25 Things About Me

1. I have my hunter safety’s license
2. I love to clean and organize
3. I danced for about seven years
4. My brother, sister, and I are really close
5. I have six pets, one is a chinchilla
6. I love the country and farms
7. Country is my favorite kind of music
8. I can be a tom boy at times
9. I love to tree ski
10. I like hiking and biking in the woods
11. I like to fish
12. I am a vegetarian but I like bacon
13. Crabs are my favorite food, I can eat a dozen or more crabs
14. I love to read and draw
15. I like to write creative stories and plays
16. My family used to make a play every year during vacation, one play I wrote myself
17. Math is my favorite subject
18. My family is really close
19. I love roller coasters
20. My family and I travel a lot
21. I want a pick-up truck when I get my license
22. I have a weird middle name, Jean
23. I love road trips
24. My favorite place is home
25. I play badminton

Campbell

http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2009_My_Sister%27s_Keeper/2009_my_sisters_keeper_027.jpg 

1. Campbell Alexander, Lawyer on the case.
2. He is in his mid 30's.
3. Lawyer of the case.
4. He is greedy, self-absorbed, lair.
5. Sailing in high school.
6. Lying about what the dog is for.
7. Anna and Julia.
8. "It is exactly the kind of case I avoid like the Black Plague--one which requires far too much effort and client baby-sitting." (23)
9. He ended up working with Julia after not seeing her for 15 years and he has a service dog that no one knows what it is for. 

Similes and Metaphors

http://www.360gradosdecine.com/wp-content/gallery/my-sisters-keeper/2009_my_sisters_keeper_wallpaper_003.jpg 

Simile: A figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly compared, usually in a phrase introduced by like or as

Metaphor: A figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something in common

http://grammar.about.com/

Similes:

1. "I pick up the locket, resigned to sealing the deal, and the strangest thing happens--my hand, it just clamps shut like the Jaws of Life." (9) 
2. "Actually, that's not quite true--right now she doesn't have it, but it's hibernating under her skin like a bear, until it decides to roar again." (10)
3. “Normal, in our house, is like a blanket too short for a bed.” (12)
4. "He wraps me in his arms, Kate caught between us like a gasp." (38)
5. "The last thing I see as I run out of the room is my mother pushing the nurse's call button over and over, as if it's the trigger to a bomb." (61)

Metaphors:

1. “My dad also says that when flames are licking at your heels you've got to break a wall or two if you want to escape.” (14-15)
2. "When you only have a hammer everything looks like a nail." (22)
3. "A woman," I say, "isn't all that different from a bonfire." (48-49)
4. "When she is tied to the bed, I am her eyes and ears." (58)
5. "A heroin-thin boy with enough rings in his eyebrows to resemble a shower curtain rod approaches with a pad." (91) 

My Keeper

     I am a keeper to my brother. We both look out for each other. I make sure he doesn't do anything he might regret and he makes sure I don't get hurt. I make sure no one makes fun of him. We are very close in age so I think that makes us close. He is my little brother and I feel like it's a job for all older and younger siblings to look out for each other.

My Sister's Keeper

http://robertarood.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/jodipicoult_narrowweb__300x4680.jpg  

Jodi Picoult is an American author. She was  born and raised in Nesconset on Long Island, and moved to New Hampshire when she was 13 years old.She wrote he first book when she was five. She is now married to Tim Van Leer and has three kids who live Hanover, New Hampshire. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodi_Picoult

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6bkI8EPFOzw/SWAzommNNnI/AAAAAAAAALU/HjJfFMTaQN4/s320/my-sisters-keeper-9781741145052.jpg 

My Sister's Keeper is about a girl named Anna Fitzgerald who has an older sister named Kate. Kate has leukemia, because of that Anna was born specifically to donate any thing Kate needs. Kate had relapsed a couple of times and now she needs a kidney. Anna doesn't want to give the kidney because it could kill Kate and effect Anna's life so Anna sues her parents for the right of her own body. I think this book will be both sad and very good. I have already started to like it just by reading the first chapter. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Sister's_Keeper 

Crazy Goof Dies Alone in the Wild (essay)

“A vast silence reigned over the land. The land itself was a desolation, lifeless, without movement, so lone and cold that the spirit of it was not even that of sadness,” (London). This is not the idea of a normal place to travel. For 22 year old Chris McCandless it’s a dream. Chris disappeared after his college graduation to go live out his dream. He hitchhiked from his home in Annandale, Virginia all the way out to Fairbanks, Alaska. A couple years after his death, Jon Krakauer wrote a book about his adventure called Into the Wild. His adventure has caused many debates. I agree with most Alaskans, Chris McCandless is a fool.

