Final Project: PRINT

Gabbie Brown
Mrs. Jarrett
English 10
1 June 2009
Graphic Novel Final Assessment
I decided on the characters Marji, from Persepolis and Mate and Minerva from In The Time of The Butterflies. I chose these characters because I feel like they share some similar qualities. The one that I focused on in my graphic novel representation, was that they all stand up for what they believe in. All three characters are quite young, although are very mature and educated for their age. I chose the setting and sequence of events because it shows something that they are passionate for, and how they are not willing to just give it up without a fight. The panel designs that I used through my representation varied in some ways. I wanted to show different angles and compositions for the frames. I used some long shot frames to show the setting, while in others I used close up frames to show emotion. I made some frames bigger than others to show greater importance. For example the frame where Minerva is yelling, “We stand up for what we believe in!” I made that frame larger than all of the others because that is the most significant of all the frames, because it is the main theme that I focused on throughout the panels. I interpreted quite a bit of dialogue and thought bubbles to show what people are thinking about how they feel about the current situation. I also incorporated color because with the characters that I chose, I don’t consider them characters that should be in black and white. All three of them have very strong, bold personalities and I feel like color really emphasizes that. Also I feel that with the story that I chose, color helps tell the story, and keep people interested throughout.

Comeback 4

So I continued reading along in the novel and it has gotten even more intense. Claire walked in on Mia cutting her wrists...what. Okay so tight. The story is started to get a little repeative and annoying but I'm going to keep going. It might just be because I am reading a few other books and haven't really had time to focus on this but still, they can start to mix it up a little. They try to bring her to more doctors, and it seems like nobody can do anything. It starts to get more into Mia's writings and journals, which are really dark and mysterious which I think will lead into her half of the book. She seems really creepy, but from what I have seen of her on the back of the book and in interviews it is weird to think it is the same girl. Somewhere in the book a huge change most occur, and I can't wait to hear about it. I'll keep it posteddddd.

Comeback 3

Okay, so I continued reading and in this part of the story now Mia is 15 years old. She has run away and gotten involved in drugs. Her parents find her high offfff her ass, and they take her to her therapist. This new therapist is different, and Claire and her husband don't know how they feel about her. She seems to make everything Mia and her family are going through "no big deal". Claire explains all of her concerns about her daughter and how she thinks that the way Mia is acting now a days must have to do with her Father molesting her as a child. Her therapist acts as if Claire is crazy, no no no that has nothing to do with it is how she would respond, leaving Claire feeling like an idiot. So as her therapist meets with Mia, and recommend Claire to back off of her and give her space, Claire knows if she does that Mia will just keep running away. So Claire goes to Mia's room to look for evidence, that this somehow must have to do with Mia's father. She digs through everything, and finds Mia's writings, tons of them, journals, pictures, diagrams. She reads them, they all include something about Mia's father, and Claire now knows she was right all along and can't wait to show teh therapist and earn her "I told you so" moment. This reminds me of one "Friends" episode I watched before I read this chapter. Haha, it was the one where Joey was digging through Rachel's room and finds her dirty books underneath her bed, he had always said Rachel must read porn because "everyone does" and she always denied it, and he had finally found something to prove it. Haha, so it definitly reminded me of that, even though in my book it is a much more serious matter.

Comeback 2

Holy Beans..okay so I kept readng it keeps going as Mia is growing up and remembering more about her father. She started to see a counselor regularly by the age of 13. She was crippled by the memories she had of him. She started acting differently, having horrible nightmares and wake up in the middle of the night crying. Clarie didn't know what to do, she blamed herself for this everyday, but she thought if she had never met her husband, Mia wouldn't be here. She started to idolize people who were bad influences, alcoholics and rockstars. These chapters reminded me of my friend Talen, she is my age and I have known her since I was about 5. Her mom used to nanny me, and I noticed when we were about 9 she started acting really different. She listened to rap, and swore alot. I asked what had made her change and she always told me not to worry about it. Her attitude was tense, and she turned cold. When I was about 13 we no longer spoke. Her mom found me on facebook one day and we hadn't talked in abou 4 years and she asked how I was and everything, and I immediatly asked about Talen. She said she was okay, but that she had started drinking and hanging out with the wrong people. She ran away one day for a 2 days. She also told me that she had a rough childhood that they hid from me and my family, because they didn't want us to worry. She didn't go into deatails and I fifn't feel like nagging. I haven't spoken to her since I was 10 years old. It really reminded me of my book, because you can clearly see that Mia is going through a very hard time. I'm going to keep reading..

