Forest Park, A Remarkable Connection

I have started my first year of seventh grade at Thornton Jr. High School, and to tell the truth, the school has everything, except for those elementary childhood connections. Meh, my elementary school was the dream. Anywho, whenever I see something which relates me back to Forest Park, my heart beats rapidly, and I feel a rare childish emotion. For instance, when I saw a beautiful sunset in our community park, Frank Fisher Park, I took pictures of it with my mom's phone like a tourist visiting a neighborhood for some apparent reason. Moreover, I even miss the students holding stop signs on crosswalks, irritatingly yelling, "Stop the Cars!" (No offense safety patrollers.) I know perfectly well that you won't find all your elementary teachers "caring" for you or giving hugs, but most of them at least pretend to show their students the slight affection that they care for them. On the other hand, I have seen that most middle school teachers don't seem to have a friendly attitude, probably due to the fact that they teach copious amounts of students each period. Forest Park has changed so much in every way and every year since kindergarten. Suddenly, due to budget cuts, new teachers and principals come and go, leaving a remembrance in my heart. Although the school is so different, there is a special glow which radiates from the heart of the separate kindergarten playground. Trust me, it remains how it was seven years ago, and I believe that the young children still have the same bicycles that we playfully rode on long before. The main specialty in Forest Park was not the friends and teachers, but the impact that it had played in my heart for so many years. I must admit, at some time periods I did not have kind companions and teachers, but the wonderful ones never nor never will leave my soul. My friends are still with me today, and even though I didn't talk to them much in elementary school, we eat lunch together and goof around in middle school...(most people, not even my parents, have seen my goofy side). For example, on top of learning, my teachers gave me baby steps towards understanding, kindness, and perhaps even confidence and success. Today, Forest Park Elementary school proudly stands as being the largest school in the Fremont School District, with students of every shape, character, and religion. Furthermore, as there are over 1,000 students in this elementary school, the new principal is enforcing new safety rules, like not allowing adults in campus during school hours. I have stayed in this school for seven whole years of my entire lifetime, and although it changed so drastically, I will look at Forest Park through the small eyes I had back in kindergarten. Personally, I don't think that I will write something about middle school or even high school in this particular manner. To me, high school is considered a social area in life, while, on the other hand, Forest Park dug me into my soul, my genuine personality deep deep within. Usually, I put a picture at the end of each post for viewers to visualize my thoughts. However, there are no images to describe what I am feeling inside. Only words, just plain words. 

A Choice Of Living

Short and sweet. These two single words describe  the book If I Stay perfectly. If I Stay, by Gayle Forman, is a heart-wrenching, short 200 page novel that caused my mind to be filed with beautiful questions about life after death. Mia, the book's protagonist, is a musical 17-year-old teenager who hopes to go to Julliard with her cello, otherwise known as her best friend. She never knew that in one single car crash, her dreams will be shattered, but brought back alive. Even though this book was not very long, it was filling and heavy, filled with Mia's flashbacks that changed her as a person. However, it was never sad or depressing, as Mia was brought back alive by her loved ones including Adam, Kim, and her grandpa, known as Gramps. Throughout the story, Mia is never helpless or weak; she listens to the sounds around her with her ears, both perplexed and full of wonderment on whether she has the right to live even when her family is crumbled. If I Stay was a such a powerful and thought-provoking book. Trust me, you will be engaged in Mia's story, full of both captivation and emotion. 

In one chilly morning day, everything changed. Mia and her family went on a family drive, and then, the world revolved into darkness, or was it meant to be dark? Mia has an amazing life; she is a hardworking cellist, has a caring friend, a supportive family, and a great boyfriend named Adam. However, when her whole family dies in a car crash, she is faced with the toughest decision in life, whether or not to live. Mia's brain is shattered, and numerous amounts of doctors help her piece together both physically and mentally. She is aware of everything that goes around her, and when people talk to her when she is in this state, it's beautiful. Her grandfather talks to her while she is in a coma: “It’s okay, If you want to go. Everyone wants you to stay. I want you to stay more than I've ever wanted anything in my life. But that’s what I want and I could see why it might not be what you want. So I just wanted to tell you that I understand if you go. It’s okay if you have to leave us. It’s okay if you want to stop fighting.” These quotes had so much feeling, and my heart broke into shreds of sorrow and joy. It also broke and warmed up when Adam told Mia to stay: “If you stay, I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll quit the band, go with you to New York. But if you need me to go away, I’ll do that, too…maybe going to your old life will be too painful, that maybe it would be easier for you to erase us. And that would suck, but I would do it. I can lose you like that if I don't lose you today. I'll let you go. If you stay." I loathe sappy love stories, but the attachment in this book was not attachment at all. It was poetry, beautiful poetry with feeling, with thought.

Whenever Mia thought to herself if whether her younger brother and parents are dead or angels, my heart throbs out of sadness. The characters in If I Stay were incredible, and they demonstrated love in its many forms. Her grandfather was only mentioned a couple of times, but I heard the way he talked in my mind, and his words made my heart melt. Moreover, when Mia described her friendly friend Kim, she had a longing in her voice that never transformed into cruel desire. Additionally, when Adam talked to her, I was never uncomfortable, disgusted, or grossed out. He did not have attachment, but genuine faith that Mia will grow up to be a talented, kind, and successful woman. All these characters gave Mia hope that she would live, and they knew that she was smart enough to listen. At that time period, when she was ill, she did not have a healthy body. Instead, Mia had a STRONG soul. 

Gayle Forman did an excellent job with If I Stay. The book will reside in your heart forever, and you would never have to worry about being unjust because love in its good amounts will fly like a bird to the best souls. May all the dead live up in heaven, with no one, but only peace with angels.  

