Journal Entry 64: Camp Harmony

Monica Sone, the author of “Camp Harmony,” says her camp “was hopefully called Camp Harmony” (p. 470). What does “harmony” mean? Do you think the name is appropriate? Why do you think Sone used the adjective “hopefully” to describe the name? If you had to give the camp a name, what would you call it? Why?

Harmony can have two meanings. One is about music, and it's basically notes played at the same time that sounds nice and pleasing. The other meaning is basically just things that go well together and is pleasant. According to Dictionary.com, harmony means agreement, accord; a consistent, orderly, or pleasing arrangements of parts; congruity; simultaneous combination of tones; agreement; accord; harmonious relations; or an arrangement of the contents of the Gospels, either of allfour or of the first three, designed to show their parallelism,mutual relations, and differences. I don't think the name of Camp Harmony was appropriate at all, because it is seriously an awful, awful place. It's cheap and it's just there because of racism. Plus, those Japanese were forced to live there, so it's not really "pleasant". That place even has barbed wired fences to keep them in! I think Sone used the adjective "hopefully" because the camp is really awfully, and it's hopefully named Camp Harmony even though it's not harmonious at all. The people that named the camp probably also "hope" the Japanese living there will behave and believe it's really a pleasant and awesome place. If I could name the camp, I'd name it Camp Awful, because I'm a straightforward person and the camp is just simply awful.

Journal Entry 63: Camp Pictures

Look at the pictures on pages 471 and 476. Choose one and describe what you see. Then write about what you think it would be like to live in that place. Would it be similar to how you live now, or different? Explain.

I chose the picture on page 471. I see a lot of houses on the side a of very broad road in the picture. The houses look very empty and not very big. The houses also have a green roof. The sky is very blue. The place looks really empty though, and it seems as if nothing's happening there at all. It looks like it's deserted and there's one person in the picture. There's also a stop sign in the picture and there are some telephone poles. It is not similar to how I live now at all. I live in a community, you see. Our community is pretty crowded too, there are like around 100 houses in our whole community and three tall buildings or apartments. There are always some people walking around, since our community is quite very big. The place in the picture looks like it's empty and super simple. It seems as if nothing will ever happen there and it looks like a pretty awfully boring place to live in. I bet there are no computers or any electronic devices (except for telephone, maybe, since there are telephone poles after all) and there are no cars at all! I cannot believe that. In my community, there are always cars driving around and parked along the roads or something. It's really weird, but the good thing is that I think the people living in the picture don't have to go to school! Because who would bother about school if they live in that kind of place? So, that's pretty awesome! I also think it'll probably be really inconvenient living there, because there are no cars and there aren't much stores around the place. In our community, there's a convenient store just next to our community and lots of other stuff near. So the place is the picture is VERY different from the place I live.

Journal Entry 62: Spring Break

Write about how you spent your time over Spring Break. Did you do what you wanted to do, or were there things you wanted to do but didn’t get to? Write about how happy you are to be back in school.

I went to Bali the graduation trip and it was AWESOME. We were really crazy there and thankfully there weren't a lot of people their to witness us being so weird and very, very childish. We stayed up until three and it was really, really fun! The first day, we were just playing cards and truth or dare and normal things like that. The following days though, we were singing (he he) and watching quite a lot of scary movies. Ha ha! I enjoy hearing all the guys scream, because their whole facial expressions and the way they jump a mile back is just priceless. We went swimming every single day, and we insulted an Australian guy in Chinese because he was very cocky and thinks we're not as good as he is (which is so not true and simply makes him look even stupider!). We played basketball and soccer there, went snorkeling (it was really beautiful, but someone stepped on the coral reef!!!), SHOPPING, a lot of other really fun things that I can't recall right now! It was really, really, really, fun! I'm not happy about coming back to school AT ALL. NOT HAPPY AT ALL, because school means homework which means no fun time which means parents making me go to bed early. Oh, and I got sick too.

Journal Entry 61: Film v Book

Compare and contrast the film version of Gary Paulsen's Hatchet with the novel version. How are they alike? How are they different? What can an author do with a novel that a filmmaker cannot do? What can a filmmaker do that an author cannot? What is it about each medium that makes it able to tell a story in a special way?

We haven't finish the movie yet, so I'm just going to compare the book with some parts of the movie. Some events that happened in the movie is a little bit different from the book, even though what they're trying to show might be the same. For example, in my imagination, the forest was grander, and Brian's house was right next to the lake. Also, when the pilot died, the whole plane was supposed to stink and the pilot was supposed to fart first. I also thought that Brian's hatchet would be a bit larger, because the hatchet in the movie seem so small that it looks like it can't even cut branches. The movie also added some random stuff, like the bear attacking Brian. In the book, the bear never touched Brian at all and actually "helped" Brian find more food. Another weird and disgusting thing the movie added was Brian eating worms (mayjor ewwwww), Brian never ate any worms in the book and I wonder if the movie will show Brian eating turtle eggs (another ewww), but I think maybe the director used worms instead of turtle eggs because bugs are much cheaper. Authors can have all the time to entertain readers and let them use their imagination to "see" the story. Everyone's version of the story might be a little different, yet everyone's version is the best version to themselves, unlike movies. Most people think the books are so much better than books when they read the book first. Books are so much better, even though it may not have any visual effects, but you can imagine them! Filmmakers can restrict what people see, unlike books, and I think that may sometimes be a good thing, but it rarely is. 

