blog for last days of summer

Brian Gramman
In Last Days of Summer, the story of Joey Margolis and his friend Charlie Banks is told through an epistolary style. We find out about the two characters and their friends and family through letters between the two, press clippings of Charlie’s baseball games, Joey’s report cards, and other media. This creates a whole different feel from other books that I have read because of the indirect access to the information presented. The usual format of a book would give me the information through a narrator telling me a straight story through his perspective. That’s what makes this book so special is the delivery of the information. I feel like I’m eavesdropping on Charlie and Joey’s conversations, almost like a Facebook creeper. This has drawn me deeper into the story and has made me read deeper into what each character is discussing in their letters. For example, in every report card Joey receives, we can find out a lot of information about several characters. We find out what Joey is like at school, we find out how Mrs. Hicks, Joey’s teacher, feels about her most troublesome pupil, and we find out a lot about Joey’s mom and aunt and that they are a lot like him. For each report card response, they make a snarky comment about how his grades are good and not to worry about his issues with obedience. This series of events would have taken much longer to explain using the standard format of book writing and it would have been a much less effective message. Another example of letters communicating a more effective message is the letter that Steven Early, the Press Secretary of the White House. The way Early talks to Joey, wishing his mother and aunt well, proves that he and Joey have had quite a bit of previous communication in the same manner of Joey giving advice to FDR on pressing current events issues. This sheds light on the interest in current affairs that Joey ahs without going into a long drawn-out story that is a strong possibility in any other format of a book. Because of this special style of writing, my understanding of these characters has been enhanced dramatically as well as my interest in the rest of the novel. The huge amount of dialogue in this book draws the reader in more than a straight explanation of what is going on, and thus pushes more readers to finish the entire book and find out what happens at the end. This makes this book a perfect read for high schools looking to show their students the advantages of reading and writing books in multiple styles.

The Shining

The Shining is one of the best books that I have read in a long time, especially the characters. I have never read a book that gave such depth to each character, where you have a full understanding of how the character thinks and feels. I really like King’s style of writing in this book because he makes the Torrance family feel like a real regular family, even as they are going through supernatural events. As their stay in Overlook Hotel turned sour, I felt the family’s pain and frustration with the hotel, their family situation, and life in general.
Jack Torrance was a special character for me. For some reason, I really related to Jack and the struggles he had throughout his life. King did a good job of wrapping me into Jack’s slow descent into madness, incorporating good flashbacks that gave important insight into what made Jack Jack. I thought King mixed in these flashbacks well with the present time. Jack’s character really drew me in because of his realness. As with all of King’s other characters, Jack felt as if he could be a real life person. His frustration with his lack of support for the family and the position he had put them in, as well as his desire to do the right thing for them, created a sense of emotions that not many other characters ever have. King’s insight into Jack’s mind as events were happening and his painful memories created an understanding of and involvement with the character.

School is worthless

Although it somewhat depends on the career you choose, the majority of what you learn in school is totally irrelevant to most people’s lives. Eventually, each person has to choose a career path to follow, and it would be almost impossible for this career to involve everything that you learn in school. Take my schedule for example. I find it very hard to imagine a work scenario where I would need Chemistry, Music Theory, and Ancient Greece knowledge in one job. It is very possible that I would need the skills I have learned in just one of these classes, or maybe none of them at all. However, I don’t believe that there is much room for improvement of our education. The only alternative I can see to introducing all of these classes at one time to students is having the students pick everything. However, I know that at several points in my educational career, I wouldn’t have really known what I wanted to do, and having a decision that would affect the rest of my life would not have been the best thing for me at the time. Looking back, if I had been made to eliminate several possible careers by not picking them as classes, I would have freaked and probably made bad decisions about my future. I’m not sure if there is any other format of education that would better introduce the students to possible interests and careers that would better relate directly to what each student will do later on in life. Children advance at different levels, so it is tough to determine the difficulty of the curriculum and the amount of work required for each student.

