Blog Feed

The book that I read was the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was published in 1925 by Charles Scribner’s and sons. In its first year The Great Gatsby was not on the best seller list or in the New York Times. It received mixed reviews and sold poorly. In the first year of its publishing only 20,000 copies were sold. In 1940 Fitzgerald died. Feeling that his work was a failure and would go on to be forgotten. It would later be brought back to America’s attention during World War II, and soon became a part of the high school curriculum throughout decades. The Great Gatsby is now considered to be an American classic, and is now ranked one of the greatest pieces of literature in American History. 

What people should take away from this book is many things. The Great Gatsby is complex and has many ideas using symbolism. What I think people should take away is whatever they find. The book has an amazing take on materialism and love. How people appreciate one another and what others mean to them. They should take away the idea that people should not consume who you are and your takes on life no matter what your feelings are for them. You should be true to yourself and if someone comes into your life and uses you to accommodate those needs and tries to take who you are away from you do not let them. Another reason why Nick Carraway is my favorite character is because I can relate to some of his experiences throughout the book. Even though Nick proceeds to have connections and relations with all of the people that he is around he is still a wall flower in many ways. He lives in different conditions that in some ways allow him to be the most observant character in the book. Aside from being the narrator you get a sense of how Nick feels misplaced sometimes in these rich higher class environments. I can relate with that because I find myself in the position of a wall flower apart of the action many times. Watching the actions and reactions of others and how they interact. A lot of times I can see these things because I have different experiences than they have. I used to be the only person of color in my old group of friends, and while I enjoyed being around them there were many times that I had felt uncomfortable because of certain customs and normalities that I partake in my everyday life that they do not. 

I loved The Great Gatsby for many reasons. The writing is absolutely gorgeous and gives you amazing visuals of where you are and how people are acting you legitimately feel as if you are in 1922 with these characters and high class people. I also enjoyed the story and plot of it. So many things are so far below the surface that one has to think and ponder much of what is going on. The issues and conflicts that come up are not those of normal people but non the less they are interesting. I would recommend this book to someone who enjoys love stories and appreciates literature and creative writing very much. Also to people who would be interested in the times of the 1920’s. This book having been written in that time frame gives you a vivid perspective of what is was like back then, how the people thought, dressed, interacted with one another. Whether interaction took place at parties or a golf game or a small dinner how these wealthy privileged people used their time.

    C. Why does it help an artist to see in negative space?

    D. Does seeing in negative space enhance drawings, why or why not?

The book begins in first person in the perspective of Kurt Vonnegut. He is visiting an old friend from the war, Bernard V. O’Hare, and they are reminiscing about the war. Vonnegut mentions that he is trying to write a book about the bombing of Dresden. O’Hare’s wife says that he should name is book the Children’s Crusade, because she believes that the war is talked about like it was a great gallant fight fought by heroes, but it was actually the gory slaughter of children sent to war. That dialogue sets the stage for the book in discussing the meaningless of war, and, the meaningless of life itself. Vonnegut goes on to think to himself about the fluidity and intricacies of time, a theme carried throughout the rest of the book. He then introduces Billy Pilgrim, a boring man from a boring town with a boring life who becomes unstuck in time. 

The story of Billy Pilgrim is not a linear one. It begins with Billy old and senile in his death bed, and then he awakens on his wedding day, and then to the war, and then to his birth and then to his death. Billy’s story is centered around two different parts of his life; the bombing of Dresden, and Billy’s life on the planet Tralfamadore. Through the repetition of phrases, random anecdotes, science fiction, and history, Kurt Vonnegut uses the life of Billy Pilgrim to convey his own confusions about the meaning and the meaninglessness of existence and what it means to be a human being.

Billy Pilgrim floats through time with no start, no end, and no purpose. Aimless and lost, Billy does not feel like he has a solid, down-to-earth impact anywhere, and doubts the significance of his own existence. I related to Billy’s uncertainty. I, too, have questioned who I am, and what the meaning of my existence is. Do I matter? I am significant? Will I have an impact? The philosophy Billy learns on Tralfamdore teaches him that no one is ever truly dead, as they are alive in every other moment at the same time. He learns every moment happened, is happening, and always will happen the same exact way, as it is “structured that way”. Billy raises more relatable life questions I too brood over sometimes. What happens when you die? Do I have a predetermined destiny? If I am simply a compilation of memories than who will I be when no one is left to remember?

