The Last of the Beginning

Blogging has become very influential in my life. It allowed me to have a voice and express it with words. My ability to choose my topics to write about made it so that writing was actually enjoyable. In addition, the open ended writing format added onto the stress-free feeling of what writing should be. Over these 10 months, I have learned from my peers and took in some of their ideas that they have shared with me through blogging. It is amazing to see how I have changed because of my blog.

Having a blog gives me a voice. I go about my life constantly thinking. Sometimes my thoughts jump from one to another. For example, I can first start thinking about what to order for lunch. As my mind decides, I start to think maybe I want a bag of chips. Then my thoughts jump to, I wonder how chips were first made. And then somehow I come to a reasonable topic that I soon come to a conclusion and think, “Wow! This can be a really good blog post idea!” Of course, I never actually wrote a blog post on the production of chips! It is weird to see this because aside from my random thought process, I now instantaneously incorporate my blog into it. I first noticed this change when we started to do free-write blog posts. My post titled, “What Would I Do Without Electricity?” came straight from my random thought process. This idea came to my mind first, because I knew I had a blogpost due that day and still had no clue what to write about. This is the first step of my thought process. Then, I incorporate some of my thoughts or current events from my life and form them into a blog post. In this particular post, I not only desperately needed a topic, I was inspired by it right when I stepped inside the un-powered house. As I sat bored at the kitchen table with my friend, I had nothing else to do but think since no electricity was working. So as the cranks powered in my mind, I finally had an idea. That idea was that, back in the olden days, people survived perfectly fine without electricity, now the question that I posed was, why can’t we? This was the final step in creating a topic for my post. 

Here, I come to a conclusion from one of my thought processes, "After this experience, I realized how important electricity is to people these days. I found it a bit unhealthy to know that instead of finding something else that didn't require power to do, we decided to listen to music."

I still question why I always refer my everyday thoughts into post topics but I just can’t help it. Also, it is very interesting to see how blogging has impacted my life. I no longer see things one sided, I look at things in different perspectives. For example, when I come across a situation I analyze every bit of it. I notice that I constantly put myself in the other person’s shoes to see how they would grasp the matter. Some may conclude that my findings are merely just an assumption of how another person feels however, I believe that what I see in another person and how they react to problems can show who they really are. I don’t know if this is just a gift that I have, or if it is just something everybody does in their own mind however, I realized that when I look at situations now, I see all of the possibilities that could have put this person in this situation. It is mind bobbling to see how this comes to play and to see how sometimes I can feel how others feel in certain events. Now I don’t just look at how one person reacts to a problem, I look at other people who are involved and the root of the situation then becomes obvious. I guess this is the reason for why I always think up many different blog topics. Since I am constantly thinking to myself, I come up with questions that make me confused which leads to the creation of new blog ideas. I have to admit, blogging has changed my life.

The open ended writing that I do on my blog is different from the structured writing that I am used to because it allows me to look at topics at different angles. In structured writing, I notice that I am usually more stressed because there are many factors that I have to worry about. First, there is always a rubric. No matter what, the rubric is the key to a good grade, which leads me into the second factor. Format. There is always a specific way a teacher wants me to format my papers, whether it is my heading in the left hand corner followed by my teacher, then my course and period, and lastly the date. Formatting can normally cause problems for people because it is hard to do all of these things on the computer. Another factor is choosing a topic. In structured writing, the topic is chosen for me, however, in open ended writing, I am allowed to choose the topic that I want to write about. I think this is better for me because it allows me to write long amounts of words without being frightened by following the exact rules of a paper. Being able to write open endedly is enjoyable because it puts less pressure on me to perfect or make my writing not what I sound like but how my teacher wants me to sound like. Throughout the year, although I was given some prompts, I was able to choose from a wide variety instead of one or two. For example in my Basic Book Review posts, it made it easier for me to explore my book because I was able to look at it in different perspectives. It didn’t limit me to just one question or one idea of the book. 