Comeback 1

OH MY GODDDDD! Okay, so I am about 75 pages into it and it is so intense it is ridiculous. So as I stated in my earlier post about the book, the mother Claire and her daughter Mia share their story through hell and back. The first part of the book starts off when Mia is 13, and she has run away from home. Which is a huge shock, because her and her mother and stepfather all got along so well. So when they found out she was gone, they freaked out and had everybody they knew looking for her all over the streets. Mia left a note saying that she belonged on the streets and needed to see what life was really like. LIKE WHAT! Ah my god, okay so when they do find her she is like a lunatic and they have to nail her windows shut and what not. Than it jumps to a flashback about when Claire first had Mia and when she was married to her first husband. Who was EXTREMLY creepy, I can't even explain it. His name is Paul, and his family was like okay with incest. WTFFFF. His mother told him I can't think of anything more beautiful than a mother making love to her son or a father making love to his daughter. Are you kidding me? This so f@#$%ed up it is ridiculous. Anyway, so Mia was playing with her cousin one day and her aunt was changing her cousin's diaper and Mia went up to her and spread her legs and said; "This is what daddy does to me." I don't even know how to respond to that, it makes me want to vomit. At this time Mia is 3 years old! I seriosuly don't know how to respond to this, what would I compare that to? Like what do you say to that? The judge that Claire took him to court with was siding with the husband at first until he started abusing Mia more, than he was told he had to go to therapy and get help or never see Mia again. He never went to therapy, so he was out of their life. THANK GOD. I need to keep reading, this is addicting, my gosh.

Comeback

I chose the book Comeback. by Claire and Mia Fontaine because my mom had read it over the summer and she would not stop talking about how good it was. It is a memoir about Claire, and her daughter Mia. My mom read it when my sister and her weren't getting along very well and she than decided to have my older sister read it. Than all she did was talk about how good it was too. It was weird to watch, it was like after they both read the book their relationship got much better and they weren't fighting as much. So of course I have been interested in reading it and finally have decided too. So I can't wait to keep reading it. It is al ready so intense!

Love

Frey, James. My Friend Leonard. 1. New York: Penguin, 2001.


"There is only one happiness in life -- to love and to be loved." (George Sand) As I finish reading My Friend Leonard by James Frey, you realize that love in the book is a constant. Whether James is completley and irrevocably in love with Lily, or head over heals for heroin there is always some form of love. Throughout the book James wants to be loved, he wants to feel like somebody wants him at all in anyway. While James was using, he lost everything. Nobody cared about him anymore, he was worthless to anybody that once loved him. Imagine the feeling of loosing everybody that ever meant anything to you. While the book goes on James begins to have weird dreams about his exgirlfriend, her name his never given but he calls her the Girl with the Artic Eyes, she never appears in his real life again but she lingers in his memories and in his dreams. He was deeply in love with her, and feels guilty for begining to think about her again because of Lilly. Now that James is heading back to his sober life again his parents have come back into his life. He is begining to feel loved again, and he is begining to feel whole again. As I compare this to my life I have no idea how I would react to loosing my loved ones. Have relationships with people and communication is a huge factor to a healthy lifestyle.

War

Forest Gump.


"Mama said, lifes like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gunna get." Forest Gump said. The film Forest Gump, is the ultimate representation of war. It may not be super heavy and depressing but at the same time it still reminds me of war all the time. Forest is sent to war in Vietnam where he meets his best friend Bubba. During the war scenes that they show there, Forest gets shot in the ass, Bubba gets shot and dies, and his Lutenet Dan gets both of his legs removed. When I think about the war that they protray in this movie, and how it is lighter and not as heavy as say Saving Private Ryan which is really heavy and more depressing, I think I like it better because it doesn't make you feel as sad I guess. It also has very funny parts to it, that are hilarious. Everybody has different opinions on war, it will always be that way. Although, I believe that war is not the way to go. PEACE

Holidays

Miracle on 34th Street.


When I think about the holidays, I think about the film, Miracle on 34th Street. Directed by Les Mayfield. It is about a little girl who doesn't know whether or not to believe in santa claus, and throughout the story she begins to believe in him again. She believes that just knowing that he is real is the best present of all. Whenever I watch this movie it reminds me of when I was a little kid, and started to doubt that santa claus was real. when I was about the same age as the little girl in the story, I started to doubt whether or not santa was real and I asked everybody and their mother basically if he was real or not and everybody said of course he is! So after that I believed that he was real until I actually figured it out. I wish he was real, he makes the holidays so joyus. I love christm

Bollywood

Bride and Prejudice.

