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Last Blog of the Year

The best thing about English II Honors this year was the class room environment. In class, you were able relax and joke around while getting your work done. It was great that Mrs. Aalbers was able to take part in the joking around and in my opinion that is what really brought the class together during group work. I think that fifth period was a great class and I am really going to miss it. The only really bad thing about class was that we didn't get to finish the year together due to this Corona virus. The essays could be challenging at times, but Mrs. Aalbers was always there to help and made it easier to understand and complete. The only thing I would have changed is what we did after each essay. Instead of jumping straight into something new, I wish we would have taken some time to look over the graded essays, and then done some grammar work. I feel that punctuation errors were the most common errors that all of us made on essays. I do not believe we learned enough about grammar...
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Blog # 17 The downfall of Mark Spitz

The ending of Zone One really caught me of guard.  I didn't expect Mark Spitz to get infected by the plague. Nor did I expect the barricade around Zone one to fall. Mark was almost always cautious. Mark was assigned to patrol with Omega unit in Zone one. Mark and Omega unit were patrolling with Bravo unit who they met up with the day before when they became surrounded by Skels. Mark, in fear for his life ran off towards camp. While running Mark got trapped by the Skels. It shocked me that Mark was trapped and infected by the Skels just outside of the camp that was supposed to be impenetrable being destroyed by the Skels. The author decided to withhold information about the governing body being corrupted until about halfway through the book when Omega unit found out that the Lieutenant had died. I didn't find any cliff hangers at the end of any chapters throughout the book. 
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Blog #16 Why does my book qualify as a dystopian.

I believe Zone One qualifies as a dystopian. In the book everybody is living in a dehumanized state. They are forced to live in survival camps and work there. The survival camps in exchange say they offer protection from the infected. If you don't live in a survival camp you live in a baron wasteland of death. The military and sweeper units fight to free the world by  exterminating zombie like humans that have become infected. The sweeper units are often groups of three who have little protective equipment for when they get attacked by the zombie like humans. If a sweeper gets bitten then they will most likely die or loose a limb. These are the reasons I believe Zone One is a dystopian.
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Blog #15 How is your conflict introduced

In Zone One the conflict is introduced as man vs. nature. A pandemic has hit causing many people to fall ill and die. When they die they become zombie like creatures that basically prey on living people. If they get a hold of someone that is alive they try and eat them. If one of the zombie like creatures bites or scratches a living person then that person will most likely become infected and die. Mark Spitz is a sweeper who has to go around New York and exterminate these zombie creatures and rescue the living. He puts his life on the line every time he comes into contact with a zombie. Mark could easily become infected.
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Blog #14 Significance of title

The title Zone One has a big significance. Zone One is the area in which Mark Spitz sweeps. Mark spends his days with his unit sweeping Zone One for zombie like people who are infected. They also try and find any survivors and help them get to safety. The title connects to the main idea because the title name is the place where the book takes place. 
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Blog #13 First impression of dystopian book

As I begin to read Zone One by Colson Whitehead I have a hard time following the sequence of events in the first fifteen to twenty pages. To me it is hard to distinguish what was happening before the pandemic hit. Since the book has gotten past the pre-pandemic part of the story I really have taken an interest in the story. I really don't have a connection with any of the characters in the book. I have not gotten far enough into the book to know about all the characters, but I think as the story goes on I might find a connection to someone.
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Blog #12 Serial free-write

While listening to the Serial podcast it has been hard for me to determine if Adnan is guilty or not. Most evidence has made him look innocent, but there are a few unclear moments in Adnan's timeline that makes me wonder. For example Adnan was not able to recall what he was doing for a 30 minute time period the day of Hae's murder, and his phone was pinged by a cell tower near Lincoln Park where Hae was burred. Although the cell tower that pinged his phone also covers the area near Cathy's house were she, Jay, and Adnan all said he was. Other than those few discrepancy's Adnan looks and acts innocent. Adnan to this day has claim he did not murder Hae. In my mind if a person can maintain their belief that they are innocent it means they really didn't do it, and were falsely imprisoned. In my mind Adnan is innocent. The justice system in mind has definitely failed Adnan. Not all of the evidence found was used during the investigation. A good example of this is the f...
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