Being able to choose which question I would like to answer helped improve the quality of my review, "As I read the book, "The Last Song" by Nicholas Sparks, I grow more and more attached to the feelings of the protagonist of the book Ronnie. I can feel the way she feels and understand how the story changes from viewpoints."

I liked being able to write open endedly because it allowed me to explore my writing in different ways and further help myself learn what type of writer that I am.

Writing response posts to my classmate’s blogs helped me become a better writer because it allowed me to look at their view of a specific topic and see how it differed to mine, then express my viewpoint. Also, it helped me become a better thinker because it exposed me to the different opinions that people have. Many of my classmates composed blogs based on their ideas, of course. However, through this process, I noticed that we all have very different takes on specific subjects, especially social subjects. Sometimes our opposing viewpoints would cause mayhem within the “blog world” but nonetheless, allowed others to see how not everybody has the same opinion. In addition, as a result to the chaos occurring within our blogs, some people lost track of the idea that everybody is entitled to their own opinion. Of course, sometimes peoples’ opinions can be misleading or ignorant which also leads to many new viewpoints. My classmates helped me realize many things. I remember a certain blog from Bianca Hsueh referring to the abuse of substitute teachers caught my eye. As I skimmed through he blog, I noticed that much of her words were correct. She talked about how people constantly abuse substitute teachers and how it is unacceptable. This opened my eyes because I knew that a lot of people constantly “horsed around” when substitute teachers were present (sadly to say I participated in this childish act) and it was obvious that many others did too. However, what I didn’t realize was that it was affecting the work of other students who were serious about learning and didn’t appreciate what occurred when the teacher was absent. 

Here she states, "Not only would that be nice for the substitute, but also nice for classmates. Think about it: if everyone is talking while the substitute is giving out instructions, then nobody can hear the substitute and get to work. And if it so happens that the substitute is a teacher who only give out instructions once, then the whole class is screwed because none of us know what to do."

Bianca helped me realize that my actions can’t just affect one group or person, if can affect many groups or people.

Throughout the year, blogging has really impacted my life. I’ve got to see how people view different topics and ideas in the world and also got to reflect off of them. Not only did blogging affect me academically, it also impacted me socially. No matter where I was I continuously thought to myself and looked at things in different perspectives. In addition, the loose rules of prompts and topics enabled me to further my thinking process. Another quality that came out from blogging was learning from my peers. Blogging enabled me to view how others saw the world and sometimes my peers’ views shaped my views. I feel that blogging has become a routine in my life and as my life goes on, I look forward to seeing the one or two new posts from my prior peers and reminisce on my high school experience because of it.

Thanks for a great year Mr. Sutherland

Final Basic Book Review

The Last Song” by Nicholas Sparks was an inspiring, love story. In this novel, Sparks recalls the unforgetable summer that a young teenage girl encountered. Like many other books of Sparks, the characters relate to his audience. The main character, Ronnie, started off as a sassy girl who despised her father. As the story progressed however, she became an independent woman and learned to cope with what life had to offer her. Throughout the novel, Sparks tells the story of Ronnie’s visit to her father and along the way adds drama and romance. Ronnie’s character is very dynamic with every flip of a page.

While reading the book, the audience finds themselves growing more and more attached to Ronnie.  I can feel the way she feels and understand how the story changes from viewpoints. Sparks does a good job emphasizing how Ronnie copes with the troubles she faces as she spends the summer at her father's house.

Ronnie's character interested me because she is very strong. She is able to go about every day doing things that average teenage girls would not think of doing. For example, when she arrived at her dad's house they went to the carnival/ fair and instead of staying with her dad and brother she ventured off by herself. Even though this city was new to her she wasn't afraid of getting lost and almost seemed like she knew where she was going and what she was going to do.

As the novel goes on, Ronnie encounters a new group of people who she begins to associate with. Along the way she makes close ties with a gothic girl named Blaze. Blaze is currently dating a rebel, Marcus. Marcus is then attracted to Ronnie and tries to flirt with her many times. Ronnie's character seems like a strong and brave character at some points but sometimes she can feel very vulnerable. There are times when she is rebellious towards her father and other times when she is a caring daughter.

