Geoff Herbach: Author Research

    The author of the new book that I am reading is Geoff Herbach. Mr. Herbach is the author of The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg, Stupid Fast, Nothing Special, and I'm with Stupid. He is an award winner of the Cybils Award in Young Adult Fiction and Minnesota Book Award. His books have also been selected for the Junior Guild, listed among the year's best by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Association and many state library associations.
    Geoff Herbach was born in Dubuque, Iowa on October 30, 1969. He is married and has two children and resides in Mankato, Minnesota. Not only is Geoff an award winning author, he is also a script writer for multiple plays. Geoff Herbach has also managed to produce comedy shows and tour with rock clubs all the while telling weird stories. He is currently teaching Creative Writing at Minnesota State, Mankato. 

For more information on Geoff Herbach click on the link below:
http://geoffherbach.com/about/about.html

Columnist Unit-HW Assignment

Krista Ramsey is reminiscing about the irresponsible acts of vandalism that she saw take place at Opening Day. This act would be committed by a 7 or 8 year old boy who was uprooting pansies while standing in a flower pot to get a better view of the Opening Day Parade.

Click on the link below to view the whole story

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/columnists/krista-ramsey/2014/04/12/krista-ramsey-vandalism/7659161/

I feel like the best-written line of the entire piece is when Krista Ramsey is when she says, "Whatever source I expected for the carnage, it was not a kid being given a gilded view of a parade." The impact that this line has on the audience is that it nearly tells the story in one line. The diction of this line is low key, and there are only 2 words that are elevated, and those are "carnage" and "gilded". This line also shows Ramsey's tone of how surprised she was to see that the wreckage being done was do to the un-carelessness of a parent allowing their son to do whatever they wanted.

Ramsey's writing style is consistent throughout the three pieces, and she also shows great passion for each story. It came to my attention that she tries to keep the audience engaged by asking a question such as in the first article, "The result?" although this question is answered immediately after, it is enough to keep a hold on the attention of the audience. She exemplifies this grasp of the audience by allows ending with a strong concluding statement, in the second article she ends it by saying, "Whatever the score of the game, they'll both look like winner." to wrap up the entire piece into a strong, powerful sentence that sticks with the reader. But for the third article, the one that I choose. Her grasp of the audience, is immediate. The very first line, "You will never remember the moment. I can't forget it.” This opening line is enough to grab a hold of the audience to make them wonder, what is it that she can't forget? It is clear that Ramsey does her best to grasp the audience whether from the very beginning, middle, or end, you know you're going to be brought in under her grasp at some point.

Questions:

1. How do you come up with ideas to write about so quickly?

2. How do you know when to include question at the right time?

3. Should you always include some sort of question in a columnist piece?

Explain what you plan to read next and why

I plan to read the novel Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series because not only is it about baseball, but it's also about history and from the reviews that I have read actually teaches valuable morals to life. Some of these important morals include; greed, guilt, fame, cheating, and revenge which led to the ultimate punishment for a baseball player. Being banned for life. I feel that not only do these morals and themes teach valuable lessons in sports, but could be easily appiable to life in general. 

Another reason that I plan to read this book next is because it is a non-fiction book and earlier in the year one of my reading goals was to mix-up the genres that I read for this year, and this seems like a good point to add in a different genre. I feel like this would be an appropriate time for me to incorporate a non-fiction title into my independent reading because I recently took Best-Sellers class which all that we really read was fictional novels so I want to read something with a historical side, but something that could also be intriguing. Another reason that I want to read Eight Men Out is because I love novels about sports, and especially baseball, and also I am a really big history buff, and to me it is fun to read a piece that actually happend and wasn't just made up.

For more information on Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series, click on this link:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/eight-men-out-eliot-asinof/1100470602?ean=9780805065374 

Post about a dynamic character and support how that character has changed throughout the text: Fahrenheit 451

I feel that the most dynamic character in the novel, Fahrenheit 451 was Guy Montag. He was the most dynamic character in the book because he changed and developed so much from the beginning of the book to the end of the book. Also if Montag hadn't changed none of the events that took place never would've happend.

In the beginning of the book Montag is the model citizen in a dystopian society that controls everything and has outrageous laws. He never breaks any rules, never thinks for himself, never questions the government or society, and just goes with the flow. As guy says in the beginning of the book when he is talking with Clarisse, "Of course I'm happy. what does she think? I'm not?" (Bradbury, pg. 8) This shows that at the start of the novel, Montag was happy with his current position as a firemen, husband, and citizen of his society.

After this point in the book, Montag's character is never truly the same. He is constantly thinking about the question that Clarisse asked him, of wether or not he is happy. And that becomes Montag's journey and adeventure for the remainder of the book. Montag starts exploring his life, job, and society to see if he really is happy. After some time, Montag comes to the conclusion that he isn't truly happy, that he was in turn, really just wearing a mask of happiness like the rest of the society.

At the end of the book we see Montag become a outlaw in the eyes of the government, he starts asking questions, thinking for himself, and starts reading books. An example of when Montag begins thinking for himself is when he says" I'mnot thinking. I'm just doing like I'm told, like always. You said get the money and I got it. I didn't really think of it myself. when do I start working things out on m own?" (Bradbury, pg.88) Since Montag is a firemen, it is his job to burn houses that have books in them since it is illegal to have possesion of or read books. So, wehn Montag beginnings reading books his house gets burned down by Chief Beatty. After some events that un-fold at the house Montag goes on the run as a wanted fugitive for killing Chief Beatty and other firemen but also for having books.

By the very end of the story Guy Mntag has become an entirely different person from the beginnig of the book. Now he is an independent person who thinks for himself.

This relates to our in-class discussion about if Montag is truly happy, and if not will he ever find true happiness.