Bollywood, a type of film production in India. During class we vied the film, Bride and Prejudice, a make on a bollywood film. Although it was not a true bollywood film, because therefore it would have been around four hours long, it still had the same general pattern. The film reminded me very much of the novel we read in class, Nectar in a Sieve, during the film i found myself comparing and contrasting them multiple times. The characters were similar. The character from the novel, Rukumani and the character from the film, Lailita were very similar despite having a few differences. They are both Indian, literate, and traditional, althought Lailita is absolutely stunning while Rukumani is just a plan average women. They are many other similarities and differences from the novel and the movie as well.

Culture

Once again I was watching TV today flipping through channels, and I began watching E. As I was watching, I thought to myself what we consider important. Celebrity fashions, latest trends, must haves, newest cars, etc. The show went over the normall celebrity trends, and showed everything from the Oscars and every single latest must have trend you need to have. As I watched I got a funny feeling, thinking about what our priorities are. As I did this, I compared the culture of America to the other different cultures around the world. I thought about the book we juts finished in class, Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markanydama. The characters in the novel live in India, and live in severe poverty. They live their life to the fullest, and appreciate everyday they live. Every little tiny thing they get in life, they work their ass off for, the earn what they get, nothing is handed to them for free. They feel lucky to even be alive, living a life of suffering and starvation. While in America, we live a life of adundance, and feel like we need to have all these unneccesary luxuries and get upset when we don't get them. When I think about this, I feel as if we are spoiled, not everybody in America, but our country as a whole. I think about culture and appreciating things alot.

I watched this show on television, on channel 49, Mondays @ 9.

Change

Frey, James. My Friend Leonard. 1. New York: Penguin, 2001.

As I continue to read My Friend Leonard, I continue to realize it is all about change. James, the recovering drug addict and alcoholic, turning his life around to live a sober life because if he doesn't his chances of surviving are slim to none. When I first began reading A Million Little Pieces, I immediately made a connection to my life. I have two older cousins, who are both recovering drug addicts and alcoholics. As I continue reading this book, I become scared, scared of what my own cousins are going through. The scared times, the temptations and heartache. It breaks my heart to think about what they have been through, the choices that they have made, and how they were wasting their life away for so long. As I look at them now, I see Corey, the older one (27) who is turning his life around, he is in culinary school and looks to open his own resturant sometime soon. He is changing his life for the better, and becoming the person that we all knew that he could always be. While I look at Pete, the younger one (24) my heart breaks. His story doesn't have as much of a happy ending. He was sober for around a year, he was doing okay and everybody was excited. His daughter, Gabbie (3) who he named after me, loved her dad more than anything. When one day, he dissapeared. He was juts gone, no call, no nothing, just gone. He went to his parents house when he knew they were gone, stole their personal items, and sold them. His sobriety was lost, and he was gone. I wish I could say that things have changed, but they haven't. He still vanishes, abandoning everybody and everything, taking no responsibility. My big cousin, who I loved with all my heart, was changed and not for the better. As I read along in the story, I would find myself crying at times, wishing that Pete could have changed for the better and found his way to a better life. I wish he knew, how much I love him, how much we all love him, we just want him back. James had his family, they loved him but they couldnt support him until he changed his life around. I continue reading, almsot done and read the journey of James as it fills me with emotion. I have faith in Pete and wish he knew how much I am worried about him. I love you Pete, and wherever you are, I hope you're okay.

Hope

Frey, James. My Friend Leonard . New York : Riverhead Books, 2005.

Hope, intransitive verb1: to cherish a desire with anticipation. What does hope mean to you? My Friend Leonard shows the utmost of hope in a man's life. James Frey, recovering drug addict and alcoholic sturuggles through desires and temptations everyday of his life. While he struggles through these desires he faces heartache along the way, the love of his life Lily, taking her life. James was just released out of jail and was on his way to see her, when he received a frantic phone call from Lily. "My grandma died, what am I going to do now? I need you here James, you are all that I have that, I can't do this without you." (18) The phone call made Jame's heart drop, he was on his way but wouldn't be there for about 9 hours. He speed, and when he got there..he found out that Lily didn't wait for him, she had taken her own life, she hung herself in the shower. The tragedy drove James to a breaking point, he went down the street and bought a large bottle of alcohol..he sat in his car and stared at it. Was it worth it? Throwing everything you have worked for, to just throw it away? His unfailing faith carried him through, he left that bottle of alcohol in his apartment starring at him in the face, and it kept him going everyday, knowing he didn't want to go back. While I was reading, the novel seemed to be easy to contrast with Nectar in a Sieve, the novel we just finished in class. When I was thinking about it, when James goes through a loss of a loved one, he is heart broken and can barely do anything, and risks giving up his sobriety while when Rukmani goes through a loss of a loved one, she moves on right away, excepting the fact that there is nothing she can do about it. The different hope that each of them has, they each have a goal that they want to reach. Rukmani, wants to live a happy healthy life and return home to her family, while James wants to live a sober, clean life, and they are both willing to do what it takes to get that, and their hope is what pushes them to get through the heartache.

