Should Cursive "Die"?

 In this article "Is It Time for Cursive to Die?" it talks about how students used to learn how to write in cursive, how cursive used to be the preferred way of writing, how nowadays people don't use it as much as they used to because of technology, and the reasons it should stay or shouldn't. I think that cursive shouldn't be something we are required to learn anymore. Cursive is a great way of writing and helps a writer be more fluent, but even if we do teach it students will just end up forgetting it because they wouldn't write in cursive, they'd write in text, and if they do have to write they'd write in print. Teaching it will be a waste of time no matter what anyone says. Cursive could still be used, but do you really think anyone would stick with writing in cursive when technology is more convenient and continues to be a bigger part of our lives every day. Over time things that we used to use like cursive, packets, and maybe even paper worksheets are just going to be a thing of the past. Most of these things are already gone in most schools due to the fact that technology is just easier! Technology is more convenient. Not that that's a good thing but it isn't a bad thing either.  

TRASH

  Trash by Andy Mulligan so far is a good book. I haven't read much but from what I've read so far it has an interesting plot. Raphael Fernández, the main character, collects trash. He sells specific trash to make money because it's the only way he knows to make money. Things he sells are things like plastic, scraps of metal, or just anything that used to belong to someone "rich". One day he found a small bag with someone's wallet in it, a map, and a key. The wallet had 1,100 pesos inside which was enough to buy 6 chickens to eat. They live in villages surrounded by mountains of trash and they don't have much money so this wallet made Raphael pretty excited. He has a friend named Gardo and he split the money with him, Raphael got 600 and Gardo got 500, which was fair because Raphael found the wallet. What they do with the map and key I don't know yet. Raphael kept the bag and money hidden, in case it was important, and he soon realized that it was. A few days later police showed up at their little village which was strange for them because police don't usually show up at their place. They asked for the bag that Raphael had found but no one knew about it as far as the police knew.

  This book, Trash, is written in First Person Point of View. I know this because the person telling the story in Raphael Fernández. He talks about himself, how he finds things, talks about his friend, almost like he's writing in a diary. Yes, think of it like that, he's writing in a diary or journal or maybe even writing a letter to us, the reader. I enjoy reading this point of view but I feel it's very common. Of course it's easy to write in a first person perspective and and it gives you a feel of what the character is reading, but I am one to want to try new things (even though I usually don't end up doing it). Anyway, I feel this book would be best in first person with the plot so it's not that big a problem.  

Lemon Brown

        Lemon Brown is a pretty interesting story. When I read it I was mostly bored to be honest, but as I kept reading I became more and more interested. When the thugs came into Lemon Brown's "home" I really started to wonder what his treasure was. What was Lemon Brown hiding? Was it a lot of money? If so why was he homeless? So I kept on reading and found out that Lemon Brown's treasure was...something. Not money but...something. This story connects to what I've learned in Lit. Studies class because Lemon Brown used to have a job, money, a family, everything. He sang the blues and people used to call him "Sweet Lemon". From what we've learned I know that just because you have a job doesn't mean you can't be homeless. You could suffer from underemployment which is where you don't get payed enough to cover your bills or enough to buy food. This story really interested me because it was a constant change of a lecture to action, action to suspense, suspense to story time, and story time to realization. Realization was near the end. At the beginning Greg was kind of annoyed at his father because he gave him a lecture about how he needs to get his grades up in Math. After Greg met Lemon Brown he wasn't annoyed but happy because he knew that the reason his father wanted this was because he cared about him.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

        The Perks of Being a Wallflower starts out a few days before the main character's, Charlie, first day of High School and tells us a bit about Charlie's past life. How he had a friend in Middle School who passed away and how they used to be really close. Then we go to the first day of High School. Charlie's first day was kind of awkward. He did make some new friends though, Sam and Patrick. Sam and Patrick are step brother and sister and great friends for a boy like Charlie. They met at a football game and they invited Charlie to a party afterwards where he accidentally got stoned. Ever since then they were all really good friends. When the dance came Charlie was asked out by a girl named Mary Elizabeth, he was secretly hoping for Sam to ask him but being realistic that would've never happened. So he said yes and ever since then they started going out. One day Charlie decided he didn't really like her because all she did was talk, and suggest, and talk, and suggest, and talk talk talk. So at a party when Patrick dared him to kiss the prettiest person in the room, he kissed Sam thus ending things with Mary Elizabeth. Later Mary Elizabeth found a guy named Peter, Sam found a guy named Craig, Patrick found a guy named Brad and all was good. Sort of.

        Charlie is a nice kind of guy, although he's kind of depressed. After his aunt died he became very sensitive and on top of that his best friend died so you could see why he would be depressed. Sam is a pretty girl in Charlie's eyes. Charlie's sister claims that she suffers from low self-esteem but we never know for sure. She's a great friend for Charlie because she always helps him with his problems but causes some awkward moments with Charlie. Patrick is gay if you haven't already figured. This makes it easier for Charlie to talk to him and for Patrick to help Charlie out. Now, Sam and Patrick are three grades above Charlie so if you think there would be some hanky-panky going on between them then drop it because nothing like that happens. Right?