About the Author: John Green

John Green. Sound familiar? You may have heard of him, or some of his best selling novels such as: The Fault in Our Stars, Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska, and An Abundance of Katherines.

Either way, although his name is well known, there are still a lot of things that many people do not know about this brilliant author.

Let's start off with the basic information.

Green was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on August 24, 1977. 
He has been married to Sarah Urist since 2006, and they have two children, Henry and Alice.
Green graduated from Kenyon College with a double major in English and Religion Studies.
He planned on becoming a priest, but later decided to become an author.
Green's first novel was Looking for Alaska, and it was awarded the annual Miachel L. Printz Award by the American Library Association.

John and Sarah on their wedding day

Besides writing books, John also has two YouTube channels, and he makes videos with his brother, Hank. One of them is called VlogBrothers, and it's where he posts video blogs. It's very popular and it has a great abundance of subscribers, around 2.5 million. The other is called CrashCourse where video 'crash courses' are made on a variety of different topics. John specializes on history, and Hank generally focuses on science topics. This is even more well known that VlogBrothers, and has over 3 million subscribers. 

Have you heard of VidCon? 
If you have, the Green brothers were the ones who created it! If you aren't familiar with what VidCon is, it's essentially a multi-genre online video conference/convention where online video viewers and content creators can gather together. Thousands of people attend every year to meet Youtubers and other content creators.

Entrance to VidCon

VidCon 2014 crowd

John Green and Youtuber, Finn Harries, at VidCon

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The movie, Paper Towns, based off Green's book is coming out on July 24th. It stars Nat Wolff and Cara Delevingne. This is the second movie that has been based off Green's book, (the first being The Fault in Our Stars). To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of Paper Towns, but I might watch the movie just for kicks :-)

Alright, that wraps up this post. I hope you learned something new about John Green from reading this! 

Book Review: The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down

"A Hmong child, her American doctors, and the collision of two cultures"

This book tells the story of Lia Lee, an Hmong immigrant child whose family had moved from the traditional tribal life in the mountains of Laos, to the hectic and crowded town of Merced, California.

Now first off, before I dive deeper into this book, I want to make sure that everyone is following along well. I know that some of you may have never even heard of the word "Hmong", and others may be more familiar.

Basically, the Hmong originate from the mountainous regions of south China, and are called Hmong due to their dialect (Hmong).

Alright, back to the book!

In the book, the chapters go back and forth between two different stories. Half of the chapters focus on the story of Lia, and the other half focus on the history and culture of the Hmong. The book flipped back and forth between every chapter. 
I'm not going to lie, reading the history chapters was a tedious task. I personally found Lia's story much more interesting.

Now, about Lia.
What is her story?
I'll briefly summarize.

Lia Lee had a very difficult life, starting from the time she was a baby.
When she was only 3 months old, Lia had an epileptic seizure. 
The seizures continued to happen more and more often, about 20 times the next few months after the first seizure.
Her seizures progressed into something her doctors had dreaded.
Grand mal seizures.

Lia started to get even more sick, and as her health started to decline, the amount of medication she was taking started to increase. 

Tremendously.

Lia's parents could hardly write their names, let alone read the labels for her medicine. 
The Hmong also had different views on health and medicine, and purposely did not give some of her medicine to her, thinking that it was making her even more sick. 
Instead they sought out traditional methods of healing, such as herbal teas and bringing txiv neebs, (shamans), to Lia.
As a result, her doctors decided that Lia's parents were not responsible, and eventually got a court order that took her away from her parents.

A year later she was returned back to her family.

Fearing that Lia would get taken away again, her parents obediently fed Lia her medications.
However, medication was not enough, and Lia continued to get seizures constantly.

One day, Lia went into status epilepticus, a seizure that doesn't stop.
Luckily, her seizure was stopped, but not before she had lost all higher brain function.
Lia was in a permanent vegetative state, aka brain dead.
Her doctors were surprised that she had even survived.
She could not talk, walk, see....the list goes on and on.

Anne Fadiman, the author, brings up these questions in the book, Could this have been prevented? Whose fault is this? The doctors, or Lia's parents?

Lia Lee

Depending on what perspective you view this situation, you could blame either side. Lia's parents could be blamed for their noncompliance to the orders of the doctors. Who knows how Lia would have turned out if she had been taking all of her medicine regularly? 
Lia's pediatric neurologist believes that the doctors were responsible for Lia.
He even stated:
''Go back to Merced, and tell all those people . . . that the family didn't do this to the kid.  We did.''