Religion

Frey, James. My Friend Leonard . New York : Riverhead Books, 2005.

Religion, spirituality, believing, not beliefing. These topics are strong subjects with wtrong opionions. Recently I have started reading the sequel to A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, My Friend Leonard. I was going to begin this book a while back when I first finished A Million Little Pieces but I was distracted. Though now that I have started, it is hard to put it down. The rugidness of the language and the story leaves you with chills. While James is continuing his journey with sobriety, religion enters his life. Everybody trying to get him to believe in God. "It will help you get through, this journey, believe me son. Nobody can give you what God can." (183) People pushed him towards religion more and more. He wasn't having it, one bit. He was not going to have people force him to believe, if he was going to believe he wanted to discover it on his own. Can somebody make you believe? Can you truly believe if its forced? The question comes to my mind from time to time while reading. The thought of having religion pushed on you, believe this, believe that. I don't think it could work, at least not on me. As James went on with his journey, he discovered God in his own way. Not forced, not pushed, but on his own terms. he discovered it slowly, but it helped him learn about himself. When I think about this in comparison to my life, I remember when I was little I had a nanny, her name was Laura. She was a very nice girl, who had recently transformed her life and become a strong student at the University of Minnesota. I was 6 years old at the time, and she sat me down one day, telling me about religion and God. "You have to believe Gabbie, your life won't be the same without God looking down on you." Once again, I was only 6 years old. At 6 years old, the information overwhelmed me, confusing me and making me think. I went to my mom and asked, "Mom do I have to believe in God?" She looked at me confused, my family is Catholic but they would never force it on me. I told her about Laura telling me I had to believe, she look at me concerned, than she talked to Laura to next week and said that she wouldn't need her anymore. I felt bad, but at the same time I was only 6, and I didn't need anybody pushing God on me. As I connect this to my life, I find myself relating to Jame's situation and i understand where he is coming from. Don't push religion on somebody, let them discover it on their own terms.

Gender Roles

In this blog, dicussing gender roles I am going to discuss a few different but very similar texts. This weekend I found myself flipping on the television a few times, as I flipped through the normal VH1 and MTV channels, I saw some shows that were quite frightening. Shows like "Rock of Love Bus" or "For the Love of Ray J" where women throw themselves at men, half naked most of the time. The discussion is indeed an opinion, but when you see these shows you think, does this make women look good? I suppose not all women on these shows are "trashy" but more than not they are not making themselves look like classy ladies. Than you take in the fact that the men on these shows just go through these women like they are nothing, "hooking up" and than telling them to go home and leave the competition. I sit there and think to myself, why? Why do these women do this type of thing? Young 22ish year old women going after some firty 49 year old man, tacky much? I guess this may not be a great text for talking about gender roles, but still maybe if you think about it a little deeper you can see there is something there. Women, seen as these people who should bow to men and throw themselves at them, while men can just use them and then throw them away like nothing. Maybe because, the idea of double standards has always bothered me, and when I watch these shows it just really makes me angry to think that women act like this. The idea of women can get called sluts for "hooking up" than guys get a high five for doing the same thing x10. Just something to think about I guess.

I watched "Rock of Love Bus" on VH1 (channel 32) Sundays @ 9.

