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Inside our future hospital - using 3D printing and VR tech for humanitarian aid bit.ly/1Ps2DRd

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Empire of the Sun: Research/Writing Stage

I have just finished typing my third criticism abstract.  I now have all three abstracts completed and all three of my background sources completed.  I am starting to type my annotations tonight.

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Empire of the Sun: Research and Writing (1)

I went to the Oakland University library yesterday to find my pieces of criticism.  I found six pieces that I printed off and brought to Mr. Kreinbring this morning in AC.  He approved all six of the pieces and said that three of them were very very good.  I have begun to read them and I have realized that I do not write in a scholarly manner at all.  Hopefully by the end of this project my writing will be much closer to that of a literary scholar.  I will be ready to start writing my abstracts within the next day or 

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Empire of the Sun: Reading Stage (5)

I have now completed Empire of the Sun.  This was a great book and I am very happy that I have chosen it for this project.  There are several main themes that J.G. Ballard uses throughout this novel.  The theme of airplanes is used throughout the novel to show the progression of the war and also to symbolize Jim's physical and mental condition.  Jim's confusion with which country he is a member of is another theme that continues throughout the novel.  Jim wants to be a Japanese pilot, but he also wants to be an American.  The only race that he doesn't connect with at all is being British, which is what he actually is.  This internal conflict reveals a lot about Jim's character and the traits that he admires in people.  Over all this was a very good novel and I enjoyed reading it very much so.

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Empire of the Sun: Reading Stage (4)

I am now on chapter 31 of my book.  I like this book more and more after every chapter I read.  The theme of airplanes has continued to develop.  Different types of airplanes seem to symbolize different things to Jim.  There is a contrast between the Japanese aircraft and the American aircraft.  Jim uses the condition and amount of aircraft from each side that he sees to illustrate the progression of the war. He also uses the different types of aircrafts to show the progression as well.  Jim continues to be torn between the two different Jim's that he sees within himself.  He has a major internal conflict between being British and not having anything in common with the rest of the British citizens he meets and wanting to be  Japanese or American.

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Empire of the Sun: Reading Stage (3)

I am now on chapter 21 of my book.  The themes that I discussed in my last blog are continuing to be developed.  The symbolism of airplanes, specifically American airplanes, continues to come up a lot.  It is brought up about every other page.  Seeing airplanes is used as a metaphor for being extremely hungry and being on the verge of starvation.  The main character, Jim, keeps discussing how he sees American planes fly over.  He always discusses it when he is starting to lose hope because of hunger or something else.  At this point in the book Jim is 14 years old and is past the world of childhood.  He is beginning to mature and he is being guided to maturity mainly by Basie and Dr. Ransome because of his lack of parents.  He has excepted that he and his parents are never going to see each other again and he hopes that they are peaceful and dead.  Many changes are starting to appear in Jim.

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Empire of the Sun: Reading Stage (2)

I am currently on Chapter 15 of my book.  Several common themes or ideas are starting to become apparent.  There is the metaphor of a mirror that has appeared three times now.  I am prediction this metaphor to continue to appear throughout the rest of the novel.  There is also the idea of airplanes and there symbolism of hope to Jim.  There is also the idea of there being two different Jims within Jim.  This idea has appeared twice so far and I predict that it will continue to be developed by Ballard later in the novel.   

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Empire of the Sun: Reading stage

I am currently on chapter 7 of my book.  So far the book is pretty good.  The first couple of chapters were slow because they were just introduction chapters.  The last 2 chapters have started to have more action in them and the book keeps getting better.  I am happy that I chose Empire of the Sun as my book.  I think that I have made a very wise decision.  I am actually learning to enjoy reading.  I never thought that would happen.

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I have chosen Empire of the Sun

I went home and researched Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard.   I typed in the title on Google Scholar and found a ton on really good scholarly criticism on the book and the author.  I read a couple reviews of the book on amazon and it sounds like a really good book.  I have made my decision.  I am going to read Empire of the Sun for my final AP Lit project.

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Talking to Mr Kreinbring to choose a book

I was completely lost when Mr. Kreinbring said that we had to choose a book for this final assignment.  I didn't know where to start.  The only thing I knew was that Mr. Kreinbring knows a heck of a lot about books so I figured that i would start with talking to him.  I went to see him in AC once morning and asked him where I should start looking for a book.  He asked me what kind of books I like to read and I didn't have an answer.  He then asked me what kind of movies I like to watch and I told him war/action movies.  He then used his iPad to look on amazon and gave me several suggestions of books that I should look into.  One that he kept telling me about was called Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard.  I am going to go home and research it and see how much criticism there is on it and then make my decision about it.

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1.  I carry the weight of my own personal expectations of myself.  These weigh more than anything.  I have been crushed by this weight many times.  It is incredibly challenging to support this weight because I expect so much out of myself.

2. I carry the weight of my father’s expectations with me.  These weigh about 200 pounds even though they are truly weightless.  I try to always surpass his expectations and make him proud of me.

3. I carry the weight of going to the University of Michigan.  This weighs about 150 pounds.  I have been dreaming about going to U of M for a very long time and I have been working my butt off to accomplish this goal.  My father went to U of M, but all of this pressure is created by me and not by any outside forces.

4.  I carry the weight of setting a good example for my baby sister.  She weighs 100 pounds.  I carry her with me everywhere I go and I consider her in every decision I make.  I feel that if I do something like drink that shows her that I think that it is ok for her to do the same.  I do not drink, smoke or do anything else that would give her a false idea of what is ok to do.

5.  I carry the weight of becoming an All-State wrestler with me.  This is another goal that I have set for myself and I have been working to accomplish for six years now.  This weighs about 75 pounds.  About 50 pounds of the weight is created by me, but my father adds about 25 pounds to it.

6. I carry the weight of the fear of the future with me.  This weighs 50 pounds.  I am always trying to plan ahead in my life so that I never mess anything up, but I can never be 100% for sure about anything because I do not know what the future will hold.

7. I carry my IPhone with me at all times.  This weighs a couple pounds.  This is the only literal object that I carry with me at all times.  It gives me freedom to go and do whatever I want but still gives my parents the ability to communicate with me.  It is also a symbol of my hard work in school because the only way I could get it was to get above a 3.9 GPA both semesters during my junior year.  I earned above a 4.0 both semesters and got my IPhone.

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The Patriot

One reason that The Patriot is an Anti-war movie is that it shows the horrible brutality that occurs against innocent people that get caught up in the war. In the movie Mel Brooks' family gets caught up in the war by helping wounded soldiers from both sides of the war when a battle occurs right outside their house. One of his sons is killed by a british officer and his house is burnt down. Another reason that The Patriot is an anti-war movie is that it uses Mel Brooks and the British officer as examples of how bad war can truly be. Mel Brooks' character shares stories from a past war that he fought in that shows unbelievable things that soldiers do during a war and the British officer works as a living example of those horrible things.

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Favorite Poem

Reluctance

Out through the fields and the woods

And over the walls I have wended;

I have climbed the hills of view

And looked at the world, and descended;

I have come by the highway home,

And lo, it is ended.

The leaves are all dead on the ground,

Save those that the oak is keeping

To ravel them one by one

And let them go scraping and creeping

Out over the crusted snow,

When others are sleeping.

And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,

No longer blown hither and thither;

The last lone aster is gone;

The flowers of the witch hazel wither;

The heart is still aching to seek,

But the feet question "Whither?"

Ah, when to the heart of man

Was it ever less than a treason

To go with the drift of things,

To yield with a grace to reason,

And bow and accept the end

Of a love or a season?

Robert Frost