Lia's case is only one example of the many cases where problems occur due to lack of cultural competence. Being able to work with different cultures is essential anywhere, especially in healthcare.
It was mentioned very frequently throughout the book how none of the doctors took the initiative to understand the culture of the Hmong and the reason why Lia's parents were not following their directions. Due to the ethnocentrism on both sides, Lia was not properly treated. If both sides took the time to understand each other, a lot of conflict and trouble could have been prevented.

I suggest reading this book if you are interested in reading about the culture of the Hmong, you would definitely learn a lot from reading this!
And also to those who want a thought provoking book. You get to see Lia's situation from both the perspectives of her doctors and her parents, and in many parts of the book, you really have to sit and think for a moment. You can really see the importance of good communication, and realize how essential it is to have cultural competence.

About the Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Babylon Revisited. Tender Is the Night. The Beautiful and Damned.

Do any of these books sound familiar? 

They all are linked together - all were written by Francis Scott  Key Fitzgerald.

Many of Fitzgerald's books are classics. His books have been published in the early 1900's, yet they are still very popular and well known today. One example is The Great Gatsby. It was published in 1925, but a movie for it was made in 2013.

Even today, people are still reading his books, and many of his novels are considered to be staples in classrooms. F. Scott Fitzgerald has gained a great reputation for his writing, and is one of America's most celebrated writers.

Now, let's start from the beginning:

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota. 

His mother came from a family that had made a small fortune as wholesale grocers, and his father was a salesman for Procter & Gamble. From a young age Francis was very gifted in writing, and his first piece of writing was published when he was 13, (in the school newspaper).

For college, Francis headed off to Princeton University. However, he was placed on academic probation, and he eventually dropped out of college to join the U.S Army. 
Luckily, World War 1 ended in 1918, before Fitzgerald was ever deployed. During his stay in the army, he met his future wife, Zelda Sayre, who was the daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court Judge. Later on, they ended up getting married and had one daughter, Frances Scott Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald started to get popular due to his writing, and he wrote many books and short stories for publishers such as the Esquire and The Saturday Evening Post. He ended up moving to France, and it was there that we wrote his most popular book: The Great Gatsby.

Towards the end of his life, Fitzgerald's life began to crumble. He was a heavy drinker, and he struggled with depression and alcoholism. Not only did Francis face trouble, but so did his wife Zelda. Zelda suffered from mental health illnesses and had to be treated at multiple hospitals.

On December 21, 1940, F. Scott Fitzgerald passed away due to a heart attack at the age of 44.

His writing received the most recognition only after his death. During his lifetime his work did receive attention, but it was nothing more than modest commercial or critical success.

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I have just gotten my hands on his book, The Great Gatsby, and I am very stoked to start reading it!
Have any of you read it before? If you have, let me know how you liked it! :-)
Alright guys,
That wraps up this post. I learned quite a lot about F. Scott Fitzgerald from writing this post, and I hope you learned something as well!

This is a snapshot of Francis and his wife, Zelda

Fahrenheit 451 Theme: Self-Expression is Important (Handout)

Cole, Hosanna, Asia, Ti, and Scott

Bell 07

Individual Self-Expression is Important

This theme is important to our understanding of the story because the book reveals the negative consequences of not allowing self-expression.

This theme connects to our modern-day society because self-expression is valued and encouraged.

Quotes:

Part 1 - “Everyone’s riding everyone else’s coattails. How are you supposed to root for the home team when you don’t even have a program or know the names?” (Bradbury, 15)

Explanation:
There was no sense of pride in the society, because nobody ever had their own beliefs. In “riding everyone else’s coattails”, the people in the society never challenged the problems present, and simply went along with what everyone had told them and not what they thought. In modern-day, people struggle to rally together, and “root for the home team” without a tragedy taking place.

Part 2- “The comfortable people want only wax moon faces, poreless, hairless, expressionless” (Bradbury, 79).

Explanation:

The “comfortable people” or government, want everyone to think and act the same, knowing that with common thought there isn’t the threat of change. This applies to modern-day society, because there is always the feeling that you have to be like everyone else, but in reality it’s more beneficial to think and act for yourself.

Part 3- “Look at the world out there, my God, my God, look at it out there, outside me, out there beyond my face and the only way to really touch it is to put it where its finally me, where it’s in the blood, where it pumps around a thousand times ten thousand a day.”(Bradbury, 154-155).