Culture

In this blog, we were supposed to dicuss a culture different from our own. When I thought about this, one of the first things that popped into my head was; Exiled. The TV show on MTV. The show is about extremly spoiled rich kids who had a huge sweet 16 party, and depend on their parents and others for everything in life. They want everything, and expect to get everything they ask for. The show is supposidly the parents realizing that their children are spoiled brats, and that they want to change that. So they send their child away for a week to another continent to see how hard other people in other cultures have it. One episode that I found very interesting, was the one where Bjorne a self centered brat was sent off to the deserts of Egypt (or somewhere in the area, can't really remember exactly haha) But when he arrived, his attitude was the most horrific thing for miles. The change in culture and lifestyle was apparently too much for him, and he didn't feel like trying to adapt. So he spent his week with a horrible attitude and being disrepesctful to everybody and everything. The boy that was there to welcome him into his family, was disrepected all day long. His culture was unique, and different of one in the United States so to say, but that does not make it any less improtant. A culture is a culture. Wether you eat with your hands, a fork or a stick. Whether you live in a mansion, or under a tree. A culture is a culture, no matter how you look at it. Being put into a culture where you sleep on a piece of hard cement, and dress in a long sheet, hunting for all the food that you eat, and rarely getting to clean yourself, indeed would be an adjustment but is not impossible. This show really showed me to appreciate everything that I have, and to appreciate every other culture that is out there in this world.
I watched this show on television on MTV (channel 35) Tuesdays @ 4.

Facing a Difficulty

Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight. New York: Little Brown Bks Young Readers , 2006.

Facing a difficulty, a difficult time or situation does very much indeed depend on the person, although in Stephanie Meyer's, Twilight, I think we all agree it is a difficult situation. The first book on the Twilight saga, begins the story of Ms. Bella Swan and Mr. Edward Cullen. What you will soon find out after begining this delightful series, is that Edward Cullen is a vampire. The day Bella walks into her new biology class, is a day that Edward nor Bella would ever forget. The scent of her blood drives him crazy. "Your scent is like a drug to me." Edward admits. Now let's think about the situation, if you found a being like Edward, impeccable and flawless in every way imaginable, how could you not want every single inch of him? Than when you find Bella, stunning with her pale skin dark long hair, how could the two of them not want to be together? The burning urge to just touch his soft lips, and never let go of him burns through her. Edward only wants Bella, and will alwaya only want Bella, but he doesn't want to risk her safety in anyway. It's not that he doesn't have the same desires that Bella has, he just has to know how to control them. If things were to get carried away between them and they weren't being careful, at any moment Edward could loose control and could kill Bella. Not to mention whenever Bella is at the Cullen's household she was surrounded by beautiful impeccable creatures, all thirsting for her blood. This isn't a risk he could take. "I can't do this to you anymore. You need to live your life." He said multiple times that he had to leave Bella and that she had to continue living her normal life. He wants her to have everything in life, every "normal" experience that she may not have if she stayed with him. Bella never cared, she knew what she wanted in life, and it was Edward. She wanted him to make her a vampire, so that she could be with him forever, and not have to worry about any of this ever again. Edward wasn't having it, he could never do that to her he always said, but Bella never gave up. Nagging him constantly, telling him how in love with him she is, and all she wants is to be with him forever. Now think about the situation, what would you do? Finding this flawless being, who wants to taste your blood more than anything in the world, and is in love with you. Would you risk it? Would you leave him, and say forget it? I think you all very well know you would stay with him. The ice cold skin, the eyes changing clolors, the glistening skin, perfect smile, love that goes on forever, what's not to love? If you were continue to go on into the Twilight series you would see how this difficulty continues to go on. The decision lays in Edward's hands wheter or not Bella is to become a vampire. After long awaited anticipation, Edward decides to make Bella a vampire! Holy cow, good times. The difficult situation was overcome by long anticipation and thought put into an extremly hard decision. This will change her life forever, Edward thought over and over. But he did it, and now they can be together forever. Yay I love life.

Natural Disaster

Jacobs, Andrew. "Superstitions About Quake Meet the Web, Irritating the Chinese Authorities ." The New York Times. 16 May 2008. 2 Feb 2009 .

In the fascinating article, Superstitions About Quake Meet the Web, Irritating the Chinese Authorities written by Andrew Jacobs, the question is; can earth quakes be predicted? From toads flooding the streets left and right to cows going to the nearest enclosures. Animals don't normally act like this, so why did Chinese government ignore these signs? That's what the people want to know. "Did they not care?" The government does care about their people. Many were indeed killed in this horrific event, although many were saved. All this came about due the a rumor via internet and now a man is being punished for this information. So all it comes down to, is is the information true? Or Is it just a rumor and mislead information? Indeed some may differ and disagree one the situation at hand, but at the moment there is nothing else to do about it. Hoping the best for everybody in China and other struggling areas around the world, and any places in this world affected by horrific natural disasters.