http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/columnists/krista-ramsey/2014/06/05/krista-ramsey-shashank-lakhia/10041985/

In A yoga teacher’s gifts: stillness, serenity, peace by Krista Ramsey it talks about a yoga teacher named Shashank, who is a yoga teacher who has been teaching his students about inner peace and relaxation for 13 years. His teachings has had such an impact on all of his students and they even incorporate his lessons outside of the yoga studio. 

In this column Ramsey describes Shan as, "The rescuer who threw us a lifeline to save us from drowning in the shallowness of our culture." This quote uses both diction and syntax. Diction are the words chosen and syntax is the word order. I really liked how Ramsey used a metaphor to describe him. Ramsey could've just said that he was always helping us calm down bit she didn't. I also liked how she called him a rescuer because most people probably just think of Shan as a great man, not a "rescuer".  This word really allows us to captivate just how amazing Shan is. He saved many people from their anxiety and burdens in life. Then, Ramsey goes on to explain that he threw a lifeline out to us. This really helped me realize how much our lives were wrapped up in social media. We could all use someone lime Shan in our lives.

I think Ramsey's writing style is very dramatic and deep and she likes giving descriptions to set up clear pictures in the reader's mind. For example in, For better vision, kids need outdoors, Ramsey says, "Your teenager at the dinner table, waiting for his checkup at the orthodontist's office, sauntering to his car - continually hunched over his smartphone or iPad. " This gives the reader something to visualize and connect to. In Super Bowl QBs score points for great style, is says, "you probably wonder why you keep bothering. Keep bothering." The author does this to be dramatic and add an emphasis on these two words, even though it is not grammatically correct.  In A yoga teacher’s gifts: stillness, serenity, peace it says, "And – oddly, wonderfully – when we stop pursuing the empty goals of self-promotion and consumption, we stop feeling that we ourselves are so pursued." Ramsey uses this quote to make us think.

If I could ask Ramsey three questions I would ask her...
1) What is your favorite thing to write about?
2) Do you enjoy your job?
3) Does writing come naturally to you, or no? 

I have finally finished A Child Called It, by David Pelzer! It was one of the most eye-opening and touching book I might ever read! This book made me cry so hard. My mind just cannot wrap around the idea that a little child can be so abused. This book made me recognize just how grateful I am. I have two loving parents, as much food as I can eat, a bed to sleep in, and more. David did not have any of this. David spent countless hours doing chores, being beaten, starved, anything his mother could think up!

Mother's new form of torture was to order Dave to take off all of his clothes and lay in a bathtub face down for hours. And one time she even forced his head completely below the surface and almost killed the boy. Then after he got done with his "bath," Mother made him sit outside in forty degree weather for hours, while the rest of his family sat inside and shared a meal. David was almost for sure that he would die. But then after a few months of her brutal beatings, she sat Dave down and told him she was sorry. She hugged him and said that everything was going to be okay, and that all the punishments were over. Dave was shocked, and to his surprise Mother stayed true to her promise for a few days. She fed him, let him watch TV, and even let David play with his brothers. But only a few days... until she went back to her evil ways.

David lost all hope. He even wanted to die. He wished that mother would show him mercy and just kill him. David's father (who used to be the only person he could trust), walked out on David and his family. David then started doing things purposefully to agitate Mother. He did his chores sloppily in hopes that Mother would beat him to death afterward. He hated the whole world, and most of all, God. Although, in the very last few lines of the book David says,"I clasped my hands together, bent my head down, closed my eyes and prayed with all my heart... with peace in my heart, I whispered, '...and deliver me from evil. Amen'" (Pelzer 153).

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I am about halfway through in A Child Called It by David Pelzer. I am absolutely in love with this book! It gives me a taste of what other people are going through. I could never imagine being beaten by my mother till I bled, burned alive, or starved to death! That is very hard for my mind to even comprehend! How could someone be so cruel. She scarred Dave's life and if I were David, I would never be able to forgive her.

