Because of Romek: Post #3

Name: Alexandra Title: Because of Romek

1. Overall, it was really sad but interesting hering him talk. I think that he did have some opinionated information he was giving to us, but it was really interesting. In the book, at times, you start thinking that it was fiction. But then when he is actually talking it is so much more sad and deep because you know that he can't be lying and that everything that he says actually happened.

2. It must have been hard for him to go up there as a girl and always be in possible danger. I think that they were asking a lot of him, and maybe they should have gone up there and done that. I think that Romek was proud of David because he is finally becoming a man and starting to help in the war in a way.

3. I think that the Gestapo spared David because they realized that he actually didn't know and that they wouldn't let him die because that would be good for him. It would have been good because I think that the Gestapo thought that he would get tortured later and more severely. Maybe they would kill him later or something that would please them even more.

Beacause of Romek: Post #2

Name: Alexandra Title: Because of Romek

1. I think the significance of the pigeon is that they were supposed to be saved and not killed. The pigeon becomes one of the most importtant things tha Divd could have used in his whole life. It was the reason that David is still alive today. In that time and that place, something as little and pointless as a pigeon could save your life just as it did for David. If he wasn't persistent in convincing his mother to let him keep it, he would not be living today.

2. I think that the living conditions were really bad in the Pustkow "vacation" camp. I was a form of physical labor and they all went hungry most of the time. I think that the labor camp was called a "vacation" camp because if the Russians or anyone else from out of the country saw it, they wouldn't be suspicious (or at least that's what I think they were hoping for).

3. Question #1: How do you remember every detail on what happened?
Question #2: Out of everyone who survived the Holocoust, only a few actually wrote a book about it. What made you chose to write a book about it?

Because of Romek Book Response Post #1

Name: Alexandra Title: Because of Romek Author: David Faber

1. An important fact/detail that I learned so far was that the Germans left the women and children at their homes. I find that interesting because they were going to kill them all anyways (at least according to their plans) so why didn't they just take the women and children too? You'd think that they wouldn't care if you were women and children and that they would just kill you anyways but I guess they decided not to.

2. From what We've read so far, I think that David's family is really close together and they love each other a lot. I think that they do a lot of things together, and that they will probably have a hard time being split up in the war. I think that they will have a hard time in the war and not being able to see each other a lot. I think that this event in their lives has really scared them for ever and thats why i think that David remembers everything. This whole thing that has happened in his life has probably made a big impact on him and his family.

3. I think that the rescue of his father shoows how loving David is and how much he loves his family. Some of his qualities are being very lovingly and being loyal. He shows loyalty because he went back and saved his father even though it could have cost him his life. He shows being lovingly because he really cares about his family. "In the late morning, Mother asked, "Can we stop? I think the girls should ride for a while. And David too." "I'm not tired, Mama," I objected. That wasn't true but I didn't want her to walk along like a peasant." Overall, David is very a loving and caring person.

Aztec Mural Project Reflection

Name: Alexandra H.
Project Title: Aztec Mural Project
Class: Humanities
Dates: 5-05-08

Reflection:

The purpose of this project was to learn about the Aztecs. We were supposed to learn about their culture, their ways of living, what they ate, what they believed in, etc. In order to learn about the Aztecs, we made murals to learn about what they did in their daily life. We could chose from a number of topics such as sacrifice, the Aztec gods, etc. to focus our mural on. Another purpose of this project was to learn about the Aztec social classes, the food they ate, the Aztec markets, and overall, the Aztec culture.

In this project, I learned that the Aztecs believed that there were many gods. One of the most important gods in the Aztec culture was the sun god. They believed that if a sacrifice wasn't performed, the sun wouldn't rise in the morning. So if they didn't perform a sacrifice to the sun god, they would die. If they made sacrifices they thought that the gods would be pleased. I also learned that in Aztec culture they have social classes. At the bottom are the slaves and at the top are the Emporors/Epress' and their relatives. Also, I learned that warriors are very important to the Aztecs because they are the ones who keep the whole empire from being attacked.