            Chris is stubborn, irresponsible, and an idiot which resulted in him dying. He didn’t tell anyone exactly where he was going, just that he was leaving. “During graduation weekend he casually mentioned to his parents that he intended to spend the upcoming summer on the road as well. His exact words were ‘I think I’m going to disappear for a while,’” (Krakauer, 21). No one thought anything of this and a couple days later he disappeared. Why would people, like Krakauer, think this is a smart, heroic move? This is the first mistake out of many that Chris made.

It all came from his parents. He has made these many mistakes from his parents. It started off with them ignoring the fact that he was telling them he was leaving. “His exact words were ‘I think I’m going to disappear for a while.’ Neither parent made anything of this announcement at the time, although Walt did gently admonish his son, saying ‘Hey, make sure you come see us before you go,’”(21). Why would they not immediately act on this? Any normal parent would be concerned about their child if they said that. Then again Chris is very stubborn, which brings me to my third example.

            “‘Chris was good at almost everything he tied, which made him supremely overconfident. If you attempted to talk him out of something, he wouldn’t argue. He’d just nod politely and then do exactly what he wanted,’”(118-119). This brings me to my third example of why Chris is a fool. Even if Chris told someone about his trip, they would probably try to talk him out of it but he wouldn’t listen. He still would have died because of how stubborn he is. He took everything too literary which lead him to his death. What is heroic about that? The way he thinks makes him a fool, not a hero.

            As for the people who look up to Chris, who knows what is going on in their heads. Most people find it unfair that critics hate Chris because he made a few mistakes and died in result of them. Before Chris left for his trip, “he would shortly donate all the money in his college fund to OXFAM America, a charity dedicated to fighting hunger,” (20). While on the trip he would abandon his car, burn the money he had left, and continue with little more than a rifle, 10 pound bag of rice, and some books. People believe that this is a courageous move to do and that a lot of people can’t do what he had done. Do you know why people can’t do what Chris had done? They don’t want to get killed! Think about it. All he had was a rifle, 10-pound bag of rice, and some books to read. That is not much for a couple of months in Alaska with no one around, no item to contact help, nothing around. Why do these people think that he was courageous, it’s lack of common sense.

            Many people who agree that Chris McCandless was a hero say that critics are only against Chris because he was unprepared. I proved that wrong. Chris had no back up when he got in trouble, his parents let him go, and he was very stubborn. People have no idea that there is much more foolish actions, including that he was unprepared. Why do they think that Chris is a hero? He did not make many minor mistakes. He made many mistakes which became a big mistake that no one can undo, death. Just remember the top rules that any normal thinking person knows. Don’t go without telling someone exactly where you are going, always make sure you have enough supplies, and bring two or more companions.

            

