Quarter 4: Outside Reading #6

Now that Bridget knows about what Eric actually thinks about what happened in Baja two summers ago, she feels uncomfortable and is always aware of herself. Earlier this summer she got used to Eric and they had an ease between them, now it is just always awkward especially because they have to go on a conoeing trip together and share. When Carmen is at the hospital with Valia, she goes on a walk around the hallways and sees her mother by herself in a pregnancy class, so Carmen goes in the class and helps her mom by being her partner in the class. After the class is done, both Carmen and her mom run into Win, and so her mom gets a chance to meet him. While Tibby is working at the movie theatre, Brian and Katherine show up to watch a movie, and yet again Tibby is somewhat ignoring Brian because she is still hiding in her guilt. And finally Lena is continuing the make her portfolio of drawings for the merit scholarship so that she can still go to RISD. The next person she plans on drawing is Valia who she believes will be the toughest person to draw, but they both find out things about each other through her drawing, "She nodded brusquely, but Lena believed that on this strange Saturday afternoon, they had seen each other"(Brashares 189). This quote shows that Lena's drawings really connect her to her actual life and allow her to comprehend and understand the people and the things in her life. Her understandings will later allow her to live in harmony with the objects and people around her. Through Lena's drawings she will find herself, and I think that drawing will help her grow as a character, person, and friend. In terms of finding self through hobbies, Lena resembles main character in the movie Bend It Like Beckham because she finds herself through playing soccer, her favorite thing to do.

Quarter 4: Outside Reading #5

Dear Carmen,
I understand why you would want to stay at home and go to the University of Maryland instead of her all time dream school, Williams. I also agree with your dad and you can decide whatever you want. My original thinking on this whole situation is that you should go with what your gut feeling is, and based on your recent thoughts I think you should still plan to attend Williams in the fall. You have been dreaming of going to this college forever, and I don't think that your mom having a baby should change your future. Keep asking for your family's support and opinions along with your friends because I positive that they need yours. Bee is currently discovering facts that she has been pondering for years. She finally brings up the incident in Baja to Eric, because one of the boys on her own team did the same thing that she did to Eric, and asked her out and was very persistent about it. Eric told Bridget that it wasn't all her fault and that he wanted it too, this truth might later on affect their friendship which could be a very confusing rollercoaster for her where she will come to you for help. For Lena's current issues with her dad and their disputes for her college, she starts creating her portfolio for the scholarship that she is going after. She could not find a subject in which she was passionate enough to draw that she will create an amazing picture. She decides that she is going to draw portraits of each of her family members in the most natural poses as possible. She at first draws her mom, and she shows the end result to Annik who greatly enjoys her piece of work. Meanwhile Tibby keeps avoiding Brian even though she really likes him. She convinces herself that he comes over to her house everyday to come and visit Katherine, even though he is there to see her. In order to convince Tibby, you will need to constantly encourage her to not avoid Brian and make sure she stops moping around about Katherine.

Quarter 4: Outside Reading #4

While Bee and Eric are getting along and are enjoying each others company, Carmen saw Win again at the hospital when she brought Katherine there. Carmen is getting nervous and frustrated, because since Win keeps seeing her do favors for others, she thinks that he is seeing her for someone who she really is not. Lena is still pursuing her dream of going to RISD and is taking extra job shifts to make money to help her pay for the fees for the school because her dad will no longer pay for it. She talked to a women at the financial aid office, and if Lena sends in her portfolio , there is one more scholarship that she could potentially earn. While Tibby is moping around still about the guilt of Katherine's injury, she starts to think of her family's old nanny, Loretta, who she didn't really like every but now that her parents fired her irrationally, she starts to realize all the good things that Loretta brought to her family. So, Tibby decides to pay Loretta a visit, just to make sure that she is doing okay without a job and just because she misses her. When Loretta saw Tibby, she lovingly welcomed her and acted as if nothing happened. Tibby is somewhat envious of Loretta's ability to just let bad things go,"Some people spent their lives wallowing in resentments, and other people, like Loretta, let ill fortune wash right over them"(Brashares 155). By the recent demonstration of Tibby's moping, obviously Tibby is not one of those people who don't let bad fortune bother them. This quality is not something that Tibby wants, it is just apart of who she is, in fact she would prefer to be more like Loretta in that sense. Considering nobodies life is ever perfect, I predict that later on in the book other misfortunes will happen in Tibby's life, and she will strive to improve on letting these bad events bother her, and keep living her normal life as if nothing affected her.

