Lucky section 2 (36-80)

Loaded Words
-Panic (47)
Panic gives the reader a sudden feeling of urgency, wich is just what the author was trying to do. By using panic you gain a better understanding of what Alice's mother thinks of her "flaps," which is that they are terriffying and uncontrolable.
-Flap (47)
Alice's mother is a recovering alcoholic, causing her mom to often have panic attacks or flaps. By calling the attacks flaps and not panic attacks the author shows the reader that the family is very hush hush, and does not like to air their dirty laundry in public.
- Old Maid (67)
The author uses the term old maid becuase the word is much more frightening than say, single elderly woman. This gives both the reader and Alice a sense of urgency to become married, becuase being old and single is horrible.
- Violence (68)
Violence is used as a general term which connects Alice to people with similar emotions. This makes the reader realize that anyone affected by violence is subject to some sort of life change.
-Damaged Goods (69)
When the authors referes to herself feeling like damaged goods it creates sympathy from the reader to the author, and allows you to some what be able to relate to the author in another way.
-Pretty (71)
The author uses the word pretty to describe her sister because it gives you a mental picture of a nice, cute, and friendly girl, which describes her sister very well. Had the author used beautiful the reader would have thought more on the lines of unique instead of plain Jane pretty, which is not what the author would want.
-Revelation (73)
This word tells the reader that Tom's mother telling him she was raped as a girl was a very big thing for her to tell him.
-Fat (74)
When Alice's parents refer to their church priest as a fat man waiting to die of a heart attack it shows the reader a more judgmental side of the Sebold family that has not yet been shown in the book.
-Pits (75)
Alice refers to her mother face as having large pits in it. This gives the reader a visual of her mother having acne scars which has not yet been described in the book, and helps the reader create a better mental picture.
-Affection (77)
Alice's mother says,"Your father doesn't know the meaning of affection." This once again tells the reader that the family is somewhat strange and dysfunctional.
Summary
This section mainly told the reader of Alice's weird family and what kind of childhood she had. It also touches on her recovery at home.
At the beginning of the section Alice talks about how she only has one memory of her parents being affectionate, which was a time when Alice yelled Dad kiss mom! Her father then kissed her mother but awkwardly and on her forehead.
Alice also talks about how her childhood was very lonely and what she would do as a child to try to get some attention, including making her dogs run wildly around the house or try to get her mother to touch her in an affectionate way.
Towards the end of the section Alice talks about what happens when she comes home. Alice's priest makes an announcement of what happened to her at church and she is visited by a wide variