Plot

3rd person

Exposition-

Chad and Donovan are introduced as they traverse through the October wilderness. Chad is new in the small Oregon town on the outskirts of Salem, and Donovan has befriended him. They decide to go camping in the forest over fall break.

Rising Action-

After a while, they stumble upon a cave. Both are interested and want to explore. They make the mistake of going deeper and deeper into the cave. At the bottom of the cave, the two find an iron door welded into the rock. They find a hidden lever that unlocks the door. Inside is millions of dollars worth of illegal drugs.
The story is flipped to downtown Salem, where prosperous drug dealers are alerted of the opening of the vault. They send men to investigate.

Climax-

The men arrive at the cave and the boys are forced to hide. Eventually, they are found.

Falling Action-


Chad and Donovan are taken to a warehouse and questioned separately. The criminals know that both boys are innocent, but they can't take the risk. They will have to be executed. Two men take them out in the middle of the night to do the job, but Chad pulls out a pocket knife and kills the men in heroic fashion. The boys bolt for town, but the blindfolds they were wearing have disoriented them. Luckily, Donovan is a skilled outdoorsman and is able to navigate out of the woods. By the time, they reach the edge of town, morning has broken and two search parties have been sent. One made up of local police, one of the drug dealers. The two parties meet up and a firefight ensues. The police are victorious, and are alerted that the boys have been found. They tell of their discovery of the drugs and forensics lead to the capture of the drug ring, which turns out is one of the biggest in the country. The boys are heroes.

Reading Response

     I have really enjoyed all of the short stories we have read over the past few weeks. They have all been very different and each one had a certain aspect of it that made me enjoy it. However, my favorite one was the first one we read: Harrison Bergeron.
     The whole idea of the dystopian society in Harrison Bergeron made me wonder if one day America will be like that, which scares me. I thoroughly enjoy our class discussions and feel that they help me understand the deeper meaning of the story. I want to continue to read short stories!

Siddharta) Saturday- 30 mins
Siddharta) Sunday- 30 mins

Maximum Ride

I've recently started a new book called Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson. In the past, I have read James Patterson books and liked them, so I thought I would give this series a try. In the first two hours of this book, the main characters are introduced. They are a family of mutant kids that were made by mad scientists in a lab in California. After escaping and living reclusive lives in the wilderness, Angel, the youngest child, is kidnapped and brought back to the lab for further testing.

My first impressions of this book is that it is going to be filled with fast-paced action from cover to cover. I hope that this is the case, because that is right up my alley. Surprisingly, this was hard to put down, and I was wondering what would become of innocent Angel. I like how James Patterson's books have short chapters; never more than about five pages, but can be as short as one. Each one of the children are unique, and definitely not flat characters.

Sunday) 1 hr
Monday) 1hr

Chad...Woah

Oh, man! What a day.

Ho hum.

I sure hope I can fall asleep so I can get some rest....Or I could watch Netflix!

...

Man, watching Netflix was fun! Now it's time to reflect on the day. Let's see, First I stopped by Coach Rhea's room and helped him with some stuff. Then I went to the library to study. But then procrastinated and played games on my computer, which was WAY MORE FUN!!!

Let's see...How did my classes go today? Well, I got a C+ on my geometry quiz. Yay me!!! That might have brought my grade up to a solid D. I hope Mrs. Sabotke likes me. She's super cool and I don't want to be bad in her class.

I can't wait for the GTA V game to come out. I'm gonna play it so much! Gee wiz, I hope mom will get it for me. She wants me to try harder in school, but I just don't care. Why do I have to be such a slacker?....

Homecoming is just around the corner! Jenny has been looking pretty hot lately. I might ask her. How could she resist me, right? I'm sexy.

Ugh! I have to go to basketball practice tomorrow! Coach said if I miss one more practice then I can't play. How am I supposed to go to basketball if I have to help out at the animal shelter too?



Life sucks.

Camille's Literacy Narrative

     I didn't read my free reading book this week because I spent all my time making my paper the best that it could be.  During class, I read and edited many a paper. They were all very good, but I thought the best one I read was Camille's. Her narrative was about a book that she really loved. Camille used very vivid details in her paper and I enjoyed it. She went to the library and bought her book, and sat down and read it. She talked about how it was the first book she really was attached to and could never put it down. Camille overall had a great paper and I'm sure people will love it in the E-Book.

