Krystina

6/18/12 Journal Entry: I hope writing camp can help me become a better writer. Grammar, diction, and punctuation are all schools ever seem to teach us so I hope that I can learn here how to take my thoughts and effectively translate them onto paper. This way the reader understands what I am trying to explain and - more than that - understands how I felt at the time. I want my feelings to be felt just as strongly in the reader, but finding the right words can leave me tongue tied sometimes. Right now I just hope that I will be able to focus in class because I am reading a very philosophical book that is giving me a lot to think about. Most of the time philosophy is all gibberish to me because my brain mainly perceives the world in black and white (my mom says I have the no nonsense brain of a scientist) and I have to work to understand the abstract thinking of Plato or Aristotle, but since this book covers a topic that I already enjoy learning about, the concepts are infinitely easier to understand and I am enjoying the way it is forcing my thoughts outside of the box.

//Nicely done// 6/18/12 Name Game I wasn’t there for the morning name game so I will just tell you about my name: Krystina Chanté My dad liked the name Christina because he wanted to give me a name that had a lot of possibilities for nicknames so that I could do whatever I wanted to do with it, but my mom didn’t want to give me a name that everyone else had because it would make school confusing if there were three other Christina’s in my class. She wanted to name me Jessica (which became my little sister’s name) instead. One day she was out buying baby clothes with my dad, so that I would have clothes to go home in from the hospital, when she saw Krystina written in fuzzy letters on the wall of the store and she said, ok we can name her Krystina as long as it is spelled like that. It is Hebrew and means “anointed one”. My middle name came from a lady my mom knew when she lived in Massachusetts who named her daughter “Pepper Chanté” and even though she didn’t like the first name, the middle name always stuck with her. My last name is my father’s name.

//I appreciate your willingness to write this piece// 6/18/12 Neighborhood Problems My neighborhood should be great, right? I live in “rich, white” Stone Oak on the edge of San Antonio. My neighborhood is gated and no house is less than $300,000. There is a pool, playgrounds, and a running track. I am zoned to go to Reagan High School where academics are taken so seriously that a B+ is a slap in the face. What could possibly be wrong in my perfect neighborhood? A lot actually, thanks. The rental behind our house is full of teenagers, coming and going at all hours of the day. No parents are ever around and we believe the kids were dumped here by parents rich enough to escape the drug wars in Mexico but who also didn’t care enough to stick around. Now that it is summer, they constantly party until dawn. The house to our left, also a rental, is much quieter but just as sad. It is occupied by a young couple and their teenage daughter who is going to be a senior next year. I don’t know any of that back story but the girl, Alexis, is always alone and takes the public bus to school because we are zoned too close to Reagan to get a school bus but too far to realistically walk. Meanwhile all around us are high end stores that only movie stars would be able to afford because there is some preconceived notion out there that Stone Oak is swimming in money. Sometimes being over estimated is just as bad as being under estimated. //Nice work//

6/18/12 //Mexican Whiteboy// Since I am half Puerto Rican and half white I can relate to some of what Danny is going through, like on page 2. My family get-togethers are awkward sometimes too. Page 3: I hate groups of people too, I always feel out of place like Danny does; especially when they all know each other and have already established cliques. Page 5: I don’t understand how Danny’s father could sit right next to his son, knowing he would be gone the next day and not say anything. Page 9: Uno doesn’t know a lot about school subjects but he knows everything about his neighborhood. I think it’s silly that school judges a student’s intelligence and ability to retain information on how high there grades are, when Uno is obviously not stupid. Page 15: It’s crazy how boys can taunt each other all day and still walk away friends, just like Uno and Chico do. Page 16: Danny has decided to become mute but a life lived in silence isn’t a life lived. Life is about interacting with the world around you and Danny has turned inside of himself instead. Page 24: I would never be able to stay silent while someone accused me of something that was obviously an accident like Danny does instead of defending himself against Uno. Page 28: Danny is trying so hard to impress his father (a man who left him without saying goodbye) that he feels compelled to lie. He is so blinded by his desire to be wanted that he doesn’t realize that his father doesn’t deserve it. Page 30: I am proud of Uno for seeing the errors of his ways but I cannot believe that his mother would even think about not taking her son. Pages 31-36: Even if Senior is a hoodlum, he is giving Uno some good advice and I hope Uno really takes it into consideration. Page 39: Sometimes people just need to run away to see who will come after them, but no one came for Uno. Page 41: It isn’t fair; Danny is too young to feel so lost, he shouldn’t need to hurt himself to feel like he is real. Page 47: Danny should realize that getting into trouble wont impress his family, it will just isolate him further. //Keep writing// 6/19/12 Journal Entry: I am so tired, all the time. I go to bed late and I have to wake up early all week because I am working at a day camp from 5-9 and, since I am a volunteer, of course I have to stay later and clean up and the drive home is a solid thirty minutes. Next week I will be in Puerto Rico, the two weeks immediately after that I will be in the UK, and the next week I am going to a resident girl scout camp. The second I get home all I will have time for is laundry, a nap, and then re-packing. I am excited about the trips but I won't be able to enjoy them if I am sleep deprived and going over seas and being too grumpy to enjoy anything is worse than not going at all because then you won't have any regret about wasting the trip of a life time. The combination of my excitement and worry or also contributing to my lack of sleep and I am just shot. I had all of these plans for summer and time is just ticking aw__ay, it's frusturating__.

//Hang in there. Dust will settle//

Movie Questions Kayanna - In the airport, did the officers search him because he was distracted or because he was of a different race? Why was Khan's brother against the marriage even though they were raised by an accepting mother? Aristeo - What you think Khan really wants to tell the president of the USA? Why do you think the other muslims did not pray with Rizvan on the bus? Aubrey - Why do they presume that Khan is a terriorist? Why did Khan give $500 to a different religion(christian only event)? Augusta - Why does he have such a hard time talking to people? Why are people so amazed by the way Khan prays? Ivy - Why does he want to fly all the way to DC to tell the president that he was not a terrorist? Why was Mandira mad at her sister-in-law? Julianna - How does autism affect someone's ability to communicate? Why was Khan willing to go through so much pain/struggle to tell the president that he was a not a terroist? Why was Mandira so mad at Khan after the killing and why does she leave him? Josh - What is he playing with in the airport? Will khan be with his wife Mandira again? Jonah - Why does Khan want to meet the president? What happens to the kids who killed Sam? Alyssa - Why didn't Reese tell the cops about who killed Sam? Sydney - Will Reeses ever tell the truth and regret?

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