Citation for Image:

Rev. of If I Stay. Weblog post. Http://2.bp.blogspot.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2013. <https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVl5ythyphenhyphenO0gSltrEhOe3ztHZBh9XSA_M70HQeYhnlWP-k4fS3A5tAXFvBOF0jvnPscbAY9KWmGhm8oOr-erUwipQ3YOYVnDm2qGbpH2sSe0Ss9AzfWmyv-WYokBblHADldD9tV_zVLeEk/s200/stay.jpg>.

The BIG Problem With Movies: The Books Are Just So Good!

Whenever I check out the movies reviews of movies that were based of books, I sit and wonder, "Why are they all  hated, so loathed by millions of movie-goers around the globe?" The answer is simple; no matter how awesome, filling, and entertaining the movie is, it can never beat the book. While books capture all juicy aspects, including plot twists, emotions, and knowledge, movies give us the same things too, only with a different feeling. There are copious amounts of confusing, completely different than the book, movies-based-on-books out there like Beautiful Creatures, The Host, Sea of Monsters, and City of Bones. Overall, as movies are not bad, but just perplexing and all over the place. The movies are not to blame; it is the books. They are so awesome and everything fits together like a puzzle, that it is impossible to redoe it in any way.

Therefore, even though I have no experience with script writing, I am going to create short scenes from one of my favorite books, Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys. Though it greatly deserves to be a movie, it has not been one yet.

Scene 1
Beginning: Lina talking to news reporter, when she is 90 years old. Time: December, 2005

Lina: (with emotion) The world was so happy. In Lithuania, I felt like nothing could ever go wrong. I drew every evening; it was my time of peace. My family, my younger brother Jonas, Mom, and Dad were so strong. I never thought that something so devastating would strike us. (she sniffles some tears and wipes them away.)

News Reporter: I understand how difficult it must be for you. Do you want to give us a flashback of your story?

Lina : Yes, the world deserves to know this devastating story, hidden between shades of gray.

Scene 2
Lina's story starts here. She is fifteen years old. Her mom is sewing; her dad is not yet home from work.

Time: Evening

(Urgent pounding on the door)

Jonas: Mother, aren't you going to open it? It might break down.

Mother: (quietly sitting on a chair, praying) Of coarse, darling. I will open it.

Jonas: (face is deeply pale, he looks scared) (whispers) NVKD! I heard that they are arresting people.

Lina: No, not us.

(A tall officer stands there near the doorway, holding the family's passports).
Mother: (calmly) Give us more time. We will be ready by the morning

Officer: (gruffs) Only twenty minutes, or you won't live to see morning.

Mother: Please lower your voice. I have children.

Officer: (barks) Fine! 20 more minutes. (He throws his cigarette wad into their house, and stomps on it)

(Note: Parts of the dialouge from Scence 2 were taken from the Ruta Sepetys's writing.)

The scenes that I wrote were difficult to act, as the book was very emotional. If I continued the script to have more scenes, it would have been impossible for to write, as it would be too cheesy and awkward. So, do not blame the movie's horribleness on the movie. It is the book's fault, they are so good, giving me a love to imagine.

                     


Both the Dutch cover and U.S. cover of Between Shades of Gray have beautiful meanings. 

Which cover do you personally like better, and why?

Citation for Images:

Review. Weblog post. Http://2.bp.blogspot.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2013. <https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY_zmpklYrkLRXleK2FVfFATKElUCUPMIjW0r99Jcu7GIZtVVgMLy5EWL9gcw9lt_FSrjMwzt1BIoqT246R2-Be28pxOUDm8Qc4M6pAZbQnJB0KSy8JofdR8B6bt0hIMGFIw1zY5Mk_5Q/s320/Between+Shades+of+Gray.jpg>.

Review. Weblog post. Http://rutafans.files.wordpress.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2013. <http://rutafans.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/dutch-bsg.jpg/2013/06/dutch-bsg.jpg>.

That Familiar Scent of Books and Coffee

Every time I pass the closed Borders bookstore in Fremont Hub, old memories and reading inspirations wash over me. When I was in 2nd grade, my dad and I used to go to Borders and buy books every two weeks. The chairs for readers and the warm smell on chilly winter nights made this bookstore the perfect reading environment. Going to Borders and getting books was one of the main reasons I was inspired to read and now write. Yesterday, while I was passing through the Fremont Hub complex, I remembered these sweet memories. It is still very vivid in my mind. "While everyone grows imaginative in their own book, and travels to an alternate universe, they are engrossed in the warm and overwhelming coffee. They are cozily cuddled up in furry chairs, awed by the author's beautiful words. After the book ends, the reader learns a valuable lesson and just thinks in the book's character's point of view." To tell the truth, when I was young, I was obviously not very wise. Therefore, I didn't buy very meaningful, moving, or emotional books, like I do now. I just remember that I bought many books of the hilarious Junie B. Jones series, and a short story relating to Sacajawea. Surprisingly, the bookstore Borders played such an important part throughout the twelve years of my whole life. Just when I entered that magical bookstore, I felt a special connection and that familiar scent of books and coffee. I was always looking forward to going there with my dad. However, in 2011 Borders sadly closed all of its 399 remaining store branches because of a struggling market. This amazing bookstore was most probably not important to many others, but to book lovers like me, Borders sent me shocked. 

I missed the bookstore, I still miss the bookstore, and I will always miss the bookstore forever and ever in my heart. (That is my oath to Borders) :D

Do you have a connection with Borders? If so, how?

                           

Citation for Image:

Http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Sept. 2013. <http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/books/blog/borders%20timonium1.jpg>.