Blog Post #4 The Importance of Life

The book Between Shades of Grey shows us the importance of life, hope whether it is false or real, and the importance of having just a little bit of beauty in the world. For example throughout the whole book the main character Lina gets forced out of her home by the NKVD. She gets put in a crowded, dirty train car. With nothing but her family and a small suitcase filled with belongings. She has to work in a labor camp as a laborer day and night, with barely any food to live off of. Then she is forced into another train car with her mother and brother which is dirty and crowded. Eventually she gets to another labor camp where for days she has no house and has to work day and night. In this camp she finds out her father is most likely dead and her mother dies in her arms not to mention she had to leave Andrius the love of her life at the last labor camp. She is now a 16 year old girl with an 11 year old brother with nothing but a small suitcase, and they are both forced laborers somewhere near the North Pole. However she decides that she wants to live, she decides that she wants to see the flower fields again, after all of that she still wants to live! “ I was 16, an orphan in Siberia, but I knew. It was one thing I never questioned. I wanted to live. I wanted to see my brother grow up… I wanted to smell the lily of the valley on the breeze beneath my window. I wanted to paint in the fields. I wanted to see Andrius with my drawings….I wanted life. I wanted to survive.” (Sepetys 319). So even after going through all of that Lina still has something to live for. This shows us the importance of life, and the importance of everyone knowing that no matter what there is always something to live for. Lina had her brother and Andrius to live for, but not just her brother and Andrius. She also had herself to live for, she knew that out in the world despite all of this madness there is still beauty somewhere in the world that is waiting for all of us if we don’t give up, and try our best. Just like the bald man character in the book. He always talks about it being easier to just die and about wanting to kill himself, but he never does it, because his subconscious mind knows that there is something out there that is better. Even though he is living through all of this madness and has a lot of his own regrets, he still will never do anything to himself because he is scared of missing out on the beauty of the world. Whatever happens there will always be someplace that is better and beautiful that you can get to if you don’t give up. So the next time that you are feeling sad or depressed think about Lina and do not give up, because remember there is always beauty to find in the world, so do not give up.

Between Shades of Gray Post #3

The book Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys teaches us a lot about fear and how sometimes in life we can have so much fear that it turns into hatred and sometimes fear can also tempt us into doing the wrong. For example in the book when Lina, Jonas, and their mom are still stuck on the train car Lina notices that Andrius needs help getting back into the train car. Lina needs to be extremely careful so that the NKVD will not notice her or Andrius, in the process Lina almost gets caught and notices that Andrius has been beaten up black and blue before coming back into the train car. So in the text Lina thinks, “ His jaw was swollen. I hated them, the NKVD and the Soviets. I planted a seed of hatred in my heart. I swore it would grow to be a massive tree whose roots would strangle them all.” (Sepety 55). So this shows us how first she just had fear of her situation. However now she has hate, such enormous hate for the Soviets that I foreshadow she will carry this hate with her for the rest of her life. At this point everyone in the train cars has hate from so much fear. In addition a little later in the text when they have arrived at the small camp with the huts the NKVD asks Lina’s mom to be a spy for them in order to get privileges for her and her kids. Lina’s mom does the right thing and says no, however Jonas and the mom were definitely contemplating doing something that wrong because they had so much fear for themselves. All of this is extremely important because it shows us the importance of even in fearful horrible times to control yourself, because at the end of the day even with all that hatred and fear. Lina did not lose control and her mom managed to do the right thing during all the wrong. They were able to keep their heads held high throughout the whole train journey and so far at the camp. This connects to the book Night by Elie Wiesel because in the book Eliezer who is in the Auschwitz concentration camp has all this fear which turns into hate and almost losing his religion and identity. However he makes friends and has so far kept his head held up high. So the next time you are ever in a situation whether it be big or small try to keep your head held high and try to go past the fear and hate because usually you will be much better off.

