As we have gotten to know more about Marie-Laure and Werner, how has your opinion of them changed and why? Use evidence from the book to support your answer.

Personally, when I first began to read the book, I believed that Marie-Laure was going to be a shy, non risking taking girl. Soon, I found out that Marie takes risk and isn't as shy as I thought she was going to be. I found out she was actually a very brave young lady. For example, in page 304, "If he touches me, she thinks, I will tear out his eyes." This shows how brave and risking taking she is. As for Werner, I believed he was much more braver in the beginning. However, as the story goes on, I find out that he isn't as brave as I thought. For example, page 238, "... Each time Werner does nothing to stop it." I thought Werner would have done something to stop the boys hitting his friend, but he doesn't. Throughout, the story both of change in some good ways and some weaker ways.

This week, on Thursday, we learned about imagery. Find an example of imagery in the book, quote it, and explain how it appeals to your senses.

"She walks. Now there are cold round pebbles beneath her feet. Now crackling weeds. Now something smoother: wet, unwrinkled sand. She bends and spreads her fingers. It's like cold silk. Cold, sumptuous silk into which the sea has laid offerings: pebbles, shells, barnacles. Tiny slips of wrack. Her fingers dig and reach; the drops of rain touch the back of her neck, the backs of her hands. The sand pulls the heat from her fingertips, from the soles of her feet." (Page 232) Can I just start of with one thing: Writing goals! This piece of writing appeals mostly to touch in my opinion. By touch I mean, tactile because the author is describing this in a way where you can imagine it on your skin. Also, it appeals to sight due to the reason that I can imagine seeing this sand and it raining. For sound, I can hear the crawling weeds and pebbles moving beneath her feet. I can hear the ocean as well. In this passage, there is no taste, but there is a lot of touch.            

Discuss the structure of the novel so far. Why has the author made the chapters and chronology in the way that he has?

The novel has an interesting structure so far. The structure allows each part to switch years from back and forth. There are two main characters in this story, Marie and Werner. I believe the author has made the chapters and chronology order this way because it makes the readers interested. Also, it makes the book unique compared to other books that deal with this subject. The chapters were also made like this so that we can see the different perspectives of the different characters. Both, the chapters and the chronology order, is very interesting and clever. I really enjoy reading this book due to it's unique structure.     

For this week's blog post, reflect upon your experience interviewing your oral history subject. How did you feel about the experience? Do you think it went well - why or why not? What do you think you might do differently in future oral history interviews? What was interesting about your subject's story?

Doing my first oral history interview was awesome! I really enjoyed it; I got to learn a lot about Ali Al Sundani, the person I interviewed. Overall, I think it did go well. It was a bit of a surprise when I found out I would be the interviewer, but thankfully it all went fine. Our questions were well thought out, and we recorded the video and audio awesomely. In the future, I would definitely consider creating some more follow up questions. Also, I would take more time in my interview. I believe the most interesting yet sad thing about Mr. Sundani's story is the fact that he has only visited his family once in the seven years he has been here. Also, that he got his citizenship last year around April. I really enjoyed my first oral history project! 

Oral History

The article spoke about Houston's graffiti, and how it has a huge impact in the art world of Houston. The article mentioned several different famous artists such as Daniel Anguilu, NEKST, GONZO247, and many more. The author included some pictures of the artist's works and the history behind them. Unfortunately, the article mentioned how Houston failed in the past to keep track of the graffiti of Houston, and how it became popular over the years. The author briefly mentioned how Houston is working on making certain areas legal to do graffiti in. Also, she mentioned how Houston works on erasing and cleaning illegal graffiti within Houston. 

I found this article interesting due to the reason that we are the generation that decides whether we save the graffiti in Houston. This article mentions informs us about the community and how much effort actually goes in the murals and graffiti. I also found it interesting because of the artist's history, and how difficult it is for artists to continue doing their passion. This article informed me of a lot I didn't know when I saw graffiti!

Summarize the story to which you listened and provide a link to that story. Then write three follow-up questions that you would like to be able to ask the person(s) telling the story.

In the story, Alex is a young African American who grew up with his adoptive white parents. At a young age, he is taught color does not matter. However, one day he is driving with a friend. He is pulled over for making an illegal left turn, and the police ask him to get out his car. Then, the police finds out his friend, who is white, has a bag of cocaine and they arrest him. The police begin to search his car, and he kindly asks the police for a warrant. Three policemen beat him to unconsciousness and he is waken up in a hospital.  

How did your family feel about the event? 

Did you and your family try to send this case to court?

Do you still talk to your friend who was in the car with you?

Link: 

https://storycorps.org/animation/traffic-stop/

Marjane's Punk Phase

While Marjane is in Vienna, she goes through her "punk phase." Personally, I believe that she never really liked punk music and that she just needed people to accept her. Both, in the film and the book, the audience can tell Marjane is not comfortable with her new punk friends, but she slowly becomes more like them. However, this was not the real her because later in the book, she regrets being punk and becomes more like her new boyfriend's friends. Once again, she meets another boy she likes and pretends to be interested in the same things he is, but in reality she really doesn't care and like those things. She goes through this "punk phase" simply because she is trying to fit in. She is trying to fill up this love that is missing from her family and friends back from in Iran.