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Discussion Question Blog Post #1 Sorority Sisters

Evaluate the friendship of the girls in the sorority and how their relationships with each other have developed throughout the novel thus far. 

The four elegant, elite, and young women Ellen, Karen, Diane and Laurie have only known each other for a very short amount of time, but they each have grown to become sisters, while living together in the Beta Pi Sorority House. Each of these young ladies joined the sorority for many different reasons for example to make more friends or were even forced to join by their parents, each of them grew to love and support one another. Through the struggles that life brings, while being a young female college student.  Which includes guys, parties, grades and friend drama. The girls have managed so far to stick by each others' sides through thick and thin. They can clearly spot out when one of them is feeling not themselves or in need of comfort. After living under the same roof they realize that they are always there for each other and are on the same team which requires working together as one. Whether in studies or relationships Ellen, Karen, Diane and Laurie have each others back. Halloween this year brought a very large extravagant party for the sororities and fraternities of UCLA. Most of the young ladies decided to go dressed in their most creative Halloween costumes. Laurie decides to go with Pete her boyfriend instead of going to the party with her girl friends. She did not tell them where she was going or with whom. This group of girls are so tightly bonded they can tell when one of them is down and not feeling like a preppy outgoing sorority girl. ""Hey, are you okay?" Karen asks me, testing the water temperature in the faucet with her finger tips. Both Ellen and Karen are staring at me in the mirror. I look at their reflections, not my own. "You look worn-out" " (247).  Karen quickly picks up on Diane's mood and can immediately tell that something isn't right. These girls have become so close and connected to now they know when one of them is "off" in their actions or attitude. Being able to identify when something is wrong with another person shows how well these girls have come to know each other. When the girls first became part of the sorority they were not nearly as connected as they have become over this amount of time. By taking on life together as a team Ellen, Karen Diane and Laurie help each other conquer what life lays in their paths. 

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Why Sororities?

Not Everything Is What It Seems To Be

'Not everything is what it seems to be' is Malcom Gladwell's point. Malcolm Gladwell is an English-Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. I too also believe in his intelligent opinion, in his talks that we have watched during class, I have noticed he has clearly proven his point. When one takes a deeper look other subjects of matter become appear able. What stands out to me is to look at situations with a different perspective. For example, I would have never thought that Goliath had any health issues I assumed that he was just abnormally bigger than others. From the talk looking at the bigger picture is what I take out of this talk. 

The Spaghetti Evaluation story was interesting it made me think of how just like chips or yogurt, there is a large variety of flavors and types. There is not one perfect thing there are many Gladwell states. Sometimes people don't want to admit what they want or don't know what they want. Humans have a hard time making decisions for themselves so when the option is not given the choice is then not made. I believe that goes for our lives. He also said that when we peruse something it becomes very successful. The studies brought success to the spaghetti sauce business. 

I also took away that different people like different things and have different tastes. In my life I think about the way people tend to dress, wear their make-up, and do their hair. I think that makes us different and helps us peruse different aspects and looks. Expressing yourself in our appearance shows character. I conclude that these talks are very intriguing and help me to think more critically about scenarios differently in life. Additionally helps me to look to different options of solutions and to be more open minded. It was interesting that he stated that your greatest strength could be your greatest weakness, in reality. I never had thought about the idea of that before. I enjoy watching these talks very much and will peruse reading some of his books. 

For more information about Malcolm Gladwell visit http://gladwell.com

Lit Circle Reflection

   The rubric that I scored for myself was very close to the way Mrs. Harpers' rubric was graded for me. Although, on some parts I rated myself as a five and on the teacher's rubric I earned a four. I felt like I got the points that I deserved. What I needed to work on most was the depth of discussion. I attempted to improve this for the second discussion by bringing up more informational points, topics for discussion, and having deeper thoughts.  I feel that I was successful the second round because my discussion question was more thought out than before and my information about the chapters was useful to others in the group. The discussion that my group had was deeper and I feel like we ended up learning more about the book than we had known before. My group is working very well together. I believe that we need to improve on equal participation. We as a group can achieve this by making sure that we all share and participate by asking each other questions and maybe start sharing in a way that we all have to speak by using a circle pattern rotation of speaking. Overall, I thoroughly enjoy the Lit Circles I feel that I have a better understanding of the book.

     A leader that has made a major impact on my life is my three day event coach Gina Miles. Everytime she coaches me she pumps me up to try harder, give it my all, and do the best I can do. She tells me how much potential I have and really gives me a lot of constructive criticism. Over the past four years, during school breaks including summers I have had the opportunity of staying at her house and living with her. She is honestly like a second mom to me. She has two incredible children Austin and Taylor and her husband Morgan is very positive and supportive.  Austin and Taylor are both amazing and treat me like their older sister, we have gotten so close over the years. I am really so lucky to have them in my life. Gina Miles won the individual silver medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics in three day eventing. She has really influenced and encouraged me in my riding and my expectations. Many people have called me Gina Miles’ prodigy which is honestly one of the greatest compliments from a horse person. I love having her as my main coach although I wish she lived closer. She lives in San Luis Obispo in a small town, called Templeton. She is the head trainer of her own company Gold Medal Equestrian. She is sponsored by some major Equestrian related companies, Professionals Choice, Devecoux French Saddles, Platinum PerformanceHorse Supplements. Everything she does from the way she speaks to her daily routine all speaks to a champion. She is orderly, methodical and has high expectations of those around her. In order to run and manage your own group and business it requires a lot of time, responsibility, logical reasoning and courage. She is a beautiful and courageous rider, she always puts the horses well being first. One of my favorite memories I would have to say was when Gina Miles just got back from the Olympics 2008,she was a guest speaker at our Pony Club, I was 10. I was able to get an individual lesson with her and after hear her Olympic journey, I had a spark go off throughout my body that I wanted to be an exceptional rider like her, and I am on my way to meet my greatest potential. When I ride beside her it is one of the most powerful feelings in the world. I feel like we could be Joan of Arc or Queen Elizabeth I going into battle.  One of my favorite quotes said by Gina Miles is “If you want to ride for fun ride a carousel” it just shows and tells how serious she takes the sport of three day eventing.

