Of Mice and Men Part 2

THE IDEAL LIFE

1. I like a lot of things about my life right now. They people I’m spending time with are great and the weather is in that perfect rainy time where everything feels like it about to happen so I’m in an all around great mood. Specifically right this very second I’m wearing this killer outfit and I feel pretty great and incredibly comfortable so that's great.
2. I mean my stomach hurts a little but it pretty much always does right now and  I’m dealing with this weird conflict with my amount of confidence in areas it matters vs areas it doesn't. There's also this impending sense of doom that lingers at the back of my mind all of the time, but I think i’ve just written it off as a personality trait.
3. In ten years I hope would ideally love to live in the Netherlands or Denmark and ride my bike everywhere. The thing is though, I’m probably going to live in a terrible apartment in a shady part of downtown trying to make it by like all the other people my age. I’m learning to be OK with that.
4. 6 months ago I would say I was going to be rich and spend my time being rich, doing rich people things. Now I’m going to spend my time probably barely getting by or driving around doing odd jobs around the country. That sounds nice.
5. My spare time I’ll probably play the guitar with mediocrity and read angst-y poems and listen to folk music while dancing around. I really don’t know.

IS THE IDEAL LIFE POSSIBLE?

I think everybody's current ‘ideal life’ is attainable, but as we gain more we want more so we are always striving for just a little extra. As well, we could get what we want but it won’t always live up to expectations. So yeah, the ‘ideal life’ is possible but its never going to be enough for you. There is always just one thing we would change and that keeps us improving.

REVIEW OF THE BOOK SO FAR

1. I really like this part of the book. The first part I figured the book was going to be kind of slow without any strong moments and the whole this just blurring together. Actually, when I started reading I thought immediately I was going to hate it. I thought the writing style would be hard to get it to and make sense of. However, it really wasn't and I didn't find myself looking back on the last few pages wondering what happened. It’s moving quickly without much filler which my short attention span is eating up. I don’t find the dialogue weird and forced to sound cool. Overall, my low expectations were easily surpassed.
2. The strongest point of the book for me would definitely be George and Lennie's relationship. Its so real and tense that's it makes you feel uncomfortable at times. Like you're intruding on a private thing because you just don’t quite fit with the flow of them. A low point is definitely the fact that there is one single female with dialogue in this book and she doesn't even have a real name. Sure it’s the 1930’s and they are on a ranch doing labor for money, but Curley's wife could have been given a name, or a less shallow story. “I married a man so I could leave home” just feels weak.
3. Actually, I don’t think I would recommend this to anyone, for entirely selfish reasons. My parents have already read it, so I can’t say them, and I’m not sure any of my friends would actually like it. If they did like it, I run this risk of them having a better understanding of it and then I lose something that feels like mine. So, no, even though I liked it I would selfish like to keep it to myself.
4. One of the messages in the book is that family isn't blood. Many times throughout the book George has to defend Lennie and defend his relationship with him. On page 39 - 43 George gets into a long conversation with Slim about Lennie and the trouble Lennie has caused, but George sticks around. That's what family does, it sticks around even though its tough.

Of Mice and Men Part 1

QUESTIONS:

1. INFERENCE: What is Lennie’s opinion of George? Find a line from the book to support your opinion; include the page number.
   I believe Lennie thinks very highly of George and believes he is very smart. On page 14 Lennie says, “No… you tell it. It ain’t the same if I tell it. Go on… George. How I get to tend the rabbits.” I think this shows that Lennie actually likes having George around.

2. INFERENCE: What is George’s opinion of Lennie? Find a line from the book to support your opinion; include the page number.

I think George really loves Lennie, even when Lennie is being an idiot. On page 11 it says, “[George’s] anger left him suddenly. He looked across the fire at Lennie’s anguished face, and then he looked ashamedly at the flames.” He feels bad about lashing out at Lennie because he doesn’t actually want him to leave.

