Currently

Stotan! by Chris Crutcher
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
1776 by David McCulloh


Pages this week: 159
Pages this semester:951

1. "The arrow skewers the apple in the pig's mouth and pins it to the wall behind it."
2. "Then I give a slight bow and walk straight toward the exit without being dismissed.
3.  "Entrails. No hissing.  This is the closest we will ever come to love."

Pushing on

I just can not comprehend the feeling of losing a close friend forever in a tragic way such as death, in which I will never be able to communicate with them again, even if I desired to.  The swimmers on the Frost Swim Team all try to come to face the reality that they may have to say goodbye to their best friend and teammate, Jeff.  They push on and swim to the point where they have nothing else to give.  They desire to give something to Jeff before he passes.  When I contemplate on this subject matter, I can not seem to contemplate ideas of how I would honor my friends if I knew one of them was terminally ill.  Pondering and deep thought cause me to reflect into my ideals and the value that my friends possess.  This idea that they're here one minute and could be gone the next rips deep into the tissue of my folderolic (if that is even a word) self. 

Anyway, they all swim well, to say the least.  They all place in the top 10 in each of their categories in the State and Nortie and Walker both are either number 1 or 2 in their races.  They all desire to give this State run as a gift to their Stotanic brother, and pull out with style, winning multiple races.  When they get to the relay, which requires four teammates, the Stotans decide they want to still race to honor Jeff.  This thought is cut short by the officials, but that of course does not stop the Stotans from honoring their friend.  They disguise themselves as another team and just jump into the race at the last second.

Oh, I forgot to mention Marty O'Brian.  Well, he crossed the line for the last time, insulting Nortie and his girlfriend, and then beating Nortie up.  Lion is sick of Marty's taunts and evil ways, and the boys put his 'Stang into a ravine, watching the terror on his face as he comes out of baseball practice.  I hope that after reading this book people do not think all baseball players are racist, caniving little turds because frankly, that would be unfair.  Anyway Max, the swimming coach becomes involved and threatens Marty if he ever tries anything again to Nortie or any of the other swimmers.

Sickness

Jeff has become sick, REALLLL sick, and the member of the Frost High School Swim team do not know what to do...Will he recover or with the sickness overcome his body and destroy him from the inside out? 

Currently

This week I continued to read "Stotan!"



Pages this week:156
Pages for semester: 948


Favorite Sentences of the Month:

1. 'Not what looks like the center; what feels like the center."
2. "Because if I were an animal in these woods and I  saw you here, I'd come up to you."
3. They let me figure it out for myself; demanded that I figure it for myself; but they never deserted me.
4. I guess what I'm saying is that my life is more valuable because I got knocked out of my favored spot.

Brother Troubles

What happens when your older brother gives illegal drugs to your best friend and he doesnt remember what he gave him?  Well, this is exactly the situation Walk and his brother were confronted with.  Nortie had been beaten bad because a member of the Aryan Nation told his father that he was dating a black girl.  He showed up to the Christmas dance all beaten up and on a trip.  Angry, frustrated, and dissapointed, Walk walked over to the roughest bar in the town and confronted his brother like a champ.  Of course his brother was sincerly messed up too and had no idea what he had given Nortie, just "something to take the pain away".  Walk knew that he better be careful in this bar, although he had Lion and Jeff with him, because these guys were certainly not lean but extremely mean biker fighting machines.  To add a little comic relief, Crutcher had Walk roundhouse kick his brother and hustle out of their like a scared animal. 

Walk, Lion, and Jeff were sick of Nortie's dad beating him and took action.  They marched into his house and demanded that his parents give them Nortie's stuff.  They were resilient but not violent until Nortie's dad pulled a gun on the boys.  This abuse thing really makes me sick.  Makes me glad that I have a loving family.

Nortie and the Abuser

Nortie's dad is an abuser, wife beater, scumbag; simple as that.  In fact, when Nortie was younger, he had an older brother.  To make a long story short, Nortie's brother endured the same horrible acts of cowardry (if thats even a word) that a 13 year old boy should have to take.  He could not take the pain and humiliation anymore, and on Nortie's 7th birthday he received a present he shall never forget...Nortie's mom told him to walk into the garage to find his bike that he was getting for his birthday only to find his brother hanging from the ceiling, dead as a doorknob, with a note stating that he was sorry.  Let's get one thing straight here: I do not really cry during books or movies or stuff, but this section in the book, well, lets just say I sniffled a little. It really makes you think about the horrors of child abuse in American and other societies around the world.  Child abuse makes me sick.  I can not understand how a parent could hit their child to the point that they are driven to commit suicide before their life has really begun.  Life's too grand for someone to miss it before its started and I consider it a shame that this man was not imprisoned. 

STOTAN WEEK IS OVER!

Athletics propel people into a deeper commitment to find the greater strength within them.  Stotan week for the four boys seems to drive these young men to their breaking point, bring them back to normal, and destroy their spirits again.  Oh, I forgot to explain what Stotan week is!  It's basically a brutal week of land and water exercises that has these athletes looking like a bunch of wimping babies.  Stotan is a combination of a Spartan and a Stoic: someone who trains like a champion but can still think for themselves. And boy does this come into play a lot.