Quarter 4: Outside Reading #3

Bridget,
I am very sorry about your current dilemma. Even though your original plan to just ignore and stay away from Eric sounded like a great idea, I think no matter what you would have had times that you had to talk to him or be with him. I also believe that you two were partnered together for a reason. Think of the bright side, maybe you will be able to appreciate him as just a friend so that the summer in Baja will no longer bother you. Even though you are partnered with Eric there are still many other people in the camp, and I bet you will still have a great time and meet many other fantastic people. Even though you are suffering through some really awkward moments and reliving bad memories, think of your other three best friends that are home, who are also having difficulties of their own. Carmen is considering not attending Williams next year, but instead she wants to go to the University of Maryland because then she will be closer to home and will be apart of her mother's baby's life. Also, she feels that if she leaves, her home will no longer feel like her home, but the baby's home. Even though Carmen's house life is in disarray and her job of taking care of Valia is still emotionally difficult, Carmen has met this one guy who helped her with Valia when she fell. His name is Win, and they both seem very fond of each other. Tibby still feels tremendous guilt for keeping her window open, allowing her sister to climb out of the window and fall. All the while, Lena is trying to find a way to still go to her dream school RISD, because her dad said that he will not pay for her to go to that college because he doesn't think that art is a good future. So, Lena went to the class teacher, Annik, and asked her what she could do. With Annik's advice and encouragement, Lena is going to try to get a merit scholarship to RISD. I hope that you can work through the issues that are currently facing you, and also that you help your friends through theirs.
Sincerely,
Kiltie

Quarter 4: Outside Reading #2

“I’d rather die, she felt like shouting at him. But she didn’t. She said nothing. What could she say? What would matter to him? Certainly not her feelings… He wouldn’t hear her words. She doubted he’d hear her silence, either”(Brashares 113). The first time Lena’s dad walked into the art class she was taking, he freaked out because of the nude model. He forbid her to go back to the class, but Lena’s love for this class and the art took over her and made a deal with the teacher of the class and as long as Lena stayed after and cleaned up, she wouldn’t have to pay for the class. Since Lena’s dad told her that she could no longer go to this class, she had to lie to her family and say that she had the dinner shift at the restaurant where she works so then she could go to the class. One day when Lena came home, her dad started yelling again. It turns out that he went to the restaurant to go and see her, and since she was at the class, he did not see her at the restaurant. After a silent dinner, Lena and her dad started talking, and he declared that he will not pay for her to go to the Rhone Island School of Art anymore because he does not agree with what he thinks art is doing with her mind and he also thinks that art is not a good future. He would rather have her go to a regular university. That college was all she was looking forward too, and she absolutely does not want to go to a normal university, she wants to draw. She is so angry by what her father says, but being the shy and reserved and well respecting Lena, she doesn’t say anything. That is the situation in which my quote comes from. I can really relate to this situation, even though the arguments with my parents are not as important as which college to go to. There has been many instances in my life when I feel like I can express myself to my parents when they are punishing me.

Quarter 4: Outside Reading #1

As said in my reflection I am reading "Girls in Pants The Third Summer of the Sisterhood". Since this is the third of a series of books here is some background. Carmen, Lena, Tibby, and Bridget have been best friends for their whole lives and have never been separated. One day, before the first summer they were separating, they found a pair of jeans that magically fit them all perfectly. This was amazing because they are all so different in size and height. So, they decide to make a sisterhood and when they are apart, have the pants travel among them from week to week then later would document what happened to them on the pants themselves. This third summer is one of the biggest changes that these girls will have to endure. They all graduated from high school and are preparing to go to different colleges in September. Even in the beginning couple weeks of the summer, they all experience life changing events. First of all Carmen and her mother have always just lived more like friends because it was just them two because Carmen's dad left when she was young. Well, her mom just recently got remarried which made Carmen feel somewhat awkward in her own house. But one day she found some prenatal vitamins in her mom's bathroom, and so therefore finds out that her mom was keeping her pregnancy away form Carmen. She also takes up a job with Lena's mom and takes care of Lena's grandmother, who now lives with them instead of Greece because her grandfather died. Carmen may have gotten herself in a tough situation because now that she has no husband and she hates not being in Greece, Lena's grandma, Valia, is very stubborn. Which brings us to Lena who is also somewhat unhappy because she took a job as a waitress at a restaurant she hates just so she wouldn't have to take care of her grandmother. The one place where she finds total sanctuary is at her aisle during her figure drawing class. Being reserved and shy it took Lena a couple classes to get used to the naked model in front of her, but once she got the hang of it, her dad saw the model when he came into her class to get his keys and freaked out. He forbid her to go back to the class, but then when she goes back to the class just to check back up on things, the teacher of the class makes a deal with her to allow her to still take the class if she stays after and cleans up. Tibby has started to date her long-time friend, Brian. Also, Tibby's younger sister fell out of the window because Tibby left her window open. And like always Bridget is out playing more soccer but this time she is a councilor at a soccer camp and has an awkward and somewhat strenuous encounter with Eric, a guy who broke her heart two summers ago. I enjoy this book because since these girls are somewhat near my age, I feel like I can relate to them. And also the way the book is written and that it switches back and forth to each girl, it keeps you engaged and interested.

Quarter 4: Outside Reading

For my fourth quarter reading I chose Girls In Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares. I chose this book because I have read the first two books of the series and I really enjoyed them. Also, my choices were in between this and a couple of Jodi Picoult books, which I have also enjoyed some of her other books. But in the end I chose Girls in Pants because I wanted to read a book with a lighter and happier mood to simulate the happy mood of the spring and also I have never gotten around to finishing this series and now I have a chance to.