Various other characters are introduced in different moments of Billy’s life. There are his wife and his children and his war friends and fellow war prisoners. There is Eliot Rosewater, another man in a mental hospital with Billy. Montana Wildhack, the hollywood actress in the Tralfamadorian zoo exhibit with Billy. And of course, Kilgore Trout, a science fiction novelist no one has ever heard of. My favorite character, or set of characters, where the English soldiers living in the heart of a Russian war camp. They had befriended the Russian guards and recieved extra food and provisions. The Englishmen created a happy and structured life in the center of chaos and captivity and destruction. That contrast, and the recognition of the human ability to create lemonade out of any lemons, was strikingly beautiful.

Slaughterhouse-Five is hauntingly well written and is a book that, as Life Magazine remarked, “a funny book at which you are not permitted to laugh, a sad book without tears, a tale told in a slaughterhouse.” Although the story progression in the book is not linear, Kurt Vonnegut is able to create a sense of continuity through his writing styles and his repetition. Vonnegut takes advantage of the simplicity of the human brain and how easily we can make connections. For example, in the beginning of the book, Vonnegut explains that at the end of a massacre, all you can hear are the birds, and they sound like “poo-tee-weet”. The last line in the book is “poo-tee-weet”, telling the reader that the book was a story of a massacre and a a story of death. The reader knows, even though Vonnegut did not tell. Kurt Vonnegut is a master of words and a master of the mind, and his book is a masterpiece.

I would recommend this book for anyone who likes be intellectually engaged while reading. Anyone who likes science fiction, World War II, classic literature, or anyone who is looking for a short and satisfying read. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I think you could too.

To do this project you have to do a research. I found some websites about negative space. You need to know what is negative space and how you look at something. After you know what it is you should try and draw some pictures. You use linoleum to cut out and form an image. Me and my friends helped each other because sometimes we were confused. You have to be careful when you cut out linoleum to not hurt yourself. Then you print your image on the paper with the ink. 

Inquiry: We used inquiry, because we had to figure out which element matched our number. We also had to use our creativity to come up with a quality drawing.

Research: Research was a big part of this project. We had to research a lot of background information about our element, such as it's uses, how it was discovered, and who discovered it.

Collaboration: There was part of the project that Ms. Hull didn't tell us how to do. We had to collaborate with others to figure how to correctly complete that part.

Presentation: We had to make our prints look presentable, by centering them on another piece of paper. We also had to make sure that the lines were straight.

Reflection: In order to reflect, we had to make sure that our prints were complete. We have to reflect on how our process went, and even before we finished, you can reflect on if what you are doing is right.

 In the future depicted in the book the world is in bad shape. The people have been going through this disease called the flare. When the governments found out about the Flare and how rapidly it was spreading they joined forces to create an organization named WICKED. WICKED collects a group of  “test subjects” into a place called the maze. In the maze there is a glade where “the subjects” are sent through an elevator. The walls of the maze changes every night with the walls to the maze from the glade closed every night. In the first book there is a code that is revealed through the maze. The code is the key to the next book. 

The books are narrated by an unknown person who knows everything. Thomas the main character’s head is the one that this unknown narrator knows most about. Then there is Teresa the only girl Glader. Newt the "nice" guy and Minho the tough one. Teresa, Newt, and Minho are Thomas’ only friends for a while and they are by his side for the most part. Thomas goes through some crazy things and the conflicts he has are with everyone. James Dashner made sure to put in person vs. person, person vs. society, person vs. self evenly through the series. Thomas has so much conflict he ends up expecting it by the end. My favorite character is Teresa because she is the good best friend she is always there for Thomas even before Thomas knows it and everything she does is to protect him no matter how much it hurts her doing those things. The series is about survival, readers should understand that through surviving something you may lose something else and all you can do is pick up where you left off because if you look back you won’t be able to handle it.

The series is hard to relate to situation wise but when you look at the thematic content you realize that you might have done the same things. These kids go through so much by the end of the series I can barely remember how they got there and I think that was the point. I think James Dashner wanted to make the point that as long as the ones you love are around you then you will be all right and that is what I believe to be true every day. I cannot relate to any specific character yet because they go through so many changes so quickly that when I start to relate they do something that I don’t understand again. I have felt the way every “glader” felt when they were a “shuck greenie” because you feel alone in a new place and you don’t know where you fit it you just know you better start to because right now you are the odd one out. 