I enjoyed this project because it was really fun painting the murals. I also enjoyed this project because it had a lot of art in it and I enjoyed drawing the symbols and learning about different cultures. I feel like I could have done better on this project because we spent too much time on our draft and not enough time tracing on our actual mural. Next time I would have spent less time on our draft and more time tracing. I think we should have started tracing on our mural sooner because we ended up hurrying to get our mural done and we had a lot of gaps on the mural where we were supposed to put images, but did not have enough time to.

Artifact/Document:
Artist Statement doc.

Weekly Reading Response to I ave Lived a Thousand Years

Name: Alexandra H Title: I Have Lived a Thousand Years Author: Livia Bitton-Jackson
Total pages this week: 83 Date: April 22nd, 2008 Pages: 140-223

Response:

Throughout the book, I was wondering why it was called "I Have Lived a Thousand Years". I thought it had something to do with her finally surviving the Holocaust and it might have felt like a thousand years to her or something. But then it finally says why it is called I Have Lived a Thousand Years and it all makes sense. What I thought was right and I think that it is kind of smart that Livia Bitton-Jackson put that as the title because it is kind of random, but it really goes with the book.

I think that Ellie should have gone back for her poems. If it was so hard for her to leave them behind and if they kept all of her poems that she has worked on for so long, why didn't she go back for them? She could have convinced her mom to go with her just for a short time to go back for her poems since they were one of the only posessions she owned after the war. And if she put so much time into them, why would she just leave them and go off to America?

Why do you think Ellis didn't go back for her poems?

I Have Lived a Thousand Years Weekly Reading Response

Name: Alexandra Title: I Have Lived a Thousand Years Author: Livia Bitton-Jackson
Total Pages This Week: 100 Date: April 11th, 2008 Pages: 40-140

Response:

One of the thing sthat surprises me the most about reading this book is how badly they treated these people just because of their beliefs. It's one thing to seperate them from the rest of the world but then to torture them like that and to just not care about how many people die is kind of scary. I knew before reading this book that a lot of people were treated harshly and that a lot of poeple died but no that I've read about half of this book I kind of know what hapened and how bad it actually was. In this war, I think that people on the outside of all of this for example the people who didnt have relatives or anything in this war were kind of not aware that it was this bad. If they were aware I think that things could have been different and the war might not have lasted as long.

In this book, besides Ellie, I think that the mother plays a major part in it. I think that Ellies mother plays a big part because the mom kind of shows the moral in a way. The mmoral is not giving up and thats what Elli does because she is trying to get out of those concentration camps while getting her mother out as well. I don't think it would be as good of a book or a real life experienc ef the mother wasnt in it.

Question: Do you think that Elli's mother gets better and they both pass the whole inspection with out getting cought?

Weekly Readiing Response to I Have Lived a Thousand Years

Name: Alexandra Title: I Have Lived a Thousand Years Author: Livia Bitton-Jackson
Total Pages This Week: 40 pages Date: Friday, April 4th Pages: 1-40

Response:

Ellie, the main character in the book, reminds me of Anne Frank. She reminds me of her because they both were worrying about small things and now they are both hiding from the police/soldiers and they are both around the same age. I think that they both keep to themselves throughout the beginning and they both think that this is really sad that just because they're jewish they get punished.

I think that the sentence "But I cannot put the vision out of my mind. Bloody heads rolling around on the local soccer field become a recurring nightmare." is kind of interesting in a way. I think that it is terrible that Hitler or anyone would ever say something like that, but I think that it is interesting how her dad says that it is just a figure of speech. I think that her dad wants her to stop worrying about it even though he also worries about it. I think that he worries about it just as much as she does but tries to hide it because if he admits that he's scared then the whole family would be scared so they might even want to give up or not try because they would have very little hope.

Why do you think that Ellie seems more angry and says more than her family does about the war?