Some things really important to stay out of: a)drugs b)materalism (or for some who are, to keep as low as possible) and c) drama. And, as far as darma at ASTI goes, Mercedes sums it up pretty good:

This is some pretty decent advice. Ok, I lied, this is damn good advice. Seriously fellow ASTIans, we need to cut ourselves off the drug that is drama. All it does is screw us all up mentally. I know how tempting it is to say horrible things about someone because they were cruel to you (as I always say, your peers are more cruel to you than anyone else), but it would be advisable to not take the bait. What is that thing they always said to us when we were little? It was something like... don’t react? 

 I think that drama is something that comes naturally to teenagers....or does it? Maybe it something embedied in our society that drives teens. Whatever it may be, it should be something we both embrace and shun. I agree with Mercedes and how she says that is side tracks us A LOT. In fact, sometimes whole entire days are cast into a bloom when some one disses others hair style. So when that happens, I must admit, it gets a little out of hand. However, it is important to see the positive side of drama (if there is any). So.......ah, it helps us defuse our ticking emotional bomb inside us all. Well....I guess thats why we have blogs. Well......how bout..... with out drama our lives would be boring? But, I fail to see the postiveness in that.
     So, I guess my "studies" show that drama is bad. You were right, Mercedes, like always. Happy holidays to you and to every one. I say holidays because not every one is catholic. Yeah, I dont think ill be blogging for a while, or maybe i will.... we'll see. good night sleepy world. Happy Holidays.

The curious incident of the dog in the night time final review

     In this last lit circle discussion, our group talked about many different things relating to Christopher's autism. However, in this blog, I am going to write about the actual mechanics of our discussion. We had every one pitch in this time, instead of only one or two members dominating the conversation. It was nice to have others input on this book. Some others brought up good points that would have never come up in my mind.

     I think that group activities such as these are a wonderful way to learn and to calibrate. We use this discussion time to talk about how far we got in the book. Also, we learn from each other like when some one says something that you might think is interesting, you could ponder and question it.

     The other thing i really enjoy about is that we can then write on out blogs about our discussions we had in class. This really helps me organize my thoughts and ideas on and into a "journal" per say. 

     The curious incident of the dog in the night time is a book about an autistic child named Christopher who is 15. The author, Mark haddon, is an amazing author who writes in such away that it makes feel like you are really in the head of Christopher. What i like about is that it shows an every day world through the eyes of an autistic kid. And, with that, i have come to realize that we all have little things we do to keep our selves calm or relaxed. Like the habit of your leg bobbing up and doing really fast or how we sometimes find our self counting steps or twiddling your thumbs. The only differences is that he takes to an extent that is to far sometimes, like he wont talk for weeks just because he saw three yellow cars in arrow. I can sort of understand why he does this but it can crazy sometimes. 

     

The curious incident of the dog in the night time response post 2!!!!!

In our class discussion on the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, some major, key points were brought up about the way Christopher reacts to certain colors, emotions, and to physical contact.

One of the points brought up was how Chris reacts towards the two colors, yellow and brown. One of his reasons for disliking these colors was because bananas turn from yellow to brown. Everyone in the discussion agreed that there must be a connection there, but it was hard to tell. I believe that this banana thing has to do with the fact that it turns different colors, something that seems illogical. And especially from yellow, a bright color, to brown, a darker color. It seems that he also has problems with these colors because maybe his mom was wearing these colors the day she left him and the father.However, he recognizes how it is silly that he hates these colors. So that brought up the question of whether or not kids who have autism know that they do?

Another point that we brought up was how he reacts to emotion. The dad becomes very cross with Christopher because he continues to investigate and study the case of Wellington's murder. Soon after, Chris's dad reviles that he is the killer. We talked about how the dad feels guilty about bring Christopher into the world autistic, and how he wants to repair the damage between him and his wife and between him and Christopher.

The last point we brought up was how Christopher dislikes physical contact between himself and others and between food items. Chris hits the dad on accident when the dad touches his shoulder.  We said that he felt scared and worried about what his father might do to him.The other thing he hates is when food touches each other. Again, we are not sure why he is like this.