David is only in elementary school and he is struggling for food. His mother usually doesn't give him breakfast or dinner and only very little lunch. David is so desperate to eat. He thinks about food, dreams about food; food has taken over his mind. He starts stealing food from his piers, neighbors, or anyone else. Of course, his mother finds out and beats "the boy" to a pulp, then she feeds him nothing the whole day. One day, David went a full five days without eating. Once, when David was begging for food, his mother granted his wish and made him eat... his own throw up!

David was washing the dishes being a good boy, but his mother got infuriated because he was not going fast enough (in her mind). Her eyes were full of anger and David knew something bad would happen. Mother picks up a knife and starts swinging it around. All of a sudden, Mother accidently lets go and the knife stabs David in his upper stomach. He tells his father about the incident and he does not do a thing about it. Father is no longer his refuge. He too has become Mother's slave. David says, "Of all Mother’s punishments, I hated the gas chamber game the most” (Pelzer 109). The gas chamber is Dave’s name for the punishment in which his mother placed a mixture of ammonia and Clorox in a bucket in the bathroom and locked the door with Dave inside. The noxious fumes make it almost impossible for him to breathe. He nearly dies and Mother doesn't even care.

STARVING CHILD

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I am currently on chapter four in A Child Called It by David Pelzer. I really like how David was so descriptive when writing this! He used lots of imagery to describe Mother's appearance when she was angry. David describes that "Mother's eyes were blood shot and her voice sounded as if she were possessed" (Pelzer 40). I also thought that the author did a very good job of keeping the book moving. It never got boring! Everything that happened was so shocking! I do love this book; although I think it is a pretty easy read. I think this book was meant for anyone from 5th grade to adulthood!
 

In chapter two, it talks about how marvelous David's early childhood was. When he was very young, David, his Mom and Dad, and brothers Stan and Ron, were an actual family! They loved each other so much and were happy. Mother would take them on picnics and to the aquarium. Mother used to go all out for Christmas! She would set up amazing Christmas decoration the day after Thanksgiving and she used to get the boys dozens of gifts. Mom would also cook extravagant meals and tell David how much she loved him. One day, when David was very little, his family watched the sunset together... but then Mama started to cry. David asked her why and she responds, "Mom told me she was crying because she was so happy to have a real family" (Pelzer 23).
 

In chapter three David describes how things quickly changed, "My relationship with Mom drastically changed from discipline to punishment that grew out of control" (Pelzer 29). David all of a sudden became a "bad boy" in her eyes. She always summoned him to the corner of his room for hours for no reason. After a while, she decided that the corner treatment was no longer effective, so she turned to the mirror treatment; she smashed Dave's head against a tear-streaked mirror, and he wasn't aloud to leave the mirror when she was done unless she told him otherwise. When Dave's father was home, he was safe; Daddy was his refuge. But one day Father wasn't home. Mother started to smack David until he crumpled to the floor. She yanked his arm and they both heard a pop. David cried himself to sleep that night; cradling his dislocated arm. Another day his Mom got really, really mad at David. She wanted blood and death. She told David to strip off his clothes and climb on to the hot stove. She nearly burnt him to death, but thankfully Stan opened the front door, and David was saved! Mom would never act that crazy around the other boys. David felt that he had finally won.

I am now beginning to read A Child Called "It," by David Pelzer. I am reading this book for my non fiction novel which Ellee Allison recommended to me. She told me it as a heart wrenching story about a boy named David, who got abused by his mother for many years of his childhood, until 5th grade. I have only read the first chapter so far, but I can already tell that I will like it! I think this true-story novel will help give people who might be battling something hard, perspective in life.

In the first chapter of A Child Called "It," it talks about Dave's rescue. I personally don't like how the author did this because then it doesn't give the reader as much suspense throughout the story. I think the author should've put the rescue at the end. Although, I did think this beginning made the book unique. Anyways, the book starts off as Dave getting smacked by his mother. She
has no pity whatsoever for him. She has starved him, beaten him, burned him, stabbed him, and so much more he did not mention. After Mother finishes beating him, he drives her to school and tells David to make up an excuse if someone asks him what the bruise on his head is from.