Characterization of Chris McCandless

Chapter and page #	Description/quote from novel	What impression you get about Chris with this character trait or description?
Chapter 1, pages 1, 2, 4	“Eighteen, maybe nineteen at most. A rifle protruded from the young man’s backpack, but he looked friendly enough.” “Five feet seven or eight with a wiry build, he claimed to be 24 years old and said he was from South Dakota.  He explained that he wanted a ride as far as the edge of Denali National Park, where he intended to walk deep into the bush and ‘live off the land for a few months.”	Chris is not physically fit for walking into such a dangerous environment.  He seems a little crazy.
Chapter 2, page 12, 14	“A peek through a window revealed a Remington rifle, a plastic box of shells, eight or nine paperback books, some torn jeans, cooking utensils, and an expensive backpack.” “Virtually no subcutaneous fat remained on the body, and the muscles had withered significantly in the days of weeks prior to death.  At the time of the autopsy, McCandless’s remains 67 pounds.”	Chris was did not have nearly as much things as he needed to. He was not well prepared.
Chapter 3, pages 16-18	“McCandless was smallish with the hard, stringy physique of an itinerant laborer. He had the kind of sensitive good looks that woman made a big fuss over. He was nearsighted and wore steel-rimmed glasses. He looked hungry.” “McCandless quickly became enamored of Carthage. He liked the community’s stasis, its plebeian virtues and unassuming mien. That fall he developed a lasting bond with both the town and Wayne Westerberg.”	Chris was strong and handsome. He had a kind of intelligent look, too. Carthage was like a second home for Chris.
Chapter 4, page 30	“He was wearing long shorts and this really stupid hat. He looked pretty pitiful. He was a nice kid. And he was big-time hungry. But real happy.” “He was a really good kid.  We thought the world of him.”	Chris seems like a teenager. He is never well feed. Bob and Jan were like his second parents.
Chapter 5, page 40, 42	“I don’t think he ever hung out with any of the employees after work or anything. When he talked, he was always going on about trees and nature and weird stuff like that. We all thought he was missing a few screws.” “A pretty nice guy. Didn’t like to be around too many people. Temperamental. He meant good, but I think he had a lot of complexes. Never said much. He’d get moody, wouldn’t like to be bothered. Seemed like a kid who was looking for something, just didn’t know what it was.”	Chris is shy and doesn’t like people much. He seems like he needs a lot of space.
Chapter 6, page 50-52	“He was polite, friendly, and well-groomed. He seemed extremely intelligent. I thought he was too nice a kid to be living by that hot springs with those nudists and drunks and dope smokers” “Franz grew increasingly fond of McCandless. ‘God, he was a smart kid.”	Chris is well-educated and has very good manners. He has a very good impression on people.
Chapter 7, page 63, 67	“He was kind of shy at first. He acted like it was hard for him to be around people. He was a big eater. He was a good cook, too.” “Once Alex made up his mind about something, there was no changing it.”	Chris is stubborn and gets along with people once he gets to know them.
Chapter 10, pages 101-102	“His hair was long, and he had a beard. Chris almost always had short hair and was clean-shaven. And the face in the picture was extremely gaunt.”	Chris had changed a lot. He didn’t care what people thought because he was in the wilderness.
Chapter 11, page 107, 111	“Even when we were little, he was very to himself. He wasn’t antisocial- he always had friends, and everybody liked hum- but he could go off and entertain himself for hours. He didn’t seem to need toys or friends. He could be alone without being lonely.” “Chris had so much natural talent, but if you tried to coach him, to polish his skills, to bring out that final ten percent, a wall went up.”	Chris could entertain himself with nothing but himself. He was also very stubborn and liked to figure things out on his own.
Chapter 12, page 118-119,	“Chris was good at almost everything he tied, which made him supremely overconfident. If you attempted to talk him out of something, he wouldn’t argue. He’d just nod politely and then do exactly what he wanted.” “He could be generous and caring to a fault, but he had a darker side as well, characterized by monomania, impatience, and unwavering self-absorption, qualities that seemed to intensify through his college years.”	Chris was stubborn, but he was polite about it. He was just like his father.
Chapter 13, page 128	“Chris stares at the lens with the same pensive, recalcitrant squint, as if he’d been interrupted in the middle of an important thought and was annoyed to be wasting his time in front of the camera.” “Chris didn’t think twice about risking his own life, but he never would have put Buckley in any kind of danger.”	Chris is caring about others, but not so much about himself. He overthinks a lot of things, which means he is always in a deep thought, so he doesn’t like to be bothered much.
Chapter 16, page 158-166	“Alex was clean-shaven and had short hair, and I could tell by the language he used that he was a real sharp fella. He wasn’t what you’d call a typical hitchhiker.” “Although McCandless was enough of a realist to know that hunting game was an unavoidable component of living off the land, he had always been ambivalent about killing animals.”	Chris was not meant to be an outdoors man. He hated killing animals.
Chapter 17, page 180-181	“By design McCandless came into the country with insufficient provisions, & he lacked certain pieces of equipment deemed essential by many Alaskan. This has been regarded as evidence not just of stupidity but of the even greater sin of arrogance.” “Because both were perceived to have lacked a requisite humility; both were thought to have possessed insufficient respect for the land.”	I agree he had some stupidity in him. I don’t agree that Chris had an insufficient respect for the land. Krakauer wrote a whole chapter about how Chris took time and absorbed the beauty of the land around him.
Chapter 18, page 199	“Chris would never, ever, intentionally burn down a forest, not even to save his life. Anybody who would suggest otherwise doesn’t understand the first thing about my brother.” “He is smiling in the picture, and there is no mistaking the look in his eyes; Chris McCandless was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God.”	I find Chris smart and stupid at this time. I totally understand that he never wanted him to burn down a fire but he should have down something else. I mean look where it got him, at least he did in peace.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chriso2000/