Between Shades Of Grey Blog Post 2

In the book Between Shades Of Grey by Ruta Sepetys the book touches on a lot of different philosophical issues such as love, justice, human nature, etc. One of the biggest issues that the book touches on is human worth and value. In addition human nature and how when you love someone or know someone when something bad happens to them it touches you more, almost like they are worth more to you. For example when Lina, Jonas, and their mother are trying to find their train car that they will be forced into. An officer comes up to them and tries to take Jonas away from Lina and her mom. Her mom and Lina love Jonas with all their heart and bribe the officer with a gold watch to stay together and it works. In the book it says, “Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brother’s was worth a pocket watch.” (page 27) So to that horrible officer Jonas was worth a crummy gold watch, but to Jonas’s mom and sister they probably would have given everything to get him back. Another example of this is when Lina, Jonas, and Andrius go to find their fathers in the train cars. Lina and Jonas come back while Andrius is still looking for his father. However Andrius does not come back for hours on end. His mother starts to cry. She thinks that she has lost her only son, and she cries and cries and cries. Lina feels a little bit guilty about letting Andrius go onto all those other train cars by himself but she is not crying. Other people on that train are crying about their own loved ones and are lost in themselves. I think this is important because this really shows us how humans were built and by nature to be the center of their own world. However it shows us the importance of love, empathy, and sympathy for someone else. This is because at the end of the day that officer was ready to take Jonas the officer might have felt a little bit sorry later. However he still would have taken a young boy away from his family. So this shows us the importance of putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes, and stopping for a second on your own actions. Imagine if the officer in that situation thought about how Jonas was feeling and let him go back to his family without a fight. Another example in history is to imagine if during the holacaust some of the Natzi soldiers put themselves in the shoes of the Jewish people, and disobeyed Hitler’s orders. There are so many what ifs, however we can’t change the past but the most important thing is to think about this in our future and to not let history repeat itself. So the next time that you are about to do something, put yourself in someone else’s shoes, and wait a second to say to yourself am I doing what is right?

Between Shades Of Grey Setting and Mood Analysis

In the book Between Shades Of Grey by Ruta Sepetys the setting and the mood drastically changes from normal everyday happy life. To get sent to a concentration camp feeling hunger, sadness, scardness, and confusion. In addition the setting of this really helps create this drastic mood change in the characters. For example at the beginning of the book the main character Lina, her brother Jonas, and her mom were at their house in the Lithuanian countryside. In addition Lina is sitting in her home writing a letter to her cousin, and it is really relaxed. The setting of her home is a good place, and the character associates her house with happiness and good memories. However a sudden banging comes at their door and automatically the setting of the book completely changes and the mood, the soldiers come to her house and her mother starts breaking their china and glass, making this setting associated with happiness change to something terrible. Then the German Soldiers take them to a  station and put them into a train car that is crowded, smelly, disgusting, sad, and overall very scary, and the characters have no idea where they are going or what is happening. Now the setting of this train car is extremely important because it sets up the whole entire book and really shows us how hard these concentration camps were going to be, and what this character will have to endure and all of her pain. In addition how horrible this actual event in history really was. One quote from the train car is, “ The inside of the car was stuffy and full of personal smells, even with the door open. People were wedged in everywhere, sitting on their belongings.” Lina thinks this when she first enters the train car, which sets up the whole setting of the train car and the mood of what the characters will feel in the train car. It also shows the readers that the characters are looking at tough times ahead. In conclusion in the book Between Shades Of Grey by Ruta Sepetys the setting and mood drastically changes from everyday life to inhumane torture that sets up the whole mood of the book.

The Best Food on The Block

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Hi everyone!

Today I am writing a restaurant review, on the restaurant Angelo’s!

If you are looking for amazing Italian food then Angelo’s is the place to go!

I would give Angelo’s five stars. It has amazing Italian food, usually I order the veal piccata and the fettuccine alfredo. The shrimp scampi is also delicious! The dessert is also really good, but really big! And when it is your birthday they light sparklers and sing happy birthday while serving you you’re dessert! You can order from the family style side of the menu which is bigger portions for you and your family to share. Or you can order from the personal side of the menu which would be enough for you as your own dish. The food is amazing!

The service is very good! The waiters are polite and they come very quickly to serve you and bring your food out fresh and fast. 5 stars for the service!

The ambiance is pretty nice! It is a nice and friendly environment for everyone! It is a little bit fancy, but welcoming to everyone! The ambiance is great!

Angelo’s is in the Ridge Hill outdoor mall area in Yonkers, NY. These are the hours it is open each day of the week.

