Last blog post EVER

After careful and tedious math, it has been determined that over this past semster, I have read 2745 pages total in etymology. Most of these were pop fiction, but I had four plays that were literary fiction.

A lot of books i read this semester will be classified as my favorite books such as Divergent and Matched. Usually when I sat down to read these books, I couldn't stop so I took it everywhere. If i had a free moment i would read. If we went out to lunch and none of my family was talking, i thought that was a que for me to pick up my book. the only downside to this was, i really can't read with any background noise. I don't read with music, i can hardly read with birds chirping outside, but i found that when reading these books, it really didn't matter because they enticed me so much. if you are really interested in a book, nothing will distract you. the other day when i was finishing Divergent, i was reading it for 9 hours after school. typically, my phone is always next to me, but when i got home, i left it in my book bag and just sat down to read. finally after like seven hours i realized that i didn't have it and i found that my best friend had called me like 3 times. THE POWER OF BOOKS.

At the beginning of the semester, i really didn't know anything about poetry. i mean, i liked it when i found poems i liked. i wanted to like it. i wanted to be a poet. i wanted to be one of those people who carried around a poetry book or a journal and wrote their feelings. i wanted to be a hipster. I am not a hipster lol. but i do have a new appreciation for poetry. i have a new book of poems that i love and words that describe everything i feel. 

Usually in english you learn to take apart the poetry you read and don't really get the full feeling of it because you are too busy depicting it and finding literary terms. in this class, that isn't even necessary. even though you have to write about it, you more have to write about the impact it made on you than  the technical aspect. throughout this whole semester i have found so many poems that i have loved. i have made my family read them, my friends, everyone. I would have to say, my favorite poem this year that all i can do is relate to is "The Friend" by Marge Piercy. it speaks volumes with such fierce intensity. i love it. here it is:

The friend

By Marge Piercy 

We sat across the table.

he said, cut off your hands.

they are always poking at things.

they might touch me.

I said yes.

Food grew cold on the table.

he said, burn your body.

it is not clean and smells like sex.

it rubs my mind sore.

I said yes.

I love you, I said.

That’s very nice, he said

I like to be loved,

that makes me happy.

Have you cut off your hands yet?
.
.

So Long Etymology

Love, Cheyenne

If you're wondering why I'm not in school...

It's because it's my birthday :D

and I am having a party at home.

Someone should really read this book so I can discuss it with someone...

This is like the best book i have ever read. i know i know what your thinking.... I do love harry potter and twilight but those hold a special place in my heart. This book is something i have never read before. Going into it, i thought it would be a mix of the hunger games and matched, but it isn't not at all. I mean, it has similar themes, but the plot is so much different. it came out a few weeks ago and i heard it was going to be a trilogy and i absolutely cannot wait until that happens. please read this. here is a quick synopsis i reluctantly copied from the internet....