My Imaginary Leather Belt

If I were to make my own belt and carve things into it  this is what I would crave into it. The very first thing I would put on it is my family's last name Long/Imbierowicz. Long is my mother's madian name and Imbierowicz is my father's name. Both families are close so I would put both last names. The next thing I would put is the Poland flag. Poland is part of my heritage and is something I think is important. After that I would put the letters SMS and then an arrow pointing to the letters JCS. SMS stands for St. Margaret School, that was the school I had been to since preschool. JCS stands for John Carroll School that is the school I go to now and will go to for the next 3 years. The next thing I would put on it is my old dog's name, Smokey. She was the best dog ever, but we eventually had to put her down. After the word Smokey was carved in, I would put an arrow pointing to the word Leela. Leela is the name of the dog I have now. Her name is an Indian name we found online. Both dogs are Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. Leela is very bad and crazy dog. She is really stubborn and hard to train. Sometimes I swear she's Marley from the book Marley and Me. After that I would put a pair of skis. My family and I love to ski and we are all expert skiers. My siblings and I learned at a very young age and have been on the ski race team at Ski Roundtop. Next I would put someone running. My whole family loves to run. My mother does lots of marathons and triathlons. I guess the running comes from sports mainly but we love to run on the trails and be on the track teams.  After that I would put a picture of a couple of books. I love to read, it is one of my favorite things to do, but it is hard for me to find a book I like to read. When I do though, I can't stop reading it. The very last thing I would but on it a my name, Emma Jean Imbierowicz.

http://www.beal-net.com/buckles/leatherbelttools.jpg
http://calyxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/rhino_belt.jpg

A place I want to go

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles

A desired place that I to go to is Los Angeles, California. I want to go to Hollywood and meet all the actors and singers. I've always wanted to go to Hollywood. I've never met an actual movie star, except for my family friend who has been in so tv shows and movies like he is going to be in the upcoming Transformers movie. California has lots of sunshine throughout the year. The things that I would probably not like about L.A. are the people, because it is so crowed and the earthquakes. California has a lot of earthquakes.

http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID17486/images/walk-of-fame2.jpg 

I would travel to Hollywood on a plane. While I am there I would like to see the Hollywood sign, at least one famous actor, preferably Zac Efron, and go through the walk of fame. I would bring my family along because we have a mission to go to all 50 states in the Untied States. My siblings and I are halfway done, but my parents have been to a couple more than us. What I would need to pack is a bathing suit, some shorts and shirts, some sunscreen, and sunglasses. I think Hollywood will be crowed and sunny all year long so I don't think it would matter what time of year I would go, but I would most likely go in the summer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles 

Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer was born on April 12, 1954 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He is the third child out of five. When he was two he moved to Oregon where he grew up. His occupations are mountaineering and writing. He was introduced to mountaineering when he was eight by his father. When he was in college he was introduced when he to a mountaineering trip and then was invited to write about it. A year after receiving his bachelor's degree, he spent three-weeks alone in the wilderness of Alaska where he met Linda Mariam Moore, who later became his wife.        He worked as a commercial salmon fisherman and carpenter, which he later abandoned to become a full time writer. In 1996 he took one of his most famous climbs along Mount Everest. He later wrote about in Outside magazine and have won many awards for them. His articles have appeared in numerous magazine. He now lives in Seattle with his wife as an editor-at-large for Outside magazine. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Krakauer

Introduction

Into The Wild was written by Jon Krakauer in 1996. It is about a young man named Chris McCandless who gave up everything after graduating college. He stopped talking to his family, gave away all his savings, abandoned his car, and gave himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp. After two years of living in South Dakota he started to hitchhike a trail in Alaska with only 10 pounds of rice, a 22 caliber rifle, several boxes of rifle rounds, a camera, and a small selection of reading material. He died later after surviving more than 100 days. I think it will be a great book filled with adventure and new experiences. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild

3rd Quarter

Wow this year has gone by fast! It is the start of the 3rd quarter. We are still reading A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. We will soon finish that book but we will move onto one called Into the Wild. I still love John Carroll and have made many new friends. I am looking forward to summer but also upset that we are halfway done our freshman year. I will keep you updated on the latest things  we have done as we go through the 3rd quarter.

Christmas with my sister and cousin.