The series is wonderfully and skillfully crafted a story that takes you through a train that you want to be an express one with only stops are for the 3:00 am coffee breaks and end of book potty breaks. James Dashner remains what the future might look like and shows you the imagery of the maze in the first book and the world in the second and third books. Throughout the three books Dashner is consistent with the amount of suspense and tension he gives through each book. The series has so many strengths and I think that the biggest strength is how James Dashner creates this world for you and he doesn’t drag it along with details about the smallest of things like other writers might have if they had this subject. I would change very little in this book only the deaths because all my favorite characters go for Thomas. I would recommend these books just based on the writing style and speed because it is very hard to make a person want to read a story so bad that they have to put it down to get through the ending. Dashner gives you these characters that you want to get to know and through the situations they are put through they reveal themselves increasingly to you.

PAYBACK TIME BY CARL DEUKER

   This book is primarily about sports but not fully. This book is also about uncovering a secret and making a great story out of that secret. The main character in this book Daniel (Mitch) True is getting ready to go college and plans on uncovering the biggest story of his life in his senior year of high school. This book PAYBACK TIME received a one star review from Booklist that said “ Definitely one for the top shelf ”. The book PAYBACK TIME received A JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD SELECTION.      

The book PAYBACK TIME is a book about a high school journalist named Daniel (Mitch) True who wants to be the editor of his school newspaper and he wants go to Columbia University to study journalism. An important character in the book is Kimi Yon. She is the sports photographer for the school newspaper and is Mitch's newspaper partner. Mitch and Kimi worked on the sports section of the newspaper together throughout the school year. Another important character in this book is Angel Marchial. Angel is a football player who is a new kid at Lincoln High school and new to the football team at the school. The conflict in this story is Mitch and Kimi are trying to uncover a secret about Angel Marchial who transferred from a different high school. My favorite character in this book is Daniel (Mitch) True. The reason being is Mitch grew throughout the book. Mitch did not have things go his way all of the time but that did not stop him from continuing to try to uncover this story. Furthermore Mitch had a weight problem and throughout the book he lost a lot of weight because he did not give up or let anyone stop him. I believe that readers should take self motivation away from this book. I believe that this book gives good examples about self motivation. Furthermore readers should take away hope from this book. The reason being is that Mitch did not always have the answer to all of the questions that he had about Angel but he knew that at the end of the football season he would have some information to write a story.

I could relate to Angel Marichal. One reason is I have been in his situation about starting on the bench and eventually starting in the starting lineup. The second way I could relate to Angel is because of his quiet leadership. I understand at first why he did not want to be one that talked a lot. Furthermore I can relate to Angel being the one to sit at the end of the bench and not be getting into the game. The mindset that Angel had was remarkable because he played well but he only played a little and would not be warmed up when he was put into the game. This gave him a disadvantage because he was not warmed up and was not prepared to be in the games.  

I did like the book. The book was great and had very interesting themes. One strength of the book was the imagery. When I was reading the book I could imagine the football field and I could imagine the energy from the sports fans in the stadium. Another strength from the book was the action in the book. This book had a lot of football play by play detail and kept the reader interested throughout the book. One weakness from this book was the ending. The ending did not close the book properly. The ending could have been better. Another weakness in this book was the detail of certain places in the book. For example where Mitch had gone running was not described well and was hard to imagine what it would look like in real life. I would change the ending of the book. The reason being is the ending was not what I expected and could have closed the book better. The author left it up to the readers imagination but I would have liked to have a clear ending at the end of the book.

for everyone and that probably could take something away from this book. I  

definitely recommend this book to sports fans. This book has great play by

play detail and really makes the reader feel like they are at the game. Another

thing that this book has is a theme about self motivation. In this book the main 

character Daniel (Mitch) True deals with a weight problem and he tells 

himself that he must get into better shape so he could be healthy. At first 

Mitch was losing weight to impress Kimi Yon but at the end he realizes that 

he was doing it for himself.        

Treasure Island is a novel published in 1883 by Robert Louis Stevenson. The book was meant to just be stories that he told to his stepson, and ended up being published into a great story that has been famous and told for generations. The movie “Pirates of the Caribbean” was based off of the well-known novel, and for that I have based my creative portion of the individual reading book project on the movie’s ‘theme song.’ “He’s a Pirate” was composed by Hans Zimmer and Klaus Badelt and is used in the movie as the background and occasional ambient music. I think it goes perfectly with the book beccause I couldn’t help but imagine that music playing while I was reading. The song has an epic feel, and for that I decided to play it on piano and use it as my creative piece.

