Senior Interviews

The senior interviews were really interesting. All of them had something different that they were trying to do or get across. I can relate to the one who wants to become a sports executive because he wants to make his parents proud. His parents came to the US in 1994. My parents came before that in like 1978 but still I can still relate to how he wants to make his parents proud. The one who seems deluded is the one who is undecided. He just knows he wants to be wealthy but he doesnt know how he is gonna get there.


I see myself in 10 years graduating college and having a steady job. I want to be wealthy but so does everyone. I am very materialistic in my wants. I will do whatever it takes to be happy and get what I want. I will take actions and fulfilling my dreams. I plan on living here in Fort Wayne and having spending my life here in 10 years. I want t0 do something in business.

265-280

The pain inside Zeitoun is taking over he is losing lots of weight and is looking sick. The doctor has been giving a form and should look at him soon. He thinks the pain is not from infection or injury but due to sorrow. He is feeling pain that he isnt with his family or helping with taking care of his city. He starts thinking about life insurance. He says he should of bought a larger one. He is having all the stress get to him. He is getting enraged by thinking about Kathy thinking he is dead. He is searched thoroughly every week. Guards look for drugs or contraband in all of the prisoners. Kathy also finds out what Zeitoun was arrested. He was arrested for looting but the charges were soon going to be dropped. Kathy and her family find out that he is alive. Then the end of where I read kathy calls the prison and they say there is no record of Zeitoun.



My personal response to this is that Zeitoun hurting because he cant be with his family and cant tell them what is wrong and if he is alive. I can imagine how he is feeling. He is probably heartbroken for going to prison when he was trying to do something right. Then kathy finds out he is okay and alive and then all of a sudden she calls the prison and they say they dont have record of him. Now she probably thinks he is dead. She had a whole bunch of stress taken off her mind and now it is all retained again. I dont know if i could take all the stress that kathy is encountering. I would break down. I am obviously not as strong as Kathy and Zeitoun.

241-260

The men are being kept in a cage and are being held prisoner. One man is challenged in the head and he is saying stuff and the guards are getting mad so they spray him with pepper spray and throw a bucket of water on him. They are being treated badly. Zeitoun is kept in the prison along with other inmates. He cant sleep and if he does its for only a couple hours at a time. He feels bad because he cant be with his family. Who knows how long he is going to be in the prison. Zeitoun is still contained till what I read he lives the life of a criminal. He is given a orange jump suit and is treated like a criminal. He also encounters a stabbing pain and cannot sit in the same position for more than 5 or 10 minutes. He and other inmates tell stories of the storm and how they were caught. One says that he was a firefighter and got caught for stealing.




My personal response to this is that Zeitoun is in prison for no reason. He was helping out the city and he shouldnt be there. To me it is really dumb. He is being treated like that for no reason. He is being treated like a criminal becasue he served his city when it was in need. It makes me mad that he went head over heals for his city and he isnt being re paid good. Also for the fire fighter who got arrested thats dumb. I know he committed a crime but if FEMA isnt helping he has to fend for himself. If stealing is what he has to do then he has to do it. I would steal if I needed supplies or food to live. Its a dog eat dog world. You gotta do what u gotta do.

226-241

The soliders seem to be looking for something with Zeitoun and Todd. They do a whole search on them and Zeitoun feels like he will bear this shame for the rest of his life. He then starts thinking that they are being evacuated and they are only looking becasue they dont want them to steal. Him and Todd are put into a cage and it is locked shut. More men are put in the cage and they look to escape. All Zeitoun wants is a phone call so he can call Kathy. He slides his number to someone and they call kathy and let her know where he is. Tod goes on a rant and swears but Zeitoun stays calm.





My personal response to this is that I dont understand how Kathy and Zeitoun can remain so calm with all of the events that are happening. I guess it has to do with them accepting what happened and trying to move on. Zeitoun is trying to figure out what is going on and kathy is trying to get her children into a routine and worrying about her husband. I think I would rather be Zeitoun becasue i dont think i could deal with worrying about children and worrying about Zeitoun. IT WOULD DRIVE ME CRAZZZZZZZZZZZY. Hopefully all is well when the book ends. It is getting really interesting.

211-225

Kathy and her daughter demah are praying and after they are done a phone rings and tells kathy that they saw her husband. She automatically thinks he is dead. The man says that he is in prison and he is alright and being taken care of. She asks him atleast a dozen questions but he says he cant talk and he hangs up. 4 men and 1 woman come to Zeitouns building and take him away and are being really rude to him. He believes its for the evacuation that is being in effect. They were being taken to the superdome. The soliders arent being helpful to Zeitouns cause. They are ignoring all the good deeds he did and wont comply to his question of them feeding the dogs. They ignore him. The people ask him questions. They make racist jokes and use words such as Al Qaeda and Taliban and make Zeitoun feel uncomfortable. He was put in jail. Just like any other inmate he was fingerprinted and sent to a cell.