Better Know A District

1. Dick Lugar (R) and Evan Bayh (D)
2. André Carson (D)
3. Glenn Howard (D)
4. Vanessa Summers (D)
5. Summers, Carson, Howard
7. Mitch Daniels (R) Jill Long Thompson (D) Andrew Horning (L)

#1

1. Although I believe that all people are born with equal opportunities to succeed in America, I think it impossible to truly make sure all people are created equal. Every child is born into a different environment. Whether they are born into a single parent or two-parent family, a middle class or a lower class family, or even are a boy or a girl, there is no way that every person will be equal to everyone else. And if it were made to be that way, I wouldn’t think it was right, because forced equality is the definition of communism, the opposite of what this country is supposed to be. I believe that equal opportunity is the only type of equality that suits America because it is the principle that America was founded upon. Being forced to be equal is a restriction of the rights that Americans care so much about. If all children were made to be created equal, then the parents of the children would have lost their right to the pursuit of happiness. The pursuit of happiness for many people involves their children’s future, and if they forced to be made equal to other children born at the same time, their hard work would be all for naught and they would consider their pursuit of happiness a failure. Also, the forcing of being created equal removes an important sense of individuality that all Americans feel. An American’s family, history, and unique surroundings are pieces of individuality that I personally don’t want to lose.

Super Size Me!

In the movie Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock effectively communicates the message that eating McDonalds consistently on a regular basis will generally create future health issues such as liver and heart health. However, I don’t believe that McDonalds should be punished for the way their food is prepared. The customer is not obligated to buy McDonalds food, and although the movie leads you to believe that the food has some addictive properties, I think that it comes down to personal responsibility and that people should be held accountable for their decisions and should not be able to blame their misfortune on a company that provides them with food. Now that their nutrition facts are readily available for anyone to see, it puts the responsibility even more on the consumer. This makes it even more important for people to make good decisions about what they are eating, and they will suffer the consequences of their actions if they choose otherwise. I think this is a very important thing to have for a country as free as America. The ability to make your own decisions is an important part of what a free country should be, and when people blame McDonalds for their own decisions, something has gone wrong in our legal system. It disappoints me to know that some Americans seem to be afraid of their own accountability, and I am glad that the ruling in the court case against McDonalds went against the plaintiffs. People know what fast food does to the body, and although Spurlock’s point is well taken, it is clear in my opinion that McDonalds is not at fault for good marketing of their product.

Is American society too competitive?

Competitiveness can be a huge piece of a person’s makeup, and it can sometimes influence a person negatively. However, when I hear competition, I think of it in the terms of a free market. Competition on a large scale is a great thing for the consumers in a nation. The ability to create your own business and have a chance to compete with large chains and other big companies is something that makes this country great.
Competition between businesses is something you don’t have to look hard to find. Recently, I have been observing the prices of pizza between some popular brands and how they are affected by the smaller players. Up until several months ago, Domino’s, Papa Johns, and Pizza Hut all had the price of a large 1 topping pizza for at least $10. Then, Little Caesar’s came on the scene. They offered a large ready-to-go 1 topping pizza for $5. My local Little Caesar’s was packed every night with people buying pizzas by the boatload. Papa Johns and Pizza Hut did not suffer due to their high customer satisfaction. Domino’s however, which had always been the third most successful pizza chain in the area, immediately took a hit. This forced them to lower their prices dramatically; first to $6.99, then to $5.99, then finally to $5. Their sales seemed to recover substantially. Little Caesars, surprised by their success, got a little cocky and raised the price of their pizza to $6. They quickly regretted their decision as the demand for their pizza quickly fell. Papa Johns and Pizza Hut continued to be stable, and Domino’s regained in popularity, but Little Caesars was forced to drop their price back to $5. So now, because of competition, instead of having 3 pizza options for $10 each, I now have 2 for $5 and 2 for $10. The consumer always wins when people compete for their business.
A lack of competition is usually generated by the government, and it also usually hurts the consumer. Take my pizza situation for an example. Put the government in control of the market for pizza. If any competition like Little Caesars would arise, the government would create legislation against the company so there would be no opportunity for competition. This is a bad thing because then there is no incentive for the government to lower prices on any of their goods. Thus the customer loses and there is nothing they can do about it.
However, there are casualties of a free market. Because it is a free market, there is a possibility of failure. Companies can go out of business at any point in time if they can’t compete or run out of money. But this country was founded on the American dream, which gives you the freedom to succeed (or fail) at whatever you want to do. Although business can be cutthroat, it is worth the risk for the vast number of American and foreign consumers.
It is important to have competition in a democratic society like America because of the importance of a free market. The risk of loss of income and possibility of failure are just things that have to be accepted as a piece of a free society and country.