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

for more information on this amazing book

pg. 195- 314

Part 5 
The newly arrived AWOL Unwinds face a tribunal of sorts with the top three that were designated by the Admiral to find what job they would be doing. Connor gets mechanic, Risa is assigned medic and Roland is learning how to fly a helicopter from "Cleaver" another high-up that isn't an Unwind like the other high-ups. During the course of a month the Unwinds get used to their lives in the Graveyard which include something called work call which Unwinds can nominate themselves to take a job they like. Also people grow suspicious of the Admiral because of his abnormally white teeth which they think are from a Unwind. Rumors fly that the Admiral is just here to pick and choose Unwinds. A few days later Lev shows up in the Graveyard. How he got there is unknown but he looks so different that at first Connor couldn't recognize him. A few days after this the Admiral summons Connor on the pretext that Connor needs to fix a coffeemaker. Admiral says that he hears of Connor a lot because of his fights and how they always resolve something. Connor realizes the coffeemaker is in working order and figures out there's something else the Admiral wants to talk about. The Admiral explains that Connor's feelings of unease around him are based on rumors. The Admiral wears dentures and he started this because of the mistake of letting his son be Unwound. The Admiral also shows him the dead bodies of his top five, the three that gave the tribunals, and two others. The Admiral wants Connor to be a spy and find out who killed them. The Admiral also tells Connor the whole truth about the Heartland War and how the Bill of Life came to be. He tells Connor that he was forced to unwind his own son to set an example since he had had a hand in the creation of the Bill of Life. Lev meets up with Cleaver, and two other kids who want to shake up things in the world. In the next few days Risa notices something going on with both Connor and Lev and tries to get to the bottom of it. The next work call Lev and his gang sign up for a job on an oil rig in Alaska. Connor thinks Roland killed the top five and locks him in the same crate that the five Unwinds and the top five were killed in. When the Unwinds get riled up, they attack the plane that the Admiral is on with Risa. Connor hears about the situation and goes to intervene. He manages to calm them and get to Risa and the Admiral. The Admiral has a heart attack because of the heat in the plane. Connor rushes to Roland since he is the only one who can fly a helicopter since the mob killed Cleaver because he was associated with the Admiral after he makes a comment about suffocating. Connor figures out he killed the Goldens, the top five. They fly a helicopter to a hospital to try and save the Admiral. Admiral doesn't want an Unwound kids heart so they do what doctors did before the Heartland Wars. Roland turns in Connor, Risa, the people who live in the Graveyard and inadvertently himself. The Juvey-cops take away Roland, Risa and Connor to a harvest camp.


Part 6
They arrive at the harvest camp and realize that exercise is a main focus. At every sports court there are either cameras for every person playing or people with clipboards watching to see how their body moves and if muscles work right. It is found out that Lev's group killed the Goldens by suffocation before Lev got there and they are planning on blowing up the harvest camp by being Clappers who are people who, when they ingest a certain liquid, self-destruct if their blood comes out of their veins. Roland gets Unwound a few days later and the process is explained in detail for the first time. The person is conscious until they take the last chunk of the person out. The law says that people being Unwound have to be able to see it happening to them and be awake. They don't feel pain because of a drug they inject in him. After Roland is gone it's Connor's turn. It's exactly the time the Clappers are going to detonate the building he's going into so Lev runs to Connor to try and save him as he walks into the building. Right after Connor walks in the building explodes as the two other Clappers explode. Lev doesn't. Lev runs in and saves Connor who is missing an arm and an eye, and Risa from the demolished building.

Tony Orrico

take a look at this link. beautiful symmetry drawings done by Tony Orrico all drawn on his stomach.

take a look

If you've been in a failed relationship and have been accused as the reason why it has failed. if you have been in a relationship where the other is constantly has put you on such an emotional rollar coaster ride you don't know what to do, take a look at the poem i posted.
The friend by Marge Piercy

pg. 155-195

Part Four

Risa and Connor end up in The Graveyard, while CyFi and Lev reach Joplin, Missouri, the home of Cy's transplanted brain's owner. The section begins at a pawn shop, where Lev tries to sell a diamond bracelet (stolen by CyFi/CyTy) to the pawnbroker in order to get some money.

Over at the warehouse, Risa, Connor, and the other Unwinds are being herded by the fatigues into airline packing crates in groups of four. Connor gets into a fight with one of Roland's followers so he can avoid sharing a crate with Roland. Connor ends up “rooming” with Hayden, Emby (short for "mouth breather"), and Diego. As they travel in the darkened crate, the four wonder where they are being transported to. During the trip, they discuss whether unwinds are considered dead or alive, and whether they would rather be killed or unwound. Hayden then asks what happens to someone's soul when they get unwound, and it strikes up a big debate on their way. When the plane lands and the crates are opened, Risa finds out that they have landed in an airplane graveyard in the middle of nowhere and hears that five kids suffocated to death on their journey here. She worries about Connor's safety, but then finds him among a crowd of Unwinds who are waiting to receive clothes and food. At this point, The Admiral is introduced, Risa sees Roland, and the Unwinds find out they will remain in The Graveyard until they reach the safe age of eighteen.

