Day two Ashly

Hafizah's question:
The character Mark from the book True Notebooks is an outsider and insider in this book. When he firt visits the juvenile hall (pgs 15-21) he discribs the scene and how everything looks and how every one acts and somewhat the roles other characters have in the novel. Mark listens in on a class that Duane is teaching. Mark listens to a boy read a story about clouds (pg19) and how the boy wishes he would have realized the simple things in life when he wasnt incarcerated. the boy writes " As I think of these things I realize how much I've changed." Mark is now begining to realize the connection he could have with the boys after this story is read.
Mark becomes an insider once he connects with the other characters. At the begining of the novel he is teaching a class and listenning to the boys. On page three one boy starts to engage in a conversation with Mark about a wedding he had gone to, then all the boys begin to tell storys of what happens at their family weddings. The connection that the boys and Mark share make him an insider he is able to bring his own personal life into his classroom and the boys then connect to him.

I have felt like an outsider in many situations. When i go somewhere new i tend to feel like an outsider because I don't know anyone. For example when I first got to columbia on satuday I felt like an outsider becasue I had no clue who anyone was or where anything was at. I had to fimilarize myself with new surroundings. I had to meet new people that I knew nothing about. After I got to know a few of the people and some new places I have began to feel like an insider now. Also I feel like an insider when I am at home. I know all of the people and so much about them. I have grown up there so i know where everything is and i am comfortable with everything i am around there.


Izzy's question:
The character Antionio from True Notebooks was influenced from his surroundings when he reads about being locked up. (pg 6) " it's weird but this roomrelates to my life I onced lived ouside, over the walls with barbed wire. I was locked in a world where nothing would come in and nothing would go out" he talks about how his gang became his life and he was locked into that and nothing else mattered. Antionio was so influenced by the gang he was in he wouldnt let love ones in to help him get out of a bad situation. By his descion to be "locked up" with his gang, ultimitly led him to be locked up in the juvenile hall.

I am influnced by my surroundings in many ways. Things i hear on the news or in other media outlets lead me more towards what I believe based on the information they give me. Im influenced by my parents and friends. My parents have taught me whats wrong and right and because of that I am influenced to make right chioces because i have been taught that I have to live with the outcome if I make a wrong choice. My friends influence me on the way I act, how I talk< the clothes I wear, and how I communicate. They influence my thoughts, if one of my friends think something I tend to lean in the same direction.If my friends act a certain way I also tend to act that way because I am influenced by them and the things that they do. I have to be careful that i choose the right friends so that I am not influenced in the wrong ways.