Claims of the Day

1. In this picture of lightning striking the Serengeti you are overwhelmed by it's explosive power, seductive presence, and docile setting which creates a sense of euphoria, fear, and loneliness. 
2. The music group Ok GO and dance group Pilobolus' smooth and elegant costumes along with the modern aspects of movement portray the lyrically pleasant mood of the collaboration in the music video.  
3. Emerson's chubby cheeks, varying moods, and melodic giggles highlight the sincere, playful, and cheerful innocence of children.

 The most interesting claim I found was the one by Chillin in The Nyle of the lightning strike.

Currently

This week I read "The Sledding Hill" and started "Stotan!", both novels by Chris Crutcher.
Pages read: 154 pages
Semester: 792 pages

Top Sentences:

1. "Eddie runs directly at the congregation, reverses direction three inches from two elders' outstretched fingers, and sprints past the pulpit; jumps curls his fingers over the window ledge, pulls himself up far enough to get a grip on the handle at the bottom of the window, and pulls himself the rest of the way."
2. "In fact I might be Jesus."
3. "And a mouse runs across his foot."

I chose these sentences because I thought they were comical, as number 2 as an exception.  The first sentence shows the dedication and obstacles Eddie has to face both in the service and in everyday life.  The second sentence I thought was extremely controversial.  Eddie is preaching his testimony and does not seem to know when to stop.  He keeps going and going and going until he goes too far and says that he might be Jesus.  He was thrown into the looney bin for that statement.  The third sentence was a kind of comic relief in the novel when Eddie is terrified in the basement trying to hide from the voices when a mouse startles him, almost to insanity.

Stotan!

What in the heck is Stotan?!? That's the question  that has been haunting me as I started this new book by Chris Crutcher.  I know from prediction and literary clues that it is probably something to do with swimming and that it will be difficult for the characters to get through, but I don't know exactly what it is.  Guess I'll have to read a little more to discover this hidden secret!!

Crazy Man (really?!)

Man, it feels like I haven't blogged in forever! But hear it goes...

Eddie has faced a lot of loss in a very short time.  I really feel sorry for the guy.  I mean losing a best friend and your dad in the same month right before you start high school is pretty harsh.  Then, to make matters worse, Eddie's mother starts turning to the Reverend Tarter (and his corrupt self) for comforting.  He wants Eddie to forget everything his father had ever told him, and get baptized.  He said that baptism is the only way for Eddie to stop seeing things and being afraid.  While I believe baptism is a good thing and going to church and believing in God are things that are important in everybody's lives, and should be taken seriously, I think that the Reverend's vantage point is a little off.  It can take away a person's fear, but that should not be the only motivation for a person coming to the church.  They need to have a personal relationship with Jesus and through the teachings of the Bible, they will find the peace they are seeking. 

Eddie then goes for a while without talking, attempting to find out what he stands for and sort out his thoughts.  One of the only things that allows him to do this is running or other strenuous exercise.  He runs forever and his thoughts get clearer and more focused.  While he runs he also communicates with his dead friend, Billy, who still hangs around in order to help Eddie get through this tough time in his life.

The YFC, or Youth for Christ, group wants Eddie to be apart of their opposition to the book Warren Peece, and he decides to infiltrate their ranks and finally speak at the town meeting to ban the book.  When it comes time for Eddie to give his testimony at church, he stands up and preaches about how much the book makes him feel less lonely and is helping him get through his losses.  He also hints that he might be Jesus (even though he knows hes not) and that gets him sent to the looney bin.

Overall, I believe that this book embodies the life of Chris Crutcher in someway...all of his books do.  They all take place in a close proximity of wear he lives and each of the events have to do with kids, intelligent yet not academically, that have a death or serious loss that has happened to them.  I think that Crutcher may have had this happen to himself or to a close friends because it seems that all of his novels revolve around the same subject.  I could be wrong and he just likes to write about that stuff, but I doubt it.  This is the 3rd Crutcher book that I have read, and I have thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them.  Although they contain some offensive language and the stories are a bit sketchy, I believe it challenges me to incorporate a greater understanding of the world around me and the events that take people's lives.  I also like that most of them revolve around athletics, which really appeals to me.

Currently

The books that I read this week were Running Loose, The Sledding Hill (both by Chris Crutcher) and Dante's Inferno.

Pages this week: 160
Semester total: 495

1. "Jasper didn't take my advice; it was a duplicate of the other one.  What Jasper did do was camp out overnight in his office for about a week with a .22 loaded with birdshot, waiting for me to show.  But I've learned patience.  He's tucked away at home in hown bed tonight, visions of beating me to death with a blunt instrument dancing in his head.  In about five minutes I'm going down to the station to get the hammer."

I picked this passage because it shows the commitment and humor Louie puts into standing up for what he believes in.

Woah!!! There's a Ghost in my Bedroom

How would you feel if you saw the ghost of your recently deceased best friend lurching in your room and closet?  I would be freaked out of my mind, I'll tell you that much! Billy although weighing like 23 grams or something, makes quite a ruckus (funny word lol) in Eddie's room and freaks Eddie out so much that he does not talk for weeks, even months.  I wonder how I would have reacted to the same situation...How would you have responded to the situation?