The book cuts over to Lev, who is following CyFi to Joplin, Missouri. CyFi's transplanted brain is telling him that he belongs in Joplin, although he's not sure what he'll find when he gets there. CyFi starts having a seizure-like tantrum as they are walking around in Joplin, and things begin to look familiar. CyFi follows the impulses over to the home where Tyler, the Unwind who unwillingly gave CyFi a part of his brain, lived. CyFi/CyTy realizes that Tyler's parents had him unwound, and that Tyler is not aware that he has been unwound. CyFi/CyTy requests a shovel from Tyler's parents, and digs up a briefcase full of stolen jewelry and shiny items that Tyler had previously buried. The police are there but not aware of the situation. Tyler/CyFi falls to his knees, begging his previous parents not to unwind him. Lev threatens the parents with a shovel, and forces them to tell Tyler, their unwound son, that they will not unwind him. Lev realizes that he is not safe in the presence of the police since he's an AWOL unwind, so he runs away.

Does anyone remember this?

This was like my favorite show when i was a kid: Bananas in Pajamas! These British bananas got me through preschool. i vaguely remember this episode...

Poems for Anthology

Theme: Break-Ups

1. Leave-Taking by Louise Bogan
2. Farewell to Love by Michael Drayton
3. On Monsieur's Departure by Queen Elizabeth I
4. And Wilt Thou Leave Me Thus? by Thomas Wyatt
5. A Farewell to False Love by Sir Walter Ralegh
6. Such Simple Love by Thomas McGrath
7. Barrels by Barbara Guest
8. He Marked the Page with a Match by Vera Pavlova
9. Ars Poetica by Dorothea Lasky
10. Oh God by Michelle Tea

The Friend by Marge Piercy

We sat across the table.

he said, cut off your hands.

they are always poking at things.

they might touch me.

I said yes.

Food grew cold on the table.

he said, burn your body.

it is not clean and smells like sex.

it rubs my mind sore.

I said yes.

I love you, I said.

That’s very nice, he said

I like to be loved,

that makes me happy.

Have you cut off your hands yet?

 

 

i found this poem when i was searching for the anthology project and i really liked the message it conveyed. how a women goes through life with a man who basically tells her to give up her whole life and she gets nothing in return but solid crap. i can't use it for my project, but it really stuck with me.

pg. 53- 155

Part 2
Connor, Risa, and Lev go around a suburb trying to get different clothes to wear. While doing this, they find a newspaper and, upon reading it, realize that there is no report of them missing. They spot a police officer on the street and then decide quickly to get on a school bus to avoid detection. Right before Conner gets on the bus, though, he sees a storked baby waiting on a doorstep to be picked up. He feels terrible when he sees it and sees the people who live there's expressions when they see the baby, like they don't want it. He decides impulsively to take the baby with them. On the bus, Lev tries unsuccessfully to communicate to a student that he has been kidnapped by AWOL unwinds because he just wants to be tithed like he's known all his life. This escape attempt foreshadows what Lev will do in the near future. Connor and Risa (pretending the storked baby is her and Connor's own) meet a girl named Alexis, who is a single mother. Once the bus arrives at the school, the Unwinds decide to hide in the girl's bathroom to wait for an opportunity to escape. At one point during a passing time, however, Lev escapes in a crowd and goes to the office to report Connor and Risa. After informing the school administration about his kidnapping, Lev decides to call Pastor Dan and is shocked to find that Pastor Dan doesn't want Lev to be unwound. Lev learns that everyone outside of his family thinks he was already unwound, and that Pastor Dan wants him to seize this opportunity to create a new life for himself. This revelation causes Lev to become confused and lost. He panics about having told the school about Connor and Risa, and he impulsively pulls the fire alarm to create another opportunity for them to escape. Connor and Risa find it to risky to leave the school, so they hide in a science classroom during the school's evacuation. While in the classroom, though, the baby cries and catches the attention of a teacher named Hannah. Hannah is sympathetic and helps them avoid the police by directing them to a nearby safe house for Unwinds. Connor, Risa, and the baby go to the safe house, which is downtown in the back of an antique shop. At the safe house they meet Sonia, who leads them to a hidden basement where they meet other AWOL unwinds named Roland, Mai, and Hayden. A few days pass and Sonia makes all the AWOL's write letters to people they love from their old life that will be mailed when they turn eighteen. Eventually the “Ice-Cream Man” comes to take the Unwinds from safe house to safe house until they arrive at a big warehouse full of other Unwinds.
Part 3
The section begins with Lev, who we last saw calling the cops on Connor and Risa at the high school and then being trampled by the crowd evacuating the school. After he escapes from the school he meets a kid named CyFi. CyFi teaches Lev to sharpen his street smarts so he doesn't go hungry. During their travels, CyFi and Lev go into a Christmas shop and CyFi (who claims to hate stealing) thieves a shiny ornament. CyFi later explains to Lev that one eighth of his brain belongs to an Unwind, who sometimes takes over his mind and body. Next, we catch up with Risa and Connor, who are at the warehouse with hundreds of other Unwinds. Risa begins to realize the power games Roland is playing, and convinces Connor to think more strategically about how to take Roland down. Soon after, Roland tries to make a pass at Risa in the bathroom during Christmas dinner. Connor doesn't fall for the bait and instead listens to Risa's advice, managing to defuse the situation.