Explanation:

Montag finally starts to realize the reason behind his flawed society and that he must have a role in the world in order to express himself. This concept can be associated with modern day struggles for freedom in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South America, thus it is important to be aware of this theme so that we may always be able to represent ourselves, and preserve our human right of expression.

Timeline:

--Montag is a fireman who mindlessly burns books. He is not aware of the lack of self-expression he is allowed to take part in.

--He meets Clarisse, who questions society but Montag thinks she is crazy, Clarisse expresses herself ideally… consequently, she “mysteriously” disappears.

--Montag begins to think about the world around him, and contrary to the law he begins to read books, showing that rules can’t and shouldn’t limit the natural right expression.

--Montag’s thirst for knowledge increases as he reunites with a book enthusiast named Faber. Faber is like Montag in that he is a believer in self-expression at this point.

--His thirst turns into anger as he reads aloud to his wife’s friends, causing one to cry. So the lack of freedom to express himself, has angered him… anger is commonly seen when the right to express oneself is taken away.

--Montag returns to the firehouse, in an attempt to appear normal, and not reveal his newfound knowledge of self-expression. Eventually, they have a house to burn… his house.

--Montag’s house is burned, and he murders Beatty, and destroys a mechanical hound. He is forced to murder in the absence of freedom of self-expression. The prohibition of expression leads to Montag stealing books, resulting in his arrest, and his act of violence.

-- He escapes the threat to the wilderness, using the silence, and calmness, to reflect. He collects his thoughts, and develops a deeper comprehension of the world around him and discovers himself, which is a step on the stairway of self-expression.

--Montag meets a group of outcasts with similar knowledge as himself.  Montag, fully understands the role he must play to be able to express himself.

Link to outside source: http://mettacenter.org/blog/malala-heroine-resurrected/

Book Review: The Lost Symbol

     The Lost Symbol is a novel that was written by Dan Brown.
This books follows Robert Langdon on a thrilling and mysterious 24 hour adventure. Robert is a Harvard symbologist, and his life was normal until he received a mysterious phone call.

Langdon was originally told that the phone call was his long time friend, Peter Solomon's secretary. He was told that Peter had requested that he go to Washington D.C as a guest speaker to present a last minute speech for Peter's meeting. Robert agreed to do so, and arrived in D.C, only to find that there never was a meeting, and that Peter's 'secretary' was never a secretary.

Robert later finds out that he was 'summoned' or tricked to assist a genius, but crazy mad man, Mal'akh. Mal'akh believes that Robert can unlock a secret map/code to reveal a great secret that had been hidden for thousands of years. Robert personally doesn't believe that it exists, but he agrees to do it because Mal'akh had kidnapped Peter Solomon. Robert, and Peter's sister, Katherine, begin a intense journey to break the code in order to save Peter, and also to prevent secret information from being revealed to the entire world. I don't want to give away any more information in the book, so I'll leave it at that.
But if you really want to know what happened, I highly suggest that you read it :-)

Brown was really great at building suspense throughout the entire book, and he added a lot of plot twists. I thought that the beginning of the book was rather slow, but Brown does a nice job of building up the story to the climax. The story starts to speed through near the middle of the book. Brown makes the reader stand on their toes and hold their breath, waiting for the next event in the story. There are a lot of gruesome events that happen, but there were also funny moments as well.

In this book, near the very end, Brown revealed something that changed the entire plot (the actual identity of the kidnapper), and I had to sit for a few moments just processing what had happened. I admit, this makes the story more fun, and you can piece together the entire story at the very end.

I highly suggest this book to anyone who enjoys reading thriller/adventure books, and especially if you're into conspiracy theories and cryptography. But even if you're not into conspiracy theories or any similar subjects, (like me), it was still a very engaging and exciting book.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and I plan on reading another book by Dan Brown called 'The Da Vinci Code'. The Lost Symbol is actually a follow up to 'The Da Vinci Code', but the book still made sense even if you haven't read them in order. Brown has written a series of books that follow the same main character, Robert Langdon, and his adventures. Brown has also written other books such as: 'Inferno', 'Angels & Demons', and 'Deception Point'.