3. ASKING QUESTIONS: What do Lennie and George dream of doing in the future?

Lennie and George wants to own some land with some rabbits. Lennie is going to raise lots of rabbits all of different colours.

4. PREDICTION: Will they live their dream?  Why or why not?

I think they have the potential to, however I don’t think they will in the book because it is a rather short book and judging by where they are now I don’t think there will be time for that to happen.

5. CLARIFICATION: What happened at George and Lennie’s last place of work?  Why?

George and Lennie had to flee their previous job in Weed because Lennie likes soft things and he inappropriately petted a girls dress causing all the men to case them out of town.

6. CONNECTION: Diary entry.  Click on this LINK, watch the powerpoint, and complete the diary assignment on the last slide.

Dear Diary,

We just arrived in California in hopes of Ma and Pa finding work. They heard that the job market might be a little more hopeful down here. I hope it’s true. One day, I bet this will all seem like a little bump in the road. We will own a great big house and the whole family can live there.  Until then, we are living out of a room at one of our relatives houses. They seem nice but Ma never seem comfortable. I hope we find a more space soon though, Jonathan snores and it echos through the room all night. I haven’t gotten a wink of sleep since we got here. I suppose it’s only been one night, but tomorrow I am starting at a new school and I’d hate to not be ready. Ma says that I have to go to school so that she can go out and try to find any way to make money, so I’m going to be on my very best behaviour there to help them out! Anyway, Diary, I have to get going, it’s almost dinner and I’m starving! I haven’t eaten all day! I’ll write tomorrow, I promise!

Of Mice And Men PreRead

Before	Statement	After
-	People that are poor should rely on their friends, family, or church for help, not the government.
+	A true friend will tell you the truth, even when you don’t want to hear it.
+	The “n-word” is more offensive than other racial slurs because of the history of hate behind it.
-	Women today are more often treated by men as equals rather than objects
-	When people are a victim of a crime, they should be able to take the law into their own hands.
-	Nations with the death penalty have lower murder rates
+	The best place for justice to be determined is in a court of law.
-	Being rich is more important than having close friends.
+	Sometimes a person has to break the law to make sure justice is served.
+	Life today is more difficult and complex than it was in the 1930’s

Blog:

Women today are more often treated by men as equals rather than objects. Except when men treat us like objects by cat-calling us on the streets or objectify us in magazines and online. We are more often treated as equals except for the whole wage gap and how women in high positions are often assumed to have done something to get to that position. I don’t agree with that statement because I see the opposite everyday. You’d think it was true, but for some god forsaken reason in this day and age it still isn’t. Like I’m still not expected to have loud opinions because there is something less desirable about a girl with a loud mouth. I guess I have to believe the opposite of this statement because if I don’t I disregard countless women's own experiences and it’s the least I can to do avoid trying to do that. If you say that now women are mostly treated as equal you pretty much abolish the need for feminism but we definitely need feminism and so women clearly aren’t mostly being treated as equal. I was even afraid to drop ‘feminism’ in this in fear of my point not being taken seriously like advocating equal rights is a negative thing put that way and that definitely says something.

1. Who are the main characters in the story?

Lennie and George.

2. What are some of the characters’ distinguishing characteristics?

Lennie is big and strong but super dumb and George is small but smarter and very protective.

3. What is the setting of the novel?
   The fields in California in the 1930s?
4. What can you piece together about the plot of the novel?  What do you think will happen?

I think that Lennie will mess up badly and George will have to get them out of it.

5. What themes are present in the novel?

There are themes of family vs friends, poverty, and equality.

Exactly 1000 words

Although blogging is viewed as a new innovative way to get students writing, it’s creating the same sense of boredom as with all the writing styles before us.