Journal Entry 60: Hip-Hop Language

Pick an ordinary, everyday activity and write about it in “hip-hop language”. Remember to use “gangsta” words—it should sound street-wise and tough, as well as a bit arrogant.

Hizzle, Howzzle yall homies poppin' n crackin' today, nigga? Got no idea how to act gangta, ya know? Y'all know I ain't no good at being a gangsta cuz ma pants ain't saggin n I'm in no gang. So, don't go talkin trash bout ma attempt and don't diss me, y know I really did ma best. I was chillin' with my homie, and I learned that gangstas curse in every sentence n don't give much beep to grammar. Fo' ya information, this journal's gonna be real random. Sometimes, if ma test scores were wack, my mom would ice me, and ground me so I can't chill with ma G (I think that's supposed to mean "friend"), which is real sad cuz I don't like gettin stuck in ma crib (that's supposed to mean home, for some reason). N y'all know who's da ghetto singer dat everyone hates, right? Yeah, that's right, it's that foo' n I ain't gonna say his name, cuz I don't wanna offend nobody. I also want my own phat lowrider (good car) fo' me to go cruisin' with ma homies, it's real word (cool). I ain't got no love fo' homework, but I've got a lot of love for sweets. They are just real sick (yummy), ya know? So now I gotta go get some of 'em and I also learned that I'll never be qualified for a gangsta, but gangstas get chased by honky pigs (apparently, they also call cops that...). 

Journal Entry 59: Epic Language

Pick an ordinary, everyday activity and write about it in “epic language”. Remember to use “fancy” words—it should sound formal and elegant.

Going to School

I wake up in the morning, the start of another miraculous day. The glorious rays sun shines through my windows, light up my room and enlivens me. I brush my teeth until they are dazzling white. I unhurriedly pick out my outfits. What shall it be? Casual, dressy, normal tees, or crop tees? Cardigan, shrugs, blazer, or hoodie? The immeasurable and everlasting choices. Oh, when can I ever finish deciding? After I've finally come to decision, oh my, it's already 6:30! I gracefully waltz down the stairs, and devoured my breakfast in 1 minute, then dashed to my lavatory. I hastily smoothed out my hair, adding a headband or some fancy clips, and flew down to steps to take the school bus. The bus was on time, eagerly waiting for me to board. I carefully sat down on the seat, for I did not want to ruffle my precious and holy hair. After a while of sitting upright, I gave in and leaned on the soft and snug headrest. I fell asleep dreaming of nothing in particular, for it was the start of another wondrous day, so I have no need to dream since the day will be perfect and extraordinary anyways. Regrettably, I did not care to think about the horrid and unbelievably cruel amount of homework my teachers are going to give me, just like this arduous and troublesome journal. How, just how, can we write so elegantly, when we speak in such common ways in our everyday conversations?

Journal Entry 58: Lucky?

In Hatchet, Brian says that his survival is dependent on luck more than anything else. Do you think this is true? How much does Brian’s past experience and knowledge also play a part? Does he develop new knowledge that helps him survive? What about your own experience? Have you ever gotten out of a difficult situation simply by luck?

I think some events in that happened to Brian do depend on luck, but his past experiences and knowledge play the most part. Some events, like being able to spot a lake and land on it, instead of having to land among trees (and possibly get killed instead of that). Truthfully, though, a lot of things that happened to Brian is because of bad luck. Like getting on a plane driven by a pilot that gets a heart attack, unable to get connection from the radio (on the plane), and also being attacked by the moose, then not being spotted and left behind by a plane. Although he was pretty unlucky, he is kind of lucky too, because he was able to find shelter in the "cave" and also crash when it's not in the winter, or else he might have just freeze to death. His past experiences and knowledge definitely did play a part, in fact, it played the most part. Him recognizing the turtles' eggs helped him gain more food, and also his past experiences of what is needed to make a fire. Brian does develop new knowledge that helped him survive, like being more aware of things around him and also some things that indicate what might happen (if the skies are scattered...). I have gotten out of situations that aren't too difficult by luck before. Well, last time I had a swimming class, I was very, very tired after swimming about 2000 meters, but the coach was making us do sprints and relay. Luckily, I didn't have to finish it because I cramped my calf during the sprint. Honestly, I'd call getting a cramp bad luck, but it kind of is good luck as well, because at least I got to sit by the swimming pool and watch my classmates getting tortured!

Ha ha, I'm evil.