Thursday, April 30, 2015

Dream Poem

Dream Poem
By: John Zalazinski


I lie awake at night thinking of it coming true.
The door is shut I don't know what to do.
Will I ever find an opportunity?!
Guess it's not true.


It worries me and drives me insane.
Leaving a huge hole in my brain.
Denying it will only bring back so much pain.
I am alone now.


The hope is gone.
I don't see any light,
even after dawn.
Forever and ever I look back.


Somehow I just got off track.
Don't know what to do.
It leaves me breathless.
The thoughts leave me restless.


Dark thoughts are all I can think.
All the agony and disappointment.
For now I know one thing,
this true torment.







Commented On: Devin R. Mia C. Sonny S.


Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Conflict in Of Mice and Men, Week of 4/27

Conflict in Of Mice and Men
John Zalazinski
4/29/2015


 One of the conflicts in the story was with Crooks and it was Man vs Society. Knowing the time period in the story this shouldn't be a surprise. The black population was discriminated and really hated as a group of people. This made hard situations even more complicated because of just his skin color and maybe he's a decent and kind person but has a lower chance at a getting a job. In the text it mentioned that Crooks used to play with the white kids but his dad didn't let him because there were separations between the two races and Crooks didn't find out why his dad did that until he was older.


Another one of the conflicts in the story was Candy with himself. The reason why I say this is because when Carlson shot Candy's dog, Candy wishes he had to shoot the dog himself. He would of seen the last moments of the dog's life and it would only make since because he had the dog since it was a pup. Now Candy is thinking more depressing thoughts and might not want to be around anymore because without the dog he doesn't have that much of a family.


Lastly, one of the other conflicts was Curley fighting Lennie, this conflict was Man vs Man. This all started when the other workers were teasing Curley and Lennie was smiling. The thing is he wasn't smiling because of that, he was smiling because he was thinking about the farm George, Candy, and Lennie are going to have someday and live together. Curley got furious not only because Lennie was tall but because he thought he was enjoying the teasing. Soon after the fight Lennie doesn't know his strength and crushed Curley's hand. This most likely can create a lot of tension between Lennie and Curley and might even get the Boss involved.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Of Mice and Men Blog 4/20/15 - 4/24/15

Of Mice And Men 
4/22/2015
John Zalazinski


The atmosphere of the ranch and the bunkhouse seem to be a little bit tense sometimes. An example of this would be George always getting frustrated with Lennie. When they were finally introduced to The Boss and he wouldn't let Lennie say anything because George thinks when ever Lennie opens his mouth he is going to mess everything up. This happened when George mentioned Lennie was "...strong as a bull" then Lennie repeated him and immediately got scolded by George and made the Boss suspicious of them.


The atmosphere can also be positive because during Christmas the Boss brought a whole gallon of whisky and said to the workers "Drink hearty boys. Christmas comes but once a year." This can hint that he is mostly nice to his workers and treats them well. This compels the workers to do well for him and the Boss would often do something kind in return.  The workers would be calm after work and could relax rather than worry about what they did wrong.


I think Curley's wife doesn't have a name because of the way women were treated back then. Curley didn't care what her name was as long as she was attractive he was alright and didn't really care about her name. I think the message that was sent is that women were treated more like objects than an equal human being. Even George insulted her calling her a tramp and a b**** because he wanted to convince Lennie she was nothing but a waste of time. Men wanted someone just to do things for them and they do nothing in return, sort of like robots now with us.




Commented On: Diana A. Devin R. & Saul G.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Things Not Seen Week of 4/13 - 4/17 Prompt: Write the biography for one character (SPOILERS)

Things Not Seen 
By: Andrew Clements
John Zalazinski
4-15-2015


Bobby Phillips didn't know what to do because he was invisible. It happened all of a sudden and shocked his parents also trying to process information that was impossible and beyond belief. There was a lot of confusion between his family and school. He couldn't go to school until they solved the problem, but luckily his dad was a scientist working for a company called "Fermilab" which runs complicated and "fancy" experiments on different things in the world of science. 


Unfortunately poor Bobby's parents got into a car crash and now he's alone trying to live with being invisible without causing any trouble. That comes with making up reasons why he can't answer the door or lying that his aunt is taking care of him when she lives in Florida. When he felt a little bit confident he got bundled up concealing every single part of his body so no one would get suspicious.
Then something terrible happens, he notices his scarf fell off and he bumped into a girl walking out of the library. The girl just keeps walking and doesn't say anything and realizes she was blind.


A few days or so later she finds out the truth that he is invisible and also has a hard time processing it in her mind. Bobby finds out that her name is Alicia and discussion the situation there in. Bobby later becomes aquatinted with her parents. Her dad which is a professor/astronomer and her mom which went to the same university as Bobby's mother. They find out about it and talk with Bobby's parents after they recovered from the crash, about Bobby's problem. Both pairs of parents are working hard to find out the truth and make everything right again. Until they do he is stuck like that for who knows how long.








Commented On: Sam T. Saul G. Justin R.