Blog

n. A website that displays postings by one or more individuals in chronological order and usually has links to comments on specific postings.

n. (Computer Science) a journal written on-line and accessible to users of the internet. Full name: weblog

n. a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style

Blogs have become a weirdly diverse form of media. No guidelines and no limitation, and this could be because ‘blogging’ was never taught in school. Nobody gave students a layout to a good blog post, taught them a five-step process in making a blog. People probably loved the freedom. Now, however, we are using blogging in school. Throughout our time in future forums we are told to write out blogs as informal essays, with a thesis and a strong argument. We are told that the key to a good blog is a point that requires debate. Here’s the thing about our ‘blogs’; we’ve been forcing the concept of a blog into a nice square box we call ‘classroom.’ With that came nobody wanting to go home and write a strongly worded blog post. Just like nobody wants to go home and write an essay.

Perhaps this is why blogs dropped in popularity. People turned to vlogging, or to the microblogging formats of social media sites. Our teachers decided to turn it into education and people got bored. I, personally, don’t know a single person in my age demographic who avidly reads a blog. Is it because kids just don’t care? Maybe, but more likely we've just jumped to the newest form of media. When the school board jumps onto things, surprise, the people lose interest.

So what though? We aren't writing blogs to attract hordes of dedicated readers. No! We are writing blogs to improve our writing while still writing about what we students care about! But that’s the thing, we know these blogs count for something, and we know that our teachers expect something. They expect a thousand words, a good thesis. They also expect creativity. With blogging, and anything to do with school, there is this fear of failure. You have to impress one person. You have to appeal specifically to one person’s opinion. There is no room for creativity in that situation. No, in that situation there is only room for faking it. Blogging creates a fun divide between writing about what we want to (ex. The Kardashians, the porn industry, bathroom etiquette) and what our teacher actually probably wants us to talk about (ex. Probably politics, failing school systems, anything that was ever a TED talk). No matter how many times we are told to write about what we like, we know what we like won’t carry us to the kind of things that are expected.

And now the teachers are in turmoil! “We want you to express yourself,” they scream. OK, theoretical teachers! Here is how a blog post would go if I wrote a blog how I wanted, about what I wanted:

Kim Kardashian is more important than you think, and you hating on her proves it.

Maybe you’re thinking, “Actually, that could be a really good blog post.” And you’re right. It could be a good blog post if I began to talk about the media, our ideas of people versus their own self, and stuff like that. However, I don’t want to write about that because I don’t actually care about that. I want to talk about being her best friend or write a thousand words about having Kris Jenner (I think she actually changed her name) as my mom. I don’t believe everything has to be an argument and if I want to talk about something I like, I don’t want to bend it to fit somebody else’s idea of how I should tackle the topic.

            If I write blogs the way I’m supposed to write blogs, they feel insincere. They feel as insincere as the three paragraph essays. In just 2 short months I've lumped “Future Forums blog post” in “Things I could fake for the mark” along with other essays, newspaper articles, poems, and pretty much all the other writing I've done for school. The faking makes these tasks tedious because my mind wanders to all the things I actually care about. Even this blog is written about something I don’t care about. My mind has been wandering to things like “I wonder how many words I could write about Hayley Williams hair” My eyes have flashed to the word count every couple of seconds in an attempt to squeeze 1000 words from my apathy.

            Or maybe it’s my own apathy that makes blogs so tedious. I don’t care. I fake care and then when that fake care turns into real care, I stop caring. I fake cared about blogs until I started caring about them for school and now I don’t care. I can’t find it in me to care about things in a non-sarcastic way. If that’s the issue, however, I would have just written a bunch of words that don’t matter.

            Back to the point, blogging for school takes an open-ended media and creates edges, and pressures. Once we put blogging into the school system, the school system works its blood sucking magic. Or at least by the time the school system hopes on board the activity has already lost its mass public appeal. Either way, getting us to write informal essays and calling them blogs does not make the groans any quieter or the collective chant of excuses any less persistent. Like watching your mom twerk, it loses its appeal faster than you can throw a towel over her. I guess that’s the nature of the education beast.  

Politics

Your Political Compass

Economic Left/Right: -5.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.23