My personal response to this is that Kathy finally knows Zeitoun is safe. She has stress taken off her and can now focus on her children. But a little more stress is added when she hears that he is in jail. Atleast he is okay though that would take some stress off me. Also the way the soliders are acting with Zeitoun is a little bit of racial profiling. Because he is from the middle east they utter taliban and al qaeda. I mean it is a hurrican not a terrorist attack. They should be worried about what is happening currently.

Zeitoun 192-210

Zeitouns family is calling Kathy and they are asking many questions they are filling her in on the facts that they know of. They are asking if she knows where he his and if she is looking for him. She can not take the pressure of these questions. They tell her that they should move to Syria. Kathy cannot take all these questions when in fact she is dealing with her own problems in getting Zeitoun. Yuko and her husband take Kathy to some coliseum where angencys are set up to help find people. Its been six days since Kathy has had any contact with Zeitoun. Then she starts to think of what she has to do if Zetioun has died. How will she support her family? how can live without her husband. All of these questions are kicking in. Kathy puts the kids in school right away so they have some sort of routine. I stopped reading where Kathy has a flashback of the past with Zeitoun.





My personal response to this is that I wonder how Kathy has not gone completly insane. She has to deal with her kids, where she has to live, what shes going to do if her husband is dead, and wonder if her husband is even dead. All of this is probably going in her mind at the same time. I know I would not be able to bear all this stress. She is already thinking about life insurance. She doesnt have faith in her husband and when he said he would be fine. I mean I wouldnt either if my loved one said Ill be fine and hasnt called or heard of in about 10 days. This would make me insane if i was Kathy

3.15.11

I saw many children books in that slideshow. Some books I read by myself and some my parents read to me. It was fun seeing all the books I read as a child and now in high school I still remember them. I will probably read some of these books over again because I used to be a big reader. Overall im glad I looked at that slideshow and looked at the books.

Zeitoun 167-185.. Make up

Zeitoun lays in his daughters bed trying to relax but he could not stop thinking about the dogs who were shot. He got out of the bed and looked at his Qur'an and read a passage. He wonders what he would do if intruders came to his house. He had not seen any robberies but he didnt know for sure. He also talks about his father Mahoumd who had died of heart disease. Many said it was becasue he hadnt gotten over the death of his golden sun. On the morning of September 5 Zeitoun woke up and did prayers and paddled to feed the dogs again. He calls Kathy and she told him to check up on some other houses since people knew Zeitoun was still in New Orleans they wanted him to check on their houses. Of course Zeitoun had no problem with it. Later that night him and Nasser ate food and the city seemed pretty chill that night. In the morning he did his prayers and fed the dogs yet again. He picked up Nassar and made their way. They paddle away and see a helicopter that was landed as they got closer they realized it was had crashed. A few days later Kathy woke up and felt wierd that her husband didnt call her the afternoon before. She called Zeitouns brother and asked if he called and he said he had Kathy was really freaking out now.

To me Kathy is always worrying about Zeitoun. In a time like that its kind of hard not to be worried about your loved ones though in a time like that. I would be flipping out if my dad or mom didnt call every day if they were in that situation. She is keeping her family together and has put them in school that is good. Other than that Zeitoun is still to me being brave and helping citizens even though he doesnt have to. I dont like how things are going though. They arent getting any help from a greater power. Also things are getting really reaptitive to me.

Zeitoun 146-166 Make up

It starts out with Yuko's husband driving Kathys Odyssey. They are driving through New Mexico back to Yuko's house. Back at home Zeitoun and one of his friends whos name is Nassar are rowing around and find a abandoned jeep and find MRE's in it. On their way they meet a family of 5 and hand them a box of the MRE's. Later that night Nassar and Zeiteon go back to his house and barbecued the last of the meat in the freezer. Zeitoun could not sleep later that night cause he was mad some of the people he met were still not helped. To pass the time since he couldnt sleep he went into one of his daughters room and looks at a few pictures. He starts to talk about his other brother alot and in the book it shows a few pictures. Also it talks about how Zeitoun used to be a sailor and how he was for 10 years. He fed the dogs the next day when he woke up. Back with kathy and Yukos husband they drove through the night and arrived in arizona the next day. Zeitoun and Nassar later see a dead body and point to the helicopter that was around to it. They show the helicopter and the helicopter looks and soon flys away. I stopped reading where Zeitoun is still helping people giving them lifts and so.

I think that Zeitoun is starting to miss his family greatly. His family back home and his family that is in Arizona. When he is alone he starts to feel sad but doesnt make to much of it. I think he is trying to keep his mind away from his family and focus on helping people so that he doesnt break down. Also he doesnt show his emotions with anyone not even his family. He wants to be the one who acts like everything is okay. He continues to help everyone and he doesnt freak out when he sees that body. But overall he is still mad that people arent getting help in this bad situation and it is tearing him apart.