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Here are other reviews on this book:

The wait is over. The Lost Symbol is here–and you don’t have to be a Freemason to enjoy it…thrilling and entertaining, like the experience on a roller coaster.
- The Los Angeles Times

Dan Brown brings sexy back to a genre that had been left for dead…His code and clue-filled book is dense with exotica…amazing imagery…and the nonstop momentum that makes The Lost Symbol impossible to put down. Splendid…another mind-blowing Robert Langdon story.
- Janet Maslin, The New York Times

Call it Brownian motion: A comet tail-ride of beautifully spaced reveals and a socko unveiling of the killer’s true identity.
- The Washington Post

Robert Langdon remains a terrific hero, a bookish intellectual who’s cool in a crisis and quick on his feet… The codes are intriguing, the settings present often-seen locales in a fresh light, and Brown keeps the pages turning.
- Entertainment Weekly

A fascinating pleasure…upends our usual assumptions about the world we think we know.

– Newsweek

About the Author: Dan Brown

I'm almost finished reading 'The Lost Symbol', by Dan Brown. This is the first book of his that I have read, but Brown has written many best selling novels such as 'The Da Vinci Code', 'Angels & Demons', 'Inferno', and many more. His books have sold over 200 million copies, have been turned into movies, and translated to over 50 different languages.

If you have never heard of Dan Brown, he writes thriller/mystery/adventure books, and his novels usually focus on topics such as cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories. When I first heard of his books, I wasn't very interested in them. I usually don't gravitate towards books that focus on those subjects, and I don't have any interests in cryptography or conspiracy theories (or anything similar to those), but with constant recommendations about his books from my brother, he finally persuaded me to read one of them. So far, I am very impressed. Brown has a way of making these topics really captivating and exciting, and even though some of the things mentioned in the books I have never heard of before, Brown makes it easy to understand, which I really appreciate.

His books are jam packed with an overflowing amount of information, so you can really tell that Brown had spent a lot of time researching the information. Due to all the research Brown does for his books, it can take up to 2 years to write one.

Here's some background information on Brown:

-He was born in New Hampshire on June 22, 1964.

-He is the oldest of 3 children.
-Is married to Blythe Newlon (since 1997).

-He formed his own record company called Dalliance.

-His father was a mathematics teacher, and his mother was a church organist.
-Brown attended Amherst College. He was a member of the Glee Club, and played squash.

-In 2005, he was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by TIME Magazine.
-Before becoming a full time writer, Brown was a English and Spanish teacher.

After finishing this book, I plan on reading 'The Da Vinci Code'. That was his #1 bestselling novel, and based on everyone's reviews, it seems like a very good book. It was also made into a movie, and it stars Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou.

If you have never heard of Dan Brown, or have been considering on whether or not to read one of his books, I highly suggest that you do. His novels have suspense that leads to heart pounding moments, and they leave you satisfied in the end.

If you are interested, here is a link to his website: http://www.danbrown.com/#author-section

About the Author: Louis Zamperini

Around two weeks ago, I watched the movie, Unbroken, with my brother.

The movie poster for Unbroken

I had seen the trailer a lot of TV so I was really curious about the movie. When I watched it, I was amazed. I decided to pick up the book after watching the movie. I started the book pretty recently, so I'm not too far along in the book. But, since the book is based around Louis, I thought that I would talk about him.
There are two different books on Louis Zamperini, but the one I am reading is titled, "Don't Give Up, Don't Give In" written by Louis Zamperini and David Rensin.

After watching the movie, I wanted to learn more about Louis Zamperini, a man who had gone through very difficult situations, yet managed to stay strong.

If you aren't familiar with who Louis Zamperini was, he was an Olympic runner. When he was 17, he set the high school interscholastic world record for the mile with a time of 4:21.2. After graduating high school Zamperini made the U.S Olympic Team for the 5000 meter race.

The black and white photo is an actually shot of Louis Zamperini running.
The colored shot is a picture of  Jack O' Connell running, who played as Louis in the film.

Zamperini volunteered to be a solider for the army when WW2 started. Louis worked as a B-24 bombardier. While he was on a rescue mission, his plane went down in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Only he and two other members of the plane had survived the crash. They were stranded in the ocean and remained on a small raft for 47 days. After surviving 47 days in the ocean, he was captured by the Japanese. For over 2 years, Louis was tortured and faced psychological abuse in prisoner of war camps.
When he returned to America, Louis suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and alcoholism, but he would go on and eventually return back to Japan to forgive his captors and preach to them as well.

Louis Zamperini passed away last summer on July 2, 2014. He lived to be 97 years old, and will always be remembered for his courage and strength for generations to come.

Louis Zamperini with Angelina Jolie, who was the director of the film.

Pictured above is Louis Zamperini