Pro Bowl

Even though the NFC lost, Alex Mack, the Brown's center, ran for a touchdown on a 67 yard flip play.

Quarter Two Choice Book Report

         I read the book  The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy.  The main character is named Lady Blakeney.  Her maiden name is Margeurite St. Just.  She is called by either name depending on the speaker, though the narrator refers to her as "Marguerite."  Marguerite is perhaps the most beautiful woman in England.  She is a blonde of average height.  Marguerite is the wife of Sir Percy Blakeney, a dumb, drunken, funny, handsome, fool who's devotion to Marguerite is never-ending.  Marguerite was born in France and went to England following her wedding to Percy.  Marguerite is the fashion leader for all of Europe.  Whenever she walks around in public, people flock around her looking to see what she is wearing.  Marguerite is clever, because she thinks quickly when she is following Sir Andrew by fainting when he figures out she is following him.  She is often called the most clever woman in Europe.  Some people (such as the Comtesse de Tournay) hate Marguerite for her denouncing of Marquis de St. Cyr to the guillotine.   Marguerite did not mean to do this however, and could do nothing after knowing what she had absent-mindedly done.  The author makes you hate Marguerite at the beginning by writing about her faults.  As the book progresses, you begin to like Marguerite more and more.  You also start to feel sorry for her during this time.  Marguerite is rich.  She and Percy own a riverside mansion north of London.  Marguerite thinks that her husband has stopped loving her at the beginning.  Towards the end, she knows that her husband has always loved her.  Marguerite trusts no one except her older brother, Armand St. Just.  She thinks he is her only true friend.  One of Marguerite's favorite things to do for enjoyment is to go on a late night horse and cart ride with Percy.  Percy says little, if anything, and they enjoy the cool breeze and nature.  Marguerite is anxious many times, usually as the result of Chauvelin's cruel either-or- statements.  Marguerite is very serious, as she never smiles until the end of the book, never tells a joke, and talks only of important business.  Marguerite is extremely worrisome.  She stays awake for days worrying when husband is gone, and scarce spends a moment not worrying about him, her brother, or another one of her many friends. Marguerite does a fine job of disguising her worries from others, and appears content for most of the book.  To summarize, Marguerite has an overworked mind, and is, with this strange mix of traits, very deceiving at times.  Marguerite needs to lighten up, because right now, she is as black as pitch.


         There were a few conflicts in The Scarlet Pimpernel, and they seemed to happen all at the same time The obvious conflict is between Chauvelin (this book's "bad guy"), and The Scarlet Pimpernel (this book's "good guy").  Chauvelin is trying to catch The Scarlet Pimpernel helping condemned aristocrats escape the French Revolution.  Another conflict is inside Marguerite.  Marguerite has two big decisions in the story.  They are both decisions given to her by Chauvelin.  The first one is a choice of who dies (indirectly) between her brother and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Will she sacrifice the life of her brother for the safety of The Scarlet Pimpernel? Or will she let The Scarlet Pimpernel die?  The second is a choice of who will be sent to the guillotine, this time between The Scarlet Pimpernel and her brother and three other men.  She debates with herself for a long period of time on each of these questions.  A fourth conflict happens when Marguerite accuses Percy of not loving her anymore.  The resolution to the first conflict is The Scarlet Pimpernel escaping from France with the aristocrats.  The Scarlet Pimpernel uses his extremely clever mind to outwit Chauvelin.  The resolution to the second conflict is Marguerite picking her brother to be saved.  This may seem like a fairly easy decision, but she doesn't yet know that her husband, Percy, is The Scarlet Pimpernel!  The resolution to the third conflict is Marguerite's choice to try and save her husband, The Scarlet Pimpernel.  This is a hard decision, even if all the men escape safely in the end.  The solution to the fourth conflict is for Marguerite to figure out that Percy is The Scarlet Pimpernel.  A last conflict inside Marguerite makes her feel guilty of her actions in giving Chauvelin a major hint as to The Scarlet Pimpernel's identity.  The intertwined conflicts make this story more interesting than a book with one conflict at a time. 

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a novel that every person should read at least once in their lifetime.  It is the best book I have read in a couple of years.  It's really no wonder that this book has found it's place on the bookcase of classics.

The Browns have won nailbiting games in Carolina and Miami.  Peton Hillis has been phenomenal, rushing for more than 100 yards three games in a row.  Browns 24, Panthers 23 - Browns 13, Dolphins 10 
The Brown's playoff hopes are slim, but with next week against Buffalo, they might still have a chance at 5-7

Cleveland

Recently, the browns have been looking a lot better on offense in wins against New Orleans and New England.  This week however, Joshua Cribbs was injured and the browns lost to the Jets with just 16 seconds left in overtime.