Character Sketch Essay

Second Glance by: Jodi Picoult

            Ross Wakeman is not a very happy man living on earth. He lives in Comtosook, Vermont with his sister and nephew. Ever since his fiancée died in a car crash he has lost himself. He had tried to commit suicide and when that did not work he took on the job as a paranormal investigator.  In the book Second Glance by Jodi Picoult, she does not give much detail on how Ross looks except that he has long dark hair and eyes that make you melt if you look into them. Ross soon realizes that just because someone dies does not mean it is the end of the world.

            After working for years with some guy, named Curtis running a paranormal activity show, Ross realizes that Curtis is just a big lair and quits his job. He soon sets off looking for new job in Comtostook and runs into Rod van Vleet who is building a strip mall on a piece of land that has a ghost. Since Ross is a paranormal investigator and just wants to look for his dead fiancée he says that he will check for a ghost for free. While on the job Ross meets this girl, “Beaumont,” she says, “Lia Beaumont.” Lia changes Ross in a way his sister thought was never possible, until one night. Lia was in Ross’s mind night and day and all he wanted to do was kiss. So, Ross sets out looking for Lia and when he finally finds her he kisses her which shocks both of them. Lia sets off running into the woods. He follows her until they get to two stones which she passes like she walked right through and Ross trips and stumbles over them. When Ross gets up to look at the two stones and realizes that they are gravestones. One small and one big and the smaller one said, “Lily Pike, September 19, 1932. And on the larger one: Cecilia Beaumont Pike, November 9, 1932- September 19, 1932.” Ross looked just as shocked as Lia. “Cissy Pike. Cecilia. Lia,” I just kissed a ghost, he thinks to himself.

            Once Ross found out about Lia being a ghost Ross lost all over again. Then he started to get interested at how Lia had died. With the help of a policeman named Eli they figure out the whole story of Lia Beaumont Pike. Lia was half Indian and at the time her husband hated Indians. When Lia had her child in 1932 and named her Lily. It had real dark skin like an Indian so her husband took the child and suffocated it because he thought that the child was not his. When her husband later told her that Lily was too young and died she set off to look for it because she did not believe him. When Lia found Lily dead in the Icehouse she went off and hung herself. While in the process of that she heard her baby cry and realized it was not dead, but it was too late. Lia at the time had a servant named Ruby who was her only friend and asked her that if anything happened to her could she take care of the baby. When Ruby heard Lily cry she went out to look for her and found Lia dead, so she took the baby and ran off to Maryland.

Ross found out about Ruby and went to Maryland to look for her. When Ross found her he said, “I want to talk to you about 1932.” She eventually told him everything. She said that she took the Lily and raised her as her own and that she grew up in a normal environment and had children of her own. When Lily was seventy years old Ruby told her about her real mother and she had a heart attack and died. Meredith was the only child Lily had, so Ross told everything to Meredith and brought her back to Vermont to prove that what Ruby said was true. When Meredith learned the truth Ross said, “You are the direct descendant from Lia Pike. And that means you own a really nice piece of real estate in Comtosook, Vermont.”  Meredith stays with Ross in Vermont, the night before she is supposed to leave for Maryland something totally unexpected happens that changes everyone’s lives.              

The children go missing. Ross’s nephew and Meredith’s child both run off into this quarry. The quarry would not be as dangerous if it were not supposed to blow up the next day. Once Ross and Meredith find out that the children have done missing they head straight to the quarry, but not soon enough. By the time they get there the quarry has already started to blow up. The two children are alive but to get to them is difficult. In the effort to getting the two children Meredith’s leg “snapped beneath the weight of the           granite plate that pinned her.” Ross came to the rescue and got the two children out of the quarry and made them go call 911 as he went back for Meredith. On his way to rescue Meredith, Ross saw a piece of dynamite next to her and ran and got it. He did not think that he was going to die all he thought of was to get the stick of dynamite as far away from Meredith as possible. At that moment the dynamite was blew up and Ross went with it. The paramedics said, “He was dead before we even got to him.” At the hospital while bringing Ross to a room, he magical came back to life. No one could explain how it happened but Ross knew that he could never die.

Ross’s transformation is teaching us readers that life is short, so if you lose your purpose in life find a new one. He learned the hard and is warning us there is always a purpose for living. He had a hard time after his fiancée died and even his sister could not get him back on track all he needed was another love. Your soul mate is not the only thing in the world to live for but to Ross it was. He had a loving sister and nephew right in front of him and he was so blinded by the death of his love he did not realize it. Like I said, Ross soon realized that just because someone died does not mean it was the end of the world.