Sunday, February 22, 2009

Change


I read an article in the Us Weekly Magazine about Nadya Suleman, the mother of 14 and the recently born octuplets. The article talked about how her life was going to change drastically once the, eight premature, babies come home. It also talked about how her six other children, all under the age of seven, don't yet realize how different their lives are going to be. Suleman's story is similar, yet very different from Nectar in a Sieve. It is similar in the way that Ira get's harassed for having an albino baby. Suleman is getting harassed for having the octuplets when she doesn't have a job and already had six children at home. It is different in the way that Ira only has one child. She was impregnated through prostitution. Suleman now has fourteen children. She was impregnated through in vitro fertilization.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Hope

I found a poem on hope. The poem talks about all the ways that hope can be viewed or seen. I thought it was a really creative way to portray what hope was/meant to people. The poem can be connected to Nectar and a Sieve because in the book, there are multiple different ways hope is portrayed, like in the poem. The last line of the poem is "hope is the last thing ever lost..." I feel like this is basically what the book is trying to say. Throughout the book you see hope in so many different ways, and as long as the characters had hope, they were able to survive, even if it was through harsh and dangerous situations.

Religion

I read an article on a Muslim teacher. The teacher, working in Vienna, was suspended for giving his students anti-Semitic pamphlets. The educational minister who suspended the teacher has urged the Official Islamic Community in Austria to revoke his teaching license. There is currently an investigation being completed as to whether or not the teacher's teaching license should be revoked or not. This situation seems similar but yet very different to Nectar in a Sieve. It is similar because they characters in the book hold their values and beliefs in very high regard. It is different because no one is really punished for their beliefs, only their actions.

**I talked to you about my internet being down over the weekend, you told me to write a side not just to remind you of that.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Gender Roles

I found a website about Women's History. The site was all about the history of women in America. It stresses that the times are definitely different than they were one hundred years ago. They show this by using examples like women in politics, in the workforce, and how their rights have evolved. Women are viewed equal by the law and by most in society. This is different from Nectar in a Sieve because the women in the society don't seem to have equal rights. Also, their place in society, as in their role, is differnt.

Cultural Differencec

I read an article titled Bishop Who Denied Holocaust Ousted. The Bishop believed that the concentration camp gas chambers didn't do nearly the damaged that history says it did. He believes that only 200,000 to 300,000 people were killed in the gas chambers. After his statement on this, he was dismissed as the Bishop last Sunday. I think that the big cultural difference is that if I had said that, I would have had a huge argument on my hands, but being someone high up in the church completely changed that.

To read more visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/world/europe/10pope.html?ref=world

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Overcoming Struggle

I read the book The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. The book is about a young adults that meet during the summer. The two, Ali and Noah, end up falling madly in love. Ali's parents don't approve of their relationship so they leave town early to go back home. Noah writes daily expressing his love, but Ali's mother never gives her the letters. Many years later Noah happens to be in the town where Ali lives and sees her. Noah soon finds out that Ali is engaged to another man. In the end Ali and Noah end up together. In The Notebook the stuggle is that Ali didn't initially get to choose who she wanted to be with.
The Notebook is similar to Nectar and a Sieve because both Ali, Ruku, and Ira don't get to choose who they want to be with. The books are different in the fact taht in the end, Alo does end up with who she wants to be with. As of right now, we have not read enough to find out if Ira gets to be with who she wants.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Natural Disaster

I was on New York Times webpage and was reading random articles and came across one about Hurricane Katrina. In Nature's Casino talks about how normal it can be in the morning, but then how fast that can all change. The article also talks about how devastating the hurricane was. In Nectar and a Sieve, they village experiences a monsoon. Similar to a hurricane, they can be very destructive and cause many people to sufffer.

Class Activity

I was left with athlete. Being an athlete and involved with sports is really important to me. You have so many different opportunities with sports to meet new people and do great things. I can honestly say that if I didn't have basketball and running I would be a much different person.