Andrew+Swanson

I read a little bit of __Shattered: Struck Down, But Not Destroyed__, but not enough to try and summarize it. So I won't bore you. Discussions of Classmates Reading- I read Danielle's blog and the book she read sounds really good. __For One More Day__ by Mitch Albom is the book. It sounds like a book I would like. Wiki Reflections: I like technology and working on computers, but blogging really hasn't appealed to me very much. I just don't like talking about what I read so that's the big reason that this wasn't super fun for me. But sometimes we have to do things we don't like and this was one of those times for me. I'll live through it. That's all. CHOW
 * May 26, 2011**

I am still reading ** __Struck Down, but Not Destroyed__ by Frank Pastore. ** I have read about 35 pages since last blog. I don't really know what else to say about it. HAHA. Its still just Frank talking about his childhood and events that shaped his life. Its really good to read because sometimes I don't think that things I do now will affect me later in life but he's an example that it does make a difference. Its a good lesson to learn now, rather than later in life.
 * April 18, 2011**


 * April 1, 2011**
 * I am reading right now is __Struck Down, but Not Destroyed__ by Frank Pastore. This week has been a little busy so I've read about 10 to 15 pages. **
 * This book is an autobiography that Frank is writing about himself. One of my favorite lines in this book so far is this; "Each shattering broke **
 * me apart... and then God put the pieces back together again, better and stronger than before."(3) I love this line because this rings so true in **
 * my life. It sometimes takes God braking me to make me better. Sometimes thats what everyone needs, whether they know it or not. **

The book I am reading right now is __Shattered: Struck Down, but Not Destroyed__ by Frank Pastore. I got this book from my Grandma Anderson for my birthday. So far, it's a very good book. Its about Frank's life. He was a professional baseball pitcher and one day when he was pitching, the batter hit a ball back at him and it shattered his elbow. It ruined his pitching career and almost his life. He was a hardcore atheist and didn't really want to change. But he did. And this book is all about how God changed him and his life. Very good so far.
 * March 24, 2011**

__Characters:__
 * March 4, 2011**
 * Andre is the protagonist of the book. He likes basketball and hanging out with his friends, especially his girlfriend, Gwen. Andre works with //Affairs// magazine and wrote his first big piece. He is also the victim of racism, which is one of the main themes of this book.
 * Gwen, Andre's girlfriend, seems to me like a nice, pretty girl. She is definitely a flirty girl. She works at a kids' camp as a camp counselor. She can be a little bit quick tempered with some things but then after she thinks about things, she usually comes to her wits.
 * Shawn, Andre best friend, is a white guy who's hobbies include basketball, flirting, and sculpting art. He works at the camp with Gwen, so Shawn is pretty much how Gwen and Andre met each other. Shawn, as shown it the book, is usually very energetic and crazy, but can have a very sensitive and sincere side.
 * Cedric, Andre's cousin, is who you might say the antagonist of the book is. He enjoys tell jokes(comedy), playing basketball, and fighting with people. He and Andre fight about how all of Cedric's jokes seem to be very racist. After a while, they both realize that they are both at fault, and become really close. Cedric was always looking out for Andre and protecting him.

__Plot:__ The story begins guys Andre, Shawn, Cedric and some other guys playing basketball. You can tell right away that they are all very into it. As the book goes, we are introduced to Gwen, and also many other characters. Gwen and Andre, like any couple, have there ups and downs. Andre works for //Affairs// magazine, where until mid-way through the book, is just like a runner, doesn't write for the magazine, just does little odd jobs for the boss. But then Andre gets his big break; another employee doesn't want to write a controversial issue on racism so Mr. Jarvin, Andre's boss, decides to see what Andre can do. During the time of him writing it, Gwen and he get it a little fight and temporarily break up. After he turns in the paper, Mr. Jarvin loves it, the company edits it, and puts it in right away. Andre and his article are an instant hit. But there is one small little problem... I guess you'll have to read it to figure it out!!

__Rating:__ 4.5 out of 5-- this is an awesome book dealing with the very controversial issue of racism. Andre goes through a LOT of pain for his article that he wrote. The struggle of racism is shown wonderfully by what Andre goes through, being black. Even if you don't like sports books, you will like this one. Easy read, and GREAT moral!

__Other blogs:__ I've read many different blogs and didn't find very many that I might read. One that kind of appealed was __Flood Tide__, by Clive Cussler, blog by Chad Moklestad. It sounded like it had the potential to be a good book because it seemed like a book with some action and thrill to it and I like those types. Well, thats all for now. C YA! :)

Since my last blog, hasn't been a whole lot of action that has happened. Andre and Cedric both left the park that they were fighting in, after being separated by the other guys that were there with them. Andre drove home and was very ticked at life and Cedric. They didn't say very much about Cedric's reaction but he was usually pretty calm. Andre walked into his house and his dad was there watching TV. Andre tried to just storm upstairs to his room without being bothered by his dad but it didn't go that way. His dad made him sit down and he told Andre about how he dealt with discrimination when he was in college. He is deaf in one ear because of some guys that shot a gun and made his dad deal in one of his ears. I think this is a good example for Andre because he needs to cool down and I think hearing that story should have taught him that all blacks, not just him, dealt with racism.
 * February 21, 2011**

I'm still reading __The Hoopster__ by Alan Lawerence Sitomer. It is about these two high school friends named Andre and Shawn, and there friends struggles and lives. Andre is a writer/employee of a magazine called //Affairs.// He just got his first real writing assignment and is excited but also nervous about it. Shawn is a kids' camp counselor for a kids camp. He is such a flirt and likes attention from girls. Just now, Andre and another one of his friend's, Cedric, are kind of disagreeing about Cedric's type of jokes. Cedric won a talent show by saying a bunch of dirty and racist jokes. Andre and him are getting in a fight over it. I think the best part so far is probably the dialogue between Shawn and Andre because Shawn is really funny and Andre is usually pretty serious so its always funny to see what Andre does. There hasn't really been a worst part of the book yet, but they do swear a little and use n*gger quite a bit.
 * February 10, 2011**

The book I am reading is named __The Hoopster__ by Alan Lawerence Sitomer. I chose book from the HS library because I like sports books and the info from the back of the book really appealed to me. There are two guys who could both be the main character, Andre and Shawn. They are both in High School and are best friends. Shawn is white and Andre is black. They are both very competitive and and good at basketball. I know that Shawn is also into art but there hasn't been as much about Andre. The problem, I think, is going to have something to do with racism because it talked about racial discrimination in the book and it was also on the back of the book too. So far, I think this book is very good and interesting. I don't dislike anything about it and it is overall very nicely written. An easy read and humorous at times too.
 * January 27, 20****11**

Today, I have successfully joined Wikispaces and created my Wiki account!
 * January 13, 2011**