128 145 Zeitoun Make up

On page 128 Kathy breaks down and starts crying on the side of the highway. It takes her a while to get things together. Her children become very concerned about her. She calls Yuko her friend and she is telling her the whole situation. Yuku tells her to stay where she is and tells her husband to fly and pick them up and then drive back with them. Back in New Orleans Zeitoun plans to help more people and more likely the animals such as the dogs. He hears the dogs barking so he know Kathy stocked the freezer up with meat so he takes some and some water bottles and finds the house of the dogs and gives them to the dogs. Zeitoun left the window open for the dogs to get some air. He also helps some other dogs that he sees or hears. After doing that for the day he goes back and sees that his tent is no longer there. He realizes its probably from helicopters that go back. He called kathy the next day who is still in Houston ad Miss Mary's house. Zeitoun also calls his brother Ahmad who tells him he needs to leave right away. Zeitoun says he was meant to stay and help the people here. He also finds out that the national guard or whoevers in charge at the time are not helping the people.

I think it was about time that Kathy broke down and started crying. Also Zeitoun is brave and a good man for helping people. He is going out of his way to help others in a time where I personally be caring about myself and my family. He is worrying about people he doesnt even know. Also the truth about the national guard and the military is comming out. They arent even helping the citizens when they are in need. This frusturates me because thousands of innocent people probably went through the same thing.

112-127 Zeitoun ...Make Up

In these pages Zeitoun continues to help people in his city. Kathy is still driving around to kill time and looking for a new place to stay. Kathy continues to hear storys about all the chaos and violence going on in New Orleans. Zeitoun checks on his propertys to see all the damage that is made there with his friend Frank. Zeitoun went to one his propertys to check up on a client whose name was Todd. He realizes Todd has a phone so he calls up Kathy and she is grateful he is okay. He again talks about his brother mohammed and how he did not tell their father about being a swimmer but he father became fond of him when he realized he was really good. He again talks about his brother for about 5 pages. Kathy left Baton Rouge without telling her family and driving on a three day road trip. She calls the number and somone picks up and hangs up. She soon starts to believe that something has happened to Zeitoun and believes he might be dead.

My personal response for this so far is that Kathy is becoming too paranoid about Zeitoun. Zeitoun can apparently take care of himself with no problem. Maybe it is from all the stress from her family. Her family is not really acceptive of her choice of being Muslim. They always make little remarks about it to her and it makes her mad. I can only imagine what shes going through with a car full of kids, a dog, her husband, and her family. She can not take it anymore and if it was me in her shoes I would of already snapped. She is really brave for being so strong for everything she is going through at the moment.

91-111 Zeitoun ...Make up

The second part of the book starts out with Zeitoun opening his eyes in daughters room. He looks outside and sees a sea of water comming from the north. He realizes the levees broke and the water was rushing in. Back at baton rouge things are tense. Kathy leaves with her family to try to ease the tension in the house. She plans to just drive all day and go to the mall to pass time. Zeitoun takes as much as the stuff he can and moves it to a higher level in his house. He takes as much as he can of this personal prized possessions up. By nightfall the neighborhood was under nine feet of water. Zeitoun looks through pictures of his past of his brother and how he used to be a really good swimmer. He was little when his brother died in a car crash in Egypt. Zeitoun finds it really hot sleeping in the house so he takes a tent to the roof and sleeps in that for the night. He heard dogs who had been left by people. The next day he gets in his canoe and rows around the neighborhood becasue he doesnt know what else to do. He laters helps a lady who is overweight and get her out of her house.

My response to this that Zeitouns idea to stay was a good idea cause he is taking care of his house and helping other people. Kathy is stressing out at the house in Bat0n Rouge she doesnt know what to do her family is driving her crazy. Also a intimate moment is when Zeitoun looks at the pictures of his brother. He talks about his brother for a good 3 or 4 pages. How his brother was an allstar swimmer and such. It is one of the moments where you feel sympthatic for Zeitoun and he has one of his softer moments. This book is good so far, it was kind of boring in the begining but now since the hurricane started it has gotten good because things are starting to pick up. Zeitoun is a caring person and wants to help as much as he can. I hope he is safe through out the rest of the book

3.8.2011

So im sitting by dale stroud. We are justtt chillllinnnnnn. We pretty much run this class these days. These kids names " Roy O'Bannon" and "Chon Wayne" think they are cool but they arent. Mr Hill your talking right now about "A Far Temple" Im just waiting to go home because im really tired and need sleep. I went to bed at 12 lastnight and thats pretty early for me. I usually go to bed at like 130 but its no big deal. This is just a personal post. This weekend I plan to hang out with my friends and work. I dont mind work these days casue heck I only have to work one day a week and its pretty nice when ur parents own the business.

3.1

a) appetite, dreamy, idly, stubbornly, presence, mornful, stillness
b) sound- harsh, concrete- sensible
c) Jim Moores sensible speech and harsh use of the letter t illustrates why he hated his everyday childhood encounters in the poem.

2.23 diction exercise

soooo I thought we were gonna have more class time to do this but I guess not.. thats why it's so late....

a) falling, dark, advantage, descendents, stocky, admist, sharply, treacherously

b) Concretness- eerie and muddy, Elevation- steady and scattered

c) The passage from "stardust" which is written by Neil Gaiman shows scattered but also a steady description. Through strange word choice the city is painted in your mind. When it ends the reader is left to reminisce about the whole picture painted in their mind