Quarter One Choice Book Report

           I read the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.  The main character is Arnold. He lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington state.    He is a poor, brown-haired, wimpy 9th grader with glasses. He loves drawing cartoons. He is brave because he isn't scared to switch to a school outside of the reservation.  He also punches the biggest jock in school.  He is not respected by many people, because when he is on the reservation, they hate him for being a traitor, and when he is at school, people are racist to him. He is smart, but he doesn't really think he is.  He is in all honors classes, and teaches some of the teachers things that they didn't know.  His best friends are Rowdy, a tough kid that can beat up anybody, Penelope, The prettiest, most popular girl in school, and Gordy, the school nerd.  He is a great shooter, but he can’t play defense all that well. On the first day of the season, he plays against Wellpinit High School, Arnold’s old school. His coach tells him that he doesn’t have to play, but he wants to anyway. As soon as he gets the ball, he is hit in the head with a quarter and is taken off the court.  Later in the game, he goes back in and is fouled hard by his old friend, Rowdy.  He is hurt and can't play anymore.  Their team would lose the game because Rowdy scored 40 points.  Arnold is surrounded with death.  During the book a lot of Arnold's friends and family die. His dad's friend is shot in a bar fight.  His dog dies of sickness.  His grandma is killed by a drunk driver.  His sister dies in a mobile home fire.  He has been to more than 300 funerals in his life. Through all this death, Arnold still manages to sustain a good mood.  At the beginning of the book,. Arnold depends on Rowdy for protection. When Rowdy leaves him, Arnold starts to get more independent. When Arnold first arrives at his new school in Reardan, people call him racist names. The most popular boy, Roger takes it a bit too far one day, and Arnold punches him in the stomach. This is surprising, since Arnold’s all time fist fight record is five wins and one hundred and twelve losses. Roger is amazed. He decides that Arnold is cool and stops teasing him.  In conclusion, Arnold isn’t a perfect boy, nor is he all that close to perfection, but he does the best with the life he has been given.

       This book is written in first person view.  Arnold is the "I" because he is the main character.  This book is very emotional at times, and feeling like you're reading his diary makes it even more emotional.  In the parts of the book when his family and friends died, it makes you feel different, because you get to hear how Arnold is feeling.  For example, at the beginning of the book, when his dog, Oscar, died, Arnold writes in his diary, "After Oscar died, I felt like crawling into a hole and disappearing forever."  He also writes "the surgery Oscar needed would cost hundreds of dollars, and a bullet cost two cents.  Anybody can afford a bullet."  The first person view is also important because you can tell from his writing how he is feeling on different days.  Arnold jokes about serious things in his diary to make the world a more livable place for him.  This happens again when he lists the reasons why he misses school so much in cartoon panel form. " 1. Wakes and funerals  2. Couldn't find a ride.  3.  No money in the house.  4.  Mom wanted me to stay home because she was scared  5.  Mom and I had to go search for my father so we could bring him home and keep him safe."  Each of these are accompanied by sadly comical pictures.  He does this again with his ingenious ""Are you Poor?" Possible responses:" and at other times during the book as well.  Another reason this story is from Arnold's point of view is the way Arnold describes the people in his life.  He has an interesting way of describing people. He draws them their own sort of diagram, which he embellishes (as he does with everything) with his comicality.  He describes his teacher, Mr. Potter, as "Almost 4 feet tall, weighing 50 pounds (but only when he is carrying his 15 pound briefcase),  and being bald and having dandruff."  The first person view is also exciting when Arnold figures out that everybody in the world around him has giant flaws.  This drives him to throw a thirty-year-old geometry textbook at Mr. Potter.  As the book goes on, Arnold's life gets harder and harder to make into one enormous comic strip, until he starts to become friends with Rowdy again.  The first person point of view is a good choice for this story.

In conclusion, this story is about a boy who goes against everything that his reservation knows, in order to save his life from the clutches of regularity that his tribe knows so well.  I recommend this book to anybody who wants to ride a topsy-turvy roller coaster ride of emotions that Arnold knows as his life.


  

Memoir Number 2

               It was about 2:30 in the afternoon.  It was a perfect day outside.  This was most likely the reason why our class had gone out to play.  I played football with some of my friends.  I was 9 years old at the time. 
       
               Our quarterback hurled the ball to me in the end zone.  The ball ricocheted off my hand hard and spiraled into the air.  I caught again for a touchdown.  When my team came over to congratulate me, My face was bright red and my entire right hand was on fire.
         
               I dodged my teammates with a quick lefty-high-five and glanced at my finger.  The base of my little finger looked normal, and it wasn't swollen, but that was where the regularities ended.  The rest of my finger angled toward the ground and I couldn't move it.  Thinking it would go away, I kept playing.  On defense, I blocked a pass, and again surging pain ran down my finger.

              I told my friends that I needed a rest and went to talk to a group of my other friends.  A whistle blew and we went inside.  I walked home after school.  I started to do my math homework, but I couldn't write.  I showed my finger to my sister and she was astounded.

               When, my mom got home, I went to the hospital and had surgery.  My doctor made me put a little cast on my finger.  My little finger wasn't so little anymore.  It had obviously swollen since I had last looked at it.    It was bigger than any of my other fingers and I couldn't feel it.

             It shrunk back to normal over the next two months, but you can still see where the football struck my finger.
 

The Cleveland Browns got their first win on sunday.  They beat the bengals 23-20