing and also the one thing that no one can ever take away from you!

       Lastly, I have freedom on my list because currently in 2011 a lot of our rights have been taken away from us and no one has seemed to do anything about it. I find it strange that even though so many things are in our constitution, we can change them and disobey them with no consequences. The right to free speech? Forget it, we can't say anything anymore without being called racist or out of line and this needs to change. Freedom is so important and once we lose it, we might never get it back. All of these morals I follow in life lead me to a path involving school and a powerful career in Occupational Therapy. They mean so much to me because they are based off my parent's thoughts but are completely mine. I believe what i wrote for morals are right and I couldn't imagine believing any different but we all have different ideas on life and it's okay.

Disecting Morality: Right or Wrong

In my eyes, to be moral means to have certain values or beliefs. Going with these it also involves following up on those beliefs and having them be something that you live by and always consider while making tough decisions. My book is called The Maze Runner and the main character is taken away to a strange land for no reason, but his morals tell him to rebel. It is a way of life and not a state of mind. You can always be moral and go off your path as long as it's for the right reasons. #pshscompass