Sledding with a Ghost

How would you feel if you lost your father and best friend in freak accidents, all in one month? Pretty devestated, huh?  To top it off you're a little different in terms of the way you think about things; your thoughts move rapidly through your mind.  Eddie's life turned upside down and backwards in less than a month.  The two people that understood his unique style of thinking have just parished and his mother has engulfed herself into a corrupt church with a minister who has nothing better to do than to punish children.
  I chose this book thinking it would be similar to the other two Chris Crutcher books that I have read, but boy did I soon find out differently.  Eddie, to my astonishment, is not the main character...woah! Crazy right!?! Instead it's from the viewpoint of his dead friend, Billy, who is now kind of a ghost.  It's hard to label him with a term like that because he does not act very, well, ghostlike.  Now that he's dead, Billy knows everything and while there are things in the universe ten times better than hanging around Earth, he decides to stay to help him friend through the tough times in high school.  The other two Crutcher books that I have read both deal mainly about sports (which I like because I can relate well to athletics), but this book's emphasis was laid mainly on the life of a troubled teen.  I asked myself, "Why would Crutcher write books so far apart in plot and/or topic?" Well, I think that while he has people like me who are interested in sports and have become interested in those books, we might decide to keep reading his books and discover this one.  It's got more of a omnicent view on life and the world, and deals more with a seemingly "stupid" kid, who really in all actuality is extremely intelligent, and his troubles.  I guess I'll have to continue reading to figure out more about the oddness in this plot/topic change.
 Another funny thing is that Crutcher inserts one of his novels, Warren Peece, into the story, and the book gets banned by that minister dude I mentioned earlier.

Running Loose

The title of the book really encaptured the plot of the novel.  First, Louie runs in order to get into better shape for football and ultimately gains a better outlook on life.  Then, Louie runs from the poor coaching that plagues his football team and school.  After that, he finds a girl that he loves and who loves him back, but that is run off by fate and she ends up dying.  Its funny because Louie had not run from anything that was not a direct opposition to his morals and beliefs.  He stuck to his guns and tried to do the right thing.  Not until he was asked by the track coach to run the 2 mile did he start to realize the purpose for everything in his life.  He began to contemplate his decisions and the death of Becky on these runs and pushed himself past the normal bounds he was accustomed to.  Ultimately, Louie ran to his future instead of letting his future run over him.

Sentence of the Week

1. "Because if I were an animal in these woods and I  saw you here, I'd come up to you."
2. "Washington stretched it out all the way to the sideline in front of their bench and finally unloaded a bomb.  Just as he released, Boomer planted his head in his sternum, lifted him up, and slammed him into the bench...I heard a low moan and the air leaving his lungs."

I chose these sentences for basically the same reason.  The first sentence I chose because it represented a turning point in the novel and Louie's life.  He had finally gone out with the girl of his dreams and she liked him as much as he liked her.  The second passage I chose because this too was a turning point in the life of Louie.  His coach had been telling his players all week to take Washington, who was African American, out of the game.  Boomer, one of meanest and stupidest players on the team, followed through with this act and nearly killed him.  Louie took a stand and left the game, never to return to a football field again.

Currently

This week I read another one of Chris Crutcher's novels.  It was called "Running Loose".  Here is a picture of the front cover...








This week I read 160 pages
Semester total: 456 pages

Funeral

When life gets you down, you just have to get back up and dust yourself off.  Thats what Louie had to do.  His life was turned upside down and backwards.  He had issues with his coaches, teachers, and now some of the churchgoers after his charade at Becky's funeral.  Oh crap! I forgot to mention Becky's funeral! Well to say the least, it was a DIASTER!  Becky's mom flew in from the East Coast and totally took control of all the arrangements, making it a circus like she always seemed to do.  She even brought in a big time preacher from the East and had him speak at the viewing, even though he had never met Becky.  I felt like Becky's mom brought a negative vibe to a horrible situation and made things go downhill.  Anyway, Louie barely even went to the viewing...it was just too much for him to handle at first.  Then he decided to go and the preacher started talking about how everything happens for a reason and stuff like that.  That blew Louie's gasket off! He went wild!  He yelled and screamed and blamed God for everything and embarassed himself in front of the whole town.

Love's Harsh Disappointments

Louie just started to date this girl, but not just any girl.  This girl is the one every guy wants to date, every girl wants to be, and every parent wants to have as a child.  She's smart, attractive, athletic, and her name is Becky.  The funny thing is that SHE CHOSE HIM!  He's just a slighlty above average, second string football player with barely any prospect of every leaving the small town of Trout after high school.  He was just as surprised as I was that she chose him over any other guy in the school.  But when he asked her, she started talking about animals...kinda weird right?! But she rationalized that animals have a good sense of character and that animals would come up to him because of his good character.  Anyway, they kept dating and even had a romantic evening at her cabin during the winter.  They had plans of going places together, living a life together.  Until one day... Becky was driving down a road when she suddenly had to dodge a group of kids on a motorcycle and plunged into the lake.