Time spent on literacy narrative) 2 hrs+++
Time spent revising) 20 mins give or take

E-Book Thoughts

I have to say I am super excited about our E-Book. I know it will be just wonderful! During the presentation about it last Friday, I was filled with ideas for the title and was glad I could bequeath (that one was for you, Trev) some on the class. After reading and revising a few papers, I see how great this class is as writers. I know that any parent reading our Literacy Narratives will love every one! Regarding my own paper, there are no names that need to be changed. I do not think their needs to be any further revisions, but I will not be sure until my graded paper comes back. 

Free Reading #4

    In Lone Survivor, Marcus and the team have been ambushed my the militia and all of his friends are now dead. This part of the book made me feel sad for Marcus even though I have no idea what that feels like. He explains the slaughter in great detail, which only put images in my head of what it would have been like. After Marcus escapes, he talks about his hatred for the Taliban and how much pain and suffering he was in. He is truly a lone survivor, and I can only imagine how much suffering he went through and the willpower he had to make it out alive.

Lone Survivor-
Wed) 45 min
Sunday) 1hr 15 min

Three-Word Dialogue

 “Ready?” Gus whispered as he gingerly entered the van. Richard looked around and started the engine.

“Yeah. Let’s Go.” 

“That was close.” said Gus

“Too close” Richard snapped back, not satisfied that they had escaped only by the skin of their teeth.

“What happened anyway?” asked Richard.

“Guards caught wind,” Gus replied. They had only left the bank with a few hundred bucks, a lot less than planned.

“Boss’ll be pissed,” Gus said as he riffled through the fresh green bills, checking for anything fishy.

“No kidding.”

“It’s your fault.”

“Mine?! You crazy?” Richard shot back, and now the two men were angry.

“Shoulda warned me.” 

Richard was supposed to be watching the security cameras from the safety of the van, but the connection was lost mid-heist. 

“S’not my fault,” Richard shouted, and neither one of the men wanted to back down. All of a sudden, Gus pulled out mis 9mm handgun and pointed the barrel at Richard’s face.

“Don’t your dare!” shouted Richard, still irate but now scared for his life. Both men knew that pulling the trigger would most likely send the whole van into the bay, hundreds of feet below.

“Shut up!” barked Gus. The two men were as good as dead anyway. The boss’s orders were specific. No less than 10 grand or it was their heads.

“We’re dead meat!” cried Gus, dropping the gun and breaking down.

“Pull yourself together!” Richard commanded, as he looked into his rearview mirror at the San Francisco sunrise. 

“We gonna die?” Gus was petrified. He read the boss loud and clear the night before.

“No. I gotcha.” The two men turned left, the opposite direction of the warehouse where the boss was expecting them any minute. 

“Where to next?” asked Gus, sobbing. 

“Anywhere but here.”

Free Reading #3

        Reading Lone Survivor has really opened my eyes to the absolute hell that the SEALs have to go through in training. In my reading this week, Marcus Luttrell flashes back to his days through the most anticipated week in training: Hell Week. Basically what it is is a whole week in which the teachers test your mental and physical ability through non stop drills and exercises.

The first night is kicked off by an infiltration of the camp by officers armed with blank-loaded assault rifles and fire hoses. After that, a three mile run down to the beach for exercises in the freezing Pacific. Meanwhile many men have quit by either refusing to cooperate or just fleeing the premises. Looking back, Luttrell appreciates the torture because it equipped him with the skills needed while fighting in the sweltering Afghanistan climate.

Saturday- Lone Survivor) 1:00
Monday- Lone Survivor) 1:00

Response to "This is Water"

After reading the assignment on Dr. deGravelle’s blog, I decided to watch “This is Water”, a 10 minute video recommended on the page. Looking at the title, I expected to get a science lesson on H₂O, but it was surprisingly different from that. The narrator talked about the idea that we are the center of the world and everyone else is just in our way. The example he used was a late night run to the grocery store. Of course the default setting in our heads is to think how gross and stupid everybody is and not empathizing them and realizing that they are no different from you.

I liked how the narration was real and not to text-booky (is that a word?). I could understand how it is easy to feel that way and we can’t be blamed for it. However, I remain bewildered as to why the name of the presentation was called “This is Water” because it didn’t have anything to do with water. I’m sure it’s some deeper meaning that I am just not getting and would appreciate some help from someone who watched the video in the comments.