Center Hours

Friday

10am – 9:30pm

Saturday

10am – 9:30pm

Sunday

11am – 7pm

Monday

10am – 9:30pm

Tuesday

10am – 9:30pm

Wednesday

10am – 9:30pm

Thursday

10am – 9:30pm

* Restaurant hours may vary

Overall Angelo’s is an amazing food and dining experience, and I highly recommend to try it out! It is one of my favorite restaurants! And you will really like it!

 

Image of pasta bolognese, shrimp scampi, shrimp parmesan, and penne alla vodka

Image of the Mamma Mia dessert!

 

 

An image of the veal piccata!

 

 

How To Do The Vardon Golf Club Grip

Hi everybody,

As many of you know from my hello world I really like to play golf! Anyways so today I am talking about how you grip your golf club!

So you have the golf grip you could do the vardon grip also known as the over lapping grip. Or the interlocking grip. Personally I like the vardon grip. So this is how you do the verden grip. First you wrap your left hand around the golf club grip like this. Do the hand that is wearing the glove. Just put that hand on for now. And make sure your thumb is not going straight down the club grip.  So move your thumb over a little, like in the picture.

 

Then take your right hand and rap it around the club like this. Put your two fingers that are next to your pinky close to your left hand thumb. And wrap your right hands pinky around the knuckle of  the left hand finger that is next to the thumb. Like shown in this image.

 

 

 

Then with your right hand thumb should be at the front of what you are looking at. Then move it over a little to the left. Because if you don’t it will activate your back mussels, and you won’t hit the ball well. Your grip should look like the grip in this picture.

Tips on your golf vardon grip: Hold the club in your finger pads not your palms, don’t put your right hands thumb straight down the grip (Don’t thumb the club!) , and the vardon grip is also better for people with smaller hands.

Thanks For Watching! I Hope You Enjoyed!

 

The Winter Games

Hi Everyone,

This week and last week have been very special weeks. Hideki Matsuyama won Waste Management Phoenix Open last week. And Jordan Spieth won The AT&T this week. And to top it all off it is Valentines Day! But it has also been a special 2 weeks for me, because my grade had the Winter Games. The Winter Games is were the gym teachers split up your whole grade into 4 different teams. The teams are North, South, East, and West, I was on West. And you play all different kinds of sports  against the other teams. For 3 days straight. And the Winter Games only happen once in your whole life. They happen in fifth grade. The Winter Games were really fun. My favorite part of the Winter Games was probably going curling. Curling is were you have a granite stone and a broom. And you have something called the house. The house is like a giant target. And you have to try to get the stone in the target. The way you do that is you have a black thing that you push your self off of and you go in a lunge position. Then  you slide on the ice in the lunge position. While you are sliding you let go of the stone. Then there are people waiting at the line for the stone to come and then they sweep the broom in front of it which makes it go faster. But the stone usually weighs about 40 pounds. However the ones we used weighed 25 pounds. I really liked shuffling with the stone and trying to sweep in front of it  with my friends. The  Winter Games has been a really enjoyable experience.

Tag Sale for Charity

Hi Everyone,

During February 24th and 25th, the fifth grade is having a tag sale at St. James the Less Church in Scarsdale. The money we make will be used to send kids from Mount Vernon to summer camp. As a member of Mr. Besancon’s class, we are all part of his kid-run charity called 33Birds.  If you are interested in seeing their  website  you can see pictures of their previous tag sales, and you can see them on Channel 12 NEWS!  We are currently collecting donations for the tag sale from Scarsdale residents. If you want to participate you can contact Mr. Besancon at dbesancon@scarsdaleschools.org. It would be great if you could come and participate, but just as good if you donate items that you no longer use.  

 

 

Amazing Books

Hi Everybody,

If your looking for some amazing books to read. Here are some of my all time favorites!

. Home Of  The Brave

. The Malory Towers series

. The St. Clares series

. The Shiloh series

. The Fudge series

. Because of Win Dixie

. Charlie and The Chocolate Factory

. The BFG

. Matilda

. Walk Two Moons

. The Mother Daughter Book Club series

. The Mysteries Benedict Society series

. Remarkable

. A Mango Shaped Space

. Marsh Field Dreams

. Pie

. A Folk From A Far away Tree

.  Framed A T.o.a.s.t .Mystery

. The Great Gilly Hopkins

. Dear Mr. Henshaw