The Bi-products of peer pressure.

I found this quote on Bianca's Blog:

Through peer pressure, people get the feeling that if they do not follow the crowd, then they are not as cool as the other people. It seems crazy to just think that for a moment of coolness could actually cost someone their life.

     I agree with all Bianca says in her post and this quote. Today, teens are to much obsessed with being apart of the "in" crowd and not being a loner outsider. It seems like everything we do is because to look cool or find a new click we belong to. Drugs, like in Bianca's post, is just another way we can "fit-in", but, we are not even aware of the possible long term affects that can cause harm to our bodies. Another way we are peer pressured is through the clothes we wear. We are constantly being judged by our appearance instead of being judged by our character.
     Is there anything in our lives that is not run by peer pressure? None of us want to be alone or a "loner", but when we are asked about how feel about peer pressure, we respond by stating that we are non-conformists. But we are not. If we were true non-conformists, then we would not need to by fancy phones, or have to wear bright glittery shirts, or walk a certain way or talk a certain way too.
     One huge factor in peer pressure is materialism. Materialism is when we buy and buy stuff and things that we do not need. People judge and are judged by the things we have instead of the character inside us.Peer Pressure can influence this, making it cool to have expansive things instead of cheap things. Thats when people get so excited about new phones like the i phone or the android stuff. Then clothes come into, with the glitter and the brand name stuff. next shoes, with the vans and converse. Are society is so driven by materialism that we have a day dedicated to this, Black Friday. Black Friday is a day that we go and spend a lot of money on stuff for Christmas. It is a huge commercial day and has become embedded in our society.
     To conclude, Peer pressure is something we must all deal with, and to avoid this, we should just be proud of who we are.

The curious incident of the dog in the night time

     The book The curious incident of the dog in the night time by Mark Haddon is a wonderful book written in the perspective of an autistic child. In our class discussion, one key point that was brought up was the symbol of the dog. We came up with and idea that dogs live and lead simple lives, nothing changes. This is the same pattern we see in Christopher and his simple life. He dose not really try new things that stray away from his normal routine. This can also be represented by his autism. His autistic side over whelms him, thus giving him social awkwardness.
     Another point that came out of this discussion was what were England's point on autism? We discussed how England and their view on autism, could have positively and negatively shaped Christopher's life. He goes to school in an environment that seems okay and stable, but I bet underneath, there is not a lot of money that is going into a project that help kids like him. His dad also seems guilty that he brought into the world an autistic kid, and treats Christopher with privilege. This also shows the community's response to autism.
     Another topic of the discussion was that when Christopher talks about how prime numbers are whats left when you take all the others, i believe that he was talking about himself and everybody else like him. If you take away the rest of the world, then you get the prime numbers. He dose not like people, or actually dose not understand them. When you do not understand something, most of the time, you do not like it either. So, if you were to take away all the people in the world, accept autistic people, then thats the world Christopher would want to live in.    

     Here is a qoute from Sam's Blog:

 One thing that I still don’t under stand in the story is why he uses colors to determine if a day will god or not.  I believe if he wants to be more successful in life he should treat every day the same, making a day that might not have been great if he determined it by looking at cars, into a great day that he determins is a great day by giving it a chance.

     I believe that Christopher uses colors to decide wether or not it is a good has to do with how color is connected to emotion. Like in restaurants, when they have bright colors like red or yellow, this means that want costumers in and out. Color, for Christopher, triggers emotion that he can not understand. I all so think that when his mom went away, she was wearing something  that was yellow, thats why he has problems with that color. He must have some bad memory or bad experience that made him resent the colors yellow and brown. He states some reasons in the book, but they do not really go in depth into why he hates these colors. 
     Christopher uses the ideas of car color to judge a day because he struggles to find a pattern in his confusing world. He also counts and squares numbers to help him become calm and relaxed. He needs these patterns in order for him to stay comfortable on his life. As we can see in Mrak Haddon's book, Christopher has problems with being comfortable. He is constantly stressing about people touching him, or how many people are in one area or things that involve people in general.