A Million Little Pieces

James was put on a "Family Plan". His treatment is no longer the typical group sessions and lectures. Now he meets with a group of patients and their families. They talk about their addictions and how it feels. The families ask questions about the addiction, how it feels, why they do it, and how much does it cost. The patients answer honestly. Before all of this happens, the patient must sit down with their parents and tell them everything about their addiction, how much they use and how often. When James told his parents, they just started to cry. They couldn't even look at their son. I could never do that to someone, especially my parents.

FRANCE!

I am in France, visiting my sister, and I am blogging... The reading here in France is obviously in French. I speak french so that is a plus. I read the newspaper on the plane and it was interesting that they focused on our presidential elections. There was an article ridiculing Hillary Clinton and how there is no possible way she will win because she is a woman. The paper said that she made a humiliating speech that was an embarrassment to her campaign. I was shocked when I read this. Aren't newspapers supposed to be neutral and unbiased when writing articles? This article was on the front page...

Outside Reading

In my book, James is sneaking around with another addict named Lilly. They are becoming good friends and they break the rules to be with each other. Quite regularly they meet in a clearing that is in the woods where they cuddle and talk about their past. James tells his stories of love and his experiences with drugs. Lilly has black hair and deep blue eyes that are comforting to James. Lilly calms James and they are beginning to love each other. I think that they are impairing their ability to recover fully because they are distracted with love. They need to focus on recovery, not love.

Class!

As the book progresses, I see that the characters become more emotional and animated with what they are saying. Beatrice and Benedick are convinced that they are in love with each other but neither of them have confronted the other about it. They have not spoken to anyone about being in love and they have not confirmed what they over heard in the garden. If something like that happened to me, I would immediatly figure out if what i heard was true and I would confront the person about the situation. I think Beatrice and Benedick need to talk about all of this...

Don John is a sneaky man who just likes to cause trouble. I don't like him...even though he is played by Keanu Reeves in the movie...

Class This Week!

We continued to read Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. I think the play is confusing. There are so many characters to keep straight and their names are similar. There are so many different love affairs and different opinions about love, i just want to finish the book to get done with it. I really enjoyed Romeo & Juliet and Macbeth, but out of all the Shakespeare, I like this book the least. It helps that we read the parts in class but it goes fast and it is hard to comprehend all of the information that is being thrown at you. This book is difficult and confusing. I wish we could read Hamlet or another play.

More Outside Reading!

This week in the life of James Frey...he went for a walk in the woods and that is where he went crazy. He started to destroy this little tree that you could barely call a tree. He ripped off the branches, destroyed the leaves, and tried to pull the trunk out but it wouldn't budge. He was thinking of his life and how he ruined it. He was feeling frustration and defeat in his life and wanted to defeat something else to himself feel better. As he was trying to kill the tree, his friend Lilly saw him struggling and yelled for him to stop. He wouldn't. She asked him what he was doing and he just stopped as looked at her. Meanwhile, James' two roommates graduate the same day. James said his goodbyes before he went for his walk. I think James was jealous of their success of being sober and was upset that he hadn't come that far yet. He wants to get better. He is willing to try.

Outside Reading...Again

This week I continued to read A Million Little Pieces for my outside reading book. James is getting better, he had a "calm come over him" (Frey 151). He met a famous boxer that is now in rehab for drugs. They have fun talking and playing poker. James seems to be enjoying himself much more now that he has friends, he created a support system for himself. His friends don't want him to leave and they all want him to get better. They all want each other to get better. James started going for walks in the woods to collect his thoughts. That is where he found his calm. But the next day, that is where he went crazy...

Shakespeare!!!!

YAY! Willie is so much fun to read (and im not sucking up...i actually do like Shakespeare). I am very excited to read another one of wills great works, even though i know nothing about the play that we are reading. I love the fact that his plays still relate to our lives today. They aren't only boring history. The movie we watched was kind of lame but i guess it was a good transition into the unit. I wonder what we are reading next semester because this semester is almost over! Any ideas?

A Million Little Pieces

This week in A Million Little Pieces, James really wanted to leave. He was counting down his 24 hours that he promised Leonard he would stay. In those 24 hours, James's brother and James's two friend came to visit him. They came with presents that seem basic to us but was greatly appreciated by James. He received a nice shirt, shave gel, razor, and many books. They talked to each other and took a walk around the facility where they met Lilly and her grandmother. I think Lilly has a crush on James because whenever they see each other she smiles and is very polite to him. The men and the women are not allowed to have conversations with each other and Lilly is willing to break the rules to talk to James. When his friends leave, James goes and lays down, not wanting to leave or kill himself because he is so happy. The next day he has a new job, filling coffee rather than cleaning the toilets. He says his new job is much easier than his old job. One of his roommates tells the group the story of how he came to the rehab center. He was a severe alcoholic and it had an affect on his marriage and family. The group laughed at his story because he was crying so profusely. I felt bad for the man when i read that passage.

More Research Papers...

So i tried to start my research paper, but i find it impossible to find an appropriate grabber. Usually after thinking about it for awhile, i think of one that satisfies me but nothing has come to mind. My topic is abortion and i chose that because i am very interested in women's rights and i work at Planned Parenthood to help women. I see abortion patients and confused women who dont know what to do about their current life situation. I wanted to write my paper for them because i see their situation and if they had the child, he/she would not have the life that they deserve. People should support abortion to give children a better life.