Ronnie was previously a great pianist that had much talent. Following in the footsteps of her father until he left her which caused much hate for her father. In the book, Ronnie's father is constantly playing the piano. She suspects this action as a hint that he wishes for her to return to playing the piano as well. In the end her concious is wrong and her dad is the one left heart broken.

"She put her hands on her hips waiting for him to stop. He didn't. [...] 'You can't keep me locked up all summer,' she said. 'It's not going to happen.' Her dad glanced up, though he continued to play." (73)


Here, Ronnie finds her dad playing the piano, (once again) and suspects that he is trying to persuade her to play as well. She feels no shame in giving her father attitude because her excuse is him leaving the family.


Ronnie's character is complex. Sometimes the audience can feel empathy for her but other times her actions cause her to have a bad reputation. As the story goes on, Ronnie's character changes dramatically. In the beginning, Sparks creates her character as a metal/punk rock type of girl that hated the idea of spending time with her dad. She gets in a lot of trouble with the authorities and another crime could put her in greater trouble. As a reault, she does get herself into a situation in which she was the victim/suspect. Being framed for shoplifting, Ronnie came to a point in her life in which she was not able to do everything by herself. She needed help.

Along the way her father supported her no matter how hard it was to allow her to go out every day and not come back home till the very last hours of the day. When this incident of shoplifting occured, Ronnie's father was forced to believe that her argument that she didn't do it was true. He did. This turned things around in the book dramatically. Why has Steve, Ronnie's dad, created such a big trust for her? Isn't it bad parenting to allow your child to roam freely everyday. I mean that is how she first got in to the shoplifting incident. Steve allows Ronnie to do these things because he wasn't there in her life and to show his sorryness (I'm having a brain fart and can't think of another word but I know there is one) he lets her do basically whatever she wants. Also in the book Sparks emphasizes many times Steve's love for Ronnie.
"He fell asleep almost immediately but woke an hour later.Tiptoeing outside again, he went to check on the daughter he loved more than life itself."(122)
When Ronnie encountered the support from her father telling her that he believed she had not committed the crime, it gave her more trust for her dad. Later on in the book their friendship began to grow and it changed the way Ronnie acted. She was no longer a rebellious girl. She changed and became more soft. This helped later on when meeting Will, the boy she loves..


By the end of the book, Ronnie changed immensely. She was no longer the stereotypical teenage girl that many parents were afraid of. She became an independent and aware woman. Her strength and willingness was reflected throughout the book and Sparks greatly relates Ronnie to other teenage girls in the world. The Last Song has become one of my most favorite books.

Peer Review Thingy.

Alex-
I like how you added background info of your character. It helped me understand more about what was occurring. However, it is hard for me to see what question you were doing. Based off of reading this, I would guess that it was the one to do with a character in your book. What I would recommend for you to do is to just weave the quote into your review more smoothly and make sure that the readers understand the content of the book. It can get a bit confusing when we read the review and don't really know what you are referring to. Overall awesome job.

Rokhsor-
Aww man Mr. Sutherland! I posted the comment on Rokhsor's blog and I forgot to copy it before I posted it, so it can only be visible if she allows it to be. So now I don't really know the exact words but I'll do my best to get the main points :/.
I liked how you gave a clear understanding of the main events in the book within a few paragraphs in your review. This helped readers interpret your writing better. What I would recommend is for you to add a quote that refers to either the character or how it engaged you or how it bored you. Then relate this quote to one of your paragraphs. This will help readers take in what you claim about the book since you have more evidence. Also try to refrain from using second person. I am not entirely sure if it is that much of a problem, but I know in previous blogs I was told not to so yeah, just something to keep in mind. All in all this review was very informing.

Jesse-
I liked how you added great detail about how the author writes the book in a way that gives readers hope of a happy ending but later turns them down. As I read your review it made me want to read the book however I don't think I could take so much stress and depression. You made your review very persuasive. I actually thought you had somewhat of and introduction, however you should separate it from the rest of the first paragraph so it is more clear. Also try to sum up what you are trying to point out with a concluding paragraph. Good work Jesse.