Dave walks in and the nurse immediately questions him, but he does not have her fooled. The nurse has known Dave for quite awhile and has an idea that he is being abused at home. She tells him to take off his clothes so she can examine his body for scars and injuries. She tells the principle of her findings, who tells a police officer. The police officer forces Dave to tell him if he is abused or not. When Dave finally gives in, the officer takes him to a police station where he calls home and tells Mother that Dave will not be coming home. The officer then takes David to a juvenile department. On page 14 the officer says, "The officer smiles with relief, as we leave the city limits. 'David Pelzer,' he says, 'you're free.'"

I finally finished Looking For Alaska!!! John Green is such an amazing author. He does such a great job bringing me into the text and making it all seem so real. He puts so much detail and thought into his books, sometimes it is hard to comprehend! This book was his best one by far! SPOILER ALERT! So Alaska just died in a car accident. Miles and Chip just let her go. They felt horrible and wants to figure out how she died. They discover many clues (like mentioned in my last post) and the come to the conclusion that it might have been an accident, or it might have been suicide. They do not know.

In Alaska's honor, the school decides to build a playground. Chip, Miles, Takumi, and Lara all agree that this a stupid idea. Alaska would've wanted different. So, Chip brings up the idea of pulling the greatest prank in Culver's Creek in her honor. On Speaker's day, Pudge aka Miles, and all of his friends find an actor named Maxx to speak in front of the whole school. Mr. Starnes thinks that Maxx is a professor who studies adolescent sexuality. Instead, Maxx ends up stripping in front of the whole school all the way down to his boxers. Alaska would've been proud.

At the end of the semester Dr. Hyde tells his class to write a paper on Alaska's well know question, "How will you get out of this labyrinth of suffering?" In Miles paper, he wrote about how you will never get out of the labyrinth. He talks about how everyone and everything is energy so nothing can truly die or get destroyed. Miles used to believe that the afterlife was just "something we made up to ease the pain of loss" (page 220). But at the very end of his paper he writes, "Thomas Edison's last words were: 'It's very beautiful over there.' I don't know where there is, but I believe it's somewhere, and I hope it's beautiful."

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I am almost finished with Looking For Alaska, by John Green. It is still probably my favorite book I have ever read! So far in my book (like I mentioned in my last post), Alaska has just died in a car crash. Pudge and The Colonel have no idea why. All they know is that the night before, Miles (Pudge), hooked up with Alaska, when she was highly drunk. The next morning they get a phone call (from Jake), which Alaska picks up, and all of a sudden Alaska starts to freak out and begs Pudge and Chip to distract The Eagle, while she leaves campus. The boys agree even though she is very drunk still and in a miserable state. Later on that morning, they get news... apparently Alaska dies in a car crash. She was headed towards Jake's house with white flowers in her trunk.

Chip and Pudge are very determined to find out how she died. Was it suicide or an accident? They think it might be suicide because when she crashed, she didn't swerve her car out of the way of the truck. The cops said that she headed right into it. Alaska might've also committed suicide because she was guilty for cheating on her boyfriend, Jake. Something that Pudge finds suspicious is that written on a wall next to the phone where Alaska picked up the phone was a doodle of a flower. He thinks that when Alaska was talking to Jake, she was drawing that flower which made her remember something, and causes she to freak out.

One day, Miles was sorting through Alaska's books in her room and found a book called, The General in His Labyrinth. In this book Pudge found a page where it talked about "how to get out of the labyrinth of suffering. Alaska always asked this question to Pudge, and he never knew the answer. In the margin, next to that page Alaska wrote, "Straight and fast." On page 156 The Colonel says to Miles, "So drunk? So drunk? The cop car would've had its lights on... straight and fast. Out of the labyrinth."

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