Billy Bones leaves a chest at the Admiral Benbow for safekeeping, and stays there along with it. He dies from a fatal stroke. Jim Hawkins, the protagonist, finds a treasure map in the chest, and with the help of characters that were introduced earlier in the novel, he goes in search of Treasure Island with the crew. The treasure is from the already deceased Captain Flint. Will the treasure be found? Read the rest to figure out what happens in the rest of the gripping story.

The main character is Jim Hawkins, the narrator, and son of the owner of the Admiral Benbow. Jim tells about his adventures with the pirate crew, and his experience in his “coming of age.” He uses his feelings and emotions to portray the story in his own way, explaining everything that happens in good detail.

The main conflict is getting along with Captain Flint’s old crew, and getting to Treasure Island. It isn’t until they get there that they all realize something has happened, which could change the entire story from the expected outcome.

My favorite character is Jim Hawkins. I think this because first of all, his name is pretty darn epic and awesome. Also, he has a sort of mysterious nature. It’s hard to explain, but when he explains the story from the narration point of view, he tells it in his own way, unlike any other books that I have read previously. He also has a sense of adventure, and I like his personality. It really fits the story.

I think the reader should take away the fact that even if the book is old and a little challenging, it can still be a treasureable story. The words and lingo used are a little more traditional, and adding the fact that it contains a lot of vocabulary that I’m not used to, it was a challenge to read. There were words like “dubloons” that I have never really heard as part of a story before. It was interesting to see how pirates would have talked, too. I think one huge theme is how when you “come of age” you can prove how heroic or gallant you can be.

I don’t think I can relate to anyone in the book, considering the setting was in the eighteenth century, and most of the characters were pirates, but I still enjoyed the book either way. I don’t think books need to cater to the reader and have to be relatable to be enjoyable. Adding to this, I haven’t had any similar experiences to the characters in the book either, because, well... The characters are fantastical pirates from the eighteenth century that go on adventures in search of treasure!

Overall, I enjoyed the book very much because it was a challenge to read and comprehend, and I’m not usually a fan of old fiction. I think it’s something that I wouldn’t pick up first if I were given a pile of books to choose from, but I’m very happy that I did pick it up to read, because it’s a very enthralling novel.

I think a major strength of the book is the ability for the writer to change perspectives. It was very interesting to read when Jim Hawkins traded in telling the story with Doctor Livesey, who had a more accurate version of the story, while Jim included what he felt like. Also, the reader is painted a picture of exactly what every staggering detail is. Without the visualization in a fiction book, the book easily becomes boring, and it’s not as fun to imagine or think about the plot.

I don’t think I would change such a classic book, but if I had to, I would change the beginning. I find it very confusing on how the events take place, and I had to reread a lot of parts, just to understand what was going on. Once I did understand it, it was really worth it, and I was glad that I had gone through again to read it. 

I think I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys suspense and adventure. I often times found myself wondering where something that had happened in the beginning of the book would come back. It made me wonder if it was foreshadowing, or if it was going to eventually tie into the later plot.

I enjoyed the book, and am proud of my creative portion that I have created. I don’t think I would change a single thing about it. Please watch my video of me playing “He’s a Pirate” on piano. 

Click this link.

A. Negative space is the area around and between objects. It uses the space around something to show it, without inner detail.

B. In my drawing, I found negative space by replacing the outer portions of the drawing with a mirror of the inner, so that they both reflected the outside of the object.

C. It helps an artist to see in negative space because that makes them aware of the surrounding area of an object, even if they aren't shown. It also helps them display objects without relying on inner details.

D. Seeing in negative space does not enhance drawings, it just is a different way of drawing, a different style.

Science Leadership Academy - Senior Capstone 2013

Student Name: Natalee Schiavoni

In school Mentor: Ms. Dunn

Link to my Capstone website:

http://716596935655210608.weebly.com/

Cover Page -

The goal of this project was to create an artistic portfolio of my most recent sketching and drawings to show my understanding for the techniques artist use to produce successful artwork. I want to mold together an artistic view point and practical techniques to create functional blog/website to help others find great resources.

Abstract -

My sketch portfolio is a collection of my best and most recent artwork that highlights my love for art and shows my experience throughout the year. It is a visual archive of my artistic accomplishments that demonstrates my ability and potential as an artist.  My finished portfolio documents additional work that demonstrates an awareness of formal visual organizational principles and experience with a variety of tools, media, styles, and approaches. You will be viewing still life, landscape, figure drawings, portrait, perspective, and diagrammatic drawings.