Entry 3 and 4 (Maggot Moon)

In this entry I will be talking about what part of my selection really grabbed my attention and what I think is ment to grab the readers attention. The chapter that really stood out to me was chapter 8. Standish did not know how to tie a tie, so for one whole year he had kept the tie in a knot so he wouldn't have to tie it, but after a long time that tie eventually became loose, standish didn't really know what to do at that point. Standish's best friend, hector knew how to tie a tie perfectly and helped standish in his time of need when others wouldn't. I think Sally Gardner did an exceptional job on writhing this metaphor in the book for people. When someone has a problem that they can't over come, friends and family are their to support you in your time of need and when you get in trouble. What this metaphor is saying is, even when you aren't perfect your friends and family can help you get pretty close to that. That really tied in to my life as well, sometimes I don't know how to do something very important in life, but when you have friends,family, teachers, and mentors they are your key to being successful in whatever you do. I struggle a bit trying to wrap my head around this story and how standish lives everyday, I would recomend this book to people 13 or older and it really helps connect you to your life and give you a little taste of how other people could be living their's.

Summer reading project:"Maggot Moon" (entry one)

The main character in this selection is named Standish Treadwell. Standish has a reading/writing disability called dyslexia, it causes him to read letters and words upside down or in a different order than they really are. People at school make fun of him Becasue of his name and his disability, call him names, chanting that he can't read or write and is stupid. Life is pretty hard for standish when he is in public Becasue he can't do things that normal students can, but standish sure isn't stupid. Standish can see things that what some people might call a "normal person", he overlooks things that other people just walk by as if nothing is there, his imagination is the strongest Becasue of this disability he has. Only a handful of people know of standish's amazing gift, his family, his best friend hector, and an old teacher, Miss Connolly. Standish sits at the back of all his classes not being able to read the board from where he sits, but has an imagination that runs wild and points him in the right direction of who he is, and who he wants to be. This book reminds me much of the movie/novel, Forrest Gump. In that story Forrest is a slow boy who doesn't do so well in school and isn't the best person around people due to his attitude towards them. One thing Forrest has that is most important that not a lot of people have is a good heart and the ability to not stop when he wants to achieve something and is never scared of things that stand in his way, he does what other people said he could never do just because of his sheer determination towards everything that he does no matter what. 

chapter 4:Bosnia

Before Eric goes to Oxford, Eric is still enrolled at Duke University. He travels to the country of Bosnia to help out in camps that help the people living there from war and poverty. Eric learns about the different civil wars in Bosnia and how they affect the people that live their. Many of the people living their are already deep in poverty already, the government is very bas their already and the war doesnt help, so there are alot of different organizations to help out with these people. Eric is in one of those groups/camps to help them out with living, food, water, etc. He learns alot of lessons their such as alot of people take things for granit, and they dont realize what they have good in life. These kids are living the hardest life in the world but they are still happy every day and make the best of what they have.

The Heart And The Fist week 4

Eric has successfully graduated from Oxford after four great years of college. The Navy asked Eric to become and train to be a Navy SEAL diver, Eric isnt sure if he wants to stay in college to study, or challenge himslef mentally and physically. He goes to one of the many English restaraunts next to the Oxford campus, Eric sees a poster on the wall of all the military personell and finally decided that he wanted to be part of something more than himself. He showed up at the Navy SEAL BUD/S course that only a few number of elite men can finish in order to become a Navy SEAL. 

Eric goes through officer candidate school first to become an officer in the Navy that the Navy origanally wanted him to join. Eric thiougt that all of the yelling was inappropiate and was a waste of breath and energy, he helped another student becasue of the lack of physical strangth that he had in order for the drill instructors to be happy. Eric spends the next 8 weeks in this officer candidate school helping out this other student as if he were Erics own son. Making sure not only his things were done but also this other student, it ultimatly helps Eric throughout this course to have someone to talk to and take care of.

The Heart And The Fist week three

Eric is now attending a different college then Duke, Eric is now going to Oxford in England. He has met a lot of friends here, its really laid back at Oxford many different cultures in the towns around this college, also many new and different classmates from many different countries and cultures. Eric is also on the Oxford boxing team witch is one of the best of its kind, Eric put the team as an Alabama (really good athletic team) in comparison to the boxing team. Eric goes through many outdoor hiking/biking trips and adventures to different towns and restaurants to learn and experience many different things outside of his normal life that helps him through life, and a job soon to come.

The Heart And The Fist: Blog week three (1-28-14)

Eric starts out in chapter three as deciding to start boxing. Eric goes to college at The University of Duke. Eric's grandfather was a really well known city boxer. Eric grew up in Chicago, and his grandfather was always teaching him lessons about life through boxing because that's what his grandfather did all the time, that's how he was known and that's what he did to leave his mark. His grandfather went to an old ghetto gym in the city and that's where Eric wanted to go to follow in his grandfathers footsteps. Eric met a man named Derrick, Derrick trained Eric in that gym a lot, he  told Eric stories of past boxers and even his grandfather. With some time Eric and Derrick grew very close and Eric boxed and trained at that gym for three years after winning the golden glove trophy after his opponent forfeited.
          this chapter is probably my favorite chapter in the book so far because, Eric faces problems when he first enters the gym, he has no idea what to do and how to start training, all he wanted to do was get better and be like his grandfather. Derrick was hard on Eric at first, but that was only to make him a better boxer and a better person. I like this chapter because Eric represents me sometimes in life and the sport of boxing symbolizes football. I'm not saying football and boxing are similar to each other, I'm saying that the sport of boxing also symbolizes something different in my life. Derrick also symbolizes the people that make my life hard sometimes but love me and teach me lessons for the better, to help me do everything in life.  








These two lines are good lines to represent my voice in the piece because I am making a connection from the book The Heart And The Fist , to my actual life. My voice is telling my life through the book and giving symbols and things that represent other things to make the reader better understand the piece.

The Heart And The Fist week two

In chapter two Eric goes to china. For his college he goes to beijing to teach english to chinese students. He has never been ouitside of the country so he has no idea what to expect when he goes there, but he is also eager to learn new things about their life and culture. He teaches an english class and there are about 15 students in his class that are very curious about the american way, Eric knew that at that time all people thought of China was the Tiananman. It was when the chinese people protested againt the chinese government for their harsh law. All of these students were very curious and spent hours asking Eric questions about the protest in the Americans point of view. Talking about these kind of things in China were against the law, Eric went to the police station and was scared he would get in big troble for this, but the police just asked for a fine and took his passport for a couple days. In all the mix of things, a new friend of Erics gave him a flim canaster and gave it to Eric. He said "  this is what really happend that day on June 4th".