     In the novel, Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding main character Ralph is elected as a leader of the boys. Ralph shows his athleticism as a leader by building shelters and thinking of ways to be rescued off the island so they portay to be savages. On the other hand some of the other boys on the island are more intrigued that there are no adults to tell them what to do so they are portrayed to be more savage like, whereas Ralph gets down to business and takes initiative as leader to lead the boys to civilization and to get rescued off the island.  He pursues to reach civilization although that is soon shut down. As time unfolds Ralph's power as leader starts to take a turn. Ralph loses his power he is now abandoned and has no control over the boys of the island. 

     Comparing Gina Miles to Ralph, they both share outstanding leadership qualities but also have very many differences as leaders. Gina is more intelligent than Ralph is in Lord Of the Flies. The way that Ralph tries to run his group does not always turn out in success and a large majority of the time. As a coach Gina Miles gets immediate response and results. She also has a lot more experience as a leader rather than Ralph who is very young, which this is most likely his first time being a leader of this large of a young boy group without the assistance of an adult. Gina is the type of person that gets it the job done and doesn't mess around whereas Ralph has problems controlling his group. Both Gina and Ralph show similar leadership qualities their results definitely do vary amongst each other.  

                          

A Rude Awakening

Young and innocent Vivienne, a small town girl, who loves horses is given a scholarship to study and ride at an Elite Academy far from home. Betrayal, mean girls, and naughty boys all take part in this dramatic murder mystery. 

The relationship between a horse and their rider is an unexplainable. The feeling of harmony between the two is as intense as any human relationship. Silent Harmony, a young adult fiction novel, written by Michele Scott, tells the story of a unique relationship between a horse and very talented rider. Main character, Vivienne Taylor is accepted with a full scholarship into an elite equestrian academy on the coast. Vivienne has been given a gift of extrasensory perception, the ability to communicate telepathically with all horses. Vivienne has psychic abilities and understands how the horse is feeling and even thinking. After arriving and meeting the horse Harmony, her new mount, Vivienne oddly is unable to read Harmony’s thoughts. She feels uneasy as she has been able to communicate with every horse she has come across. Vivienne knows that there is something wrong, as the days pass by with no form of communication coming from Harmony. Death is lurking, and who and why are questions at the top of Vivienne’s clairvoyant mind.

I found this novel to be a thriller with all of the excitement in every page. I expected a run of the mill, typical girl loves her beautifully perfect horse but what i found was a challenging and exciting murder mystery. The relationship between the horse and the rider proved to be very true and believable to me. For example she was bucked off her horse which hasn't happened since she was seven on a pony because of her strong connection with horses, “Tristan hands me the reins. “You okay?” he asks” (78). Vivienne is very relatable and has an inspiring motivation coming from a humble background with an Olympic dream. I have connected to Vivienne because I too share the same long term goal. Her drive and determination has been proven throughout the book to make her successful thru her progressive riding career. The author cleverly used excellent imagery and character development. The author built the story to climax in the most exciting way.

The way that the teens are portrayed in Silent Harmony stand true to how teens act today throughout the novel, for example, “Take your tired old mean girls thing and go somewhere else” (103). The students at Fairmont Equestrian Academy take things for granted and  have high expectations with the lifestyle that they are given. In Danville, the youth is very fortunate to have large estates, new cars, play on elite sports teams and have high expectations for grades. In high school bullying and jealousy do occur often. In the book Silent Harmony and reality, both show examples of social classes in young adults.  

I feel that the author did a wonderful job with how she explained horse related inferences and her research was spot on. I felt so engaged in this book always wanting to read more and more. Most of the chapters are from Vivienne’s point of view in the first person although a few chapters were in the third person from other characters. Which made the story a bit challenging to follow as to who was speaking their story.

Aside from the horse aspect, Vivienne struggles to fit in being the new, small town scholarship girl. Not only does she have to deal with not being able to communicate with horse for the first time but she also deals with the people around her like the privileged boys and girls who look down to her. But they are all just jealous inside so they act pompous towards Vivienne. While being at a prep school with a well known riding program she struggles with homesickness, school’s wealthy drama queens and kings, rough competition in the sport of three-day-eventing. Vivienne soon comes to find out that her new horse Harmony belonged to the school’s vet, who recently died in an accident, feels that the horse’s peculiar behavior may be from witnessing this accident killing the vet. As Vivienne and Harmony start to form a bond, Vivienne realizes that the vet’s death was not at all an accident but a calculated murder. Which leads to them tracking down the killer of the schools vet .

I am truly excited to read the next book in this series. I actually had an opportunity to meet and come to know the author. The picture I have posted to this entry was commissioned by her personal photographer and may possibly be used in her next book. Madeleine Moore as Vivienne Taylor!

Scott, Michele. Silent Harmony. Las Vegas, NV: Skyscape, 2013. Print.