Time Well Spent

this just happens to be Tom Felton(Draco Malfoy), the man i am obsessed with. let's admire him shall we.

this makes me want summer.

pg. 1-51

part 1

to start off, Unwind takes place in the United States, somewhere in the near future. After a civil war—known as the Second Civil War or the Heartland War—which was fought over abortion, a compromise was reached that parents could sign an order form for their children between the ages of 13 and 18 years old to be unwound—taken to "harvest camps" and having their body parts harvested for later use. The reasoning was that, since 100% (actually 99.44% taking into account the appendix and "useless" organs) was required to be used, unwinds did not technically "die", because their individual body parts lived on. Unwinding became a mostly accepted practice since its conception. Also, parents who have had a child born who don't think they can care for the baby can "stork" it. This means going to a household before sunrise so they cannot be seen and leaving the baby on the doorstep. The "storked" baby then becomes the other family's responsibility.

part one starts off with connor. Upon finding signed "unwind" orders, Connor Lassiter seeks the advice of his romantic interest, Ariana, and the two decide to run away or "kick AWOL" together. When Connor flees his home and goes to collect Ariana, she has reconsidered, and leaves Connor to runaway by himself. Hitching a ride with a trucker, Connor believe he is making progress in his flight, but is tracked and apprehended by the police. Connor resists arrest and flees the police, running into traffic, snatching a tithe (tithes are born knowing that they are going to be unwound as soon as they come of age), Lev, from a car to use as a human shield/hostage, causing a bus full of State Home wards (StaHo kids) on their way to the harvest camp to overturn, and giving the perfect opportunity for Risa to escape. Risa, Connor, and Lev flee into the woods, are pursued briefly by a JuveyCop, who Connor shoots with a tranquilizer, and eventually happen back upon society.

I guess my family is wired...

i read the article about the 'Wired Family' and i guess i could relate somewhat, but nothing in my family has gotten that out of control that we don't even talk to each other. wait, correction. we hardly talk anymore because my sister left for college and took her constantly chatty voice with her leaving the quietest house on planet earth, but that has nothing to do with electronics. sorry to get off on that tangent... but in the ways i can relate, ANGRY BIRDS HAS REDEFINED OUR LIVES. even if we all sit in the living room together "watching TV," my mom is on her ipod playing angry birds (and failing miserably i might add), i am on my ipod playing angry birds (not to boast, but i rock.) and my dad is on the other couch on his ipad playing some stupid air traffic control game. we might as well turn the TV off because no one is watching it, we are all engrossed in our electronic devices. other than this occurance which happens quite a lot, electronics are not the things that keep my family and i from communicating. in fact, whenever i start texting at dinner, my dad yells at me.
it's funny how just talking about angry birds makes you want to play it. is this what addiction is called?

i mean, come one.... look at this kitten!

 I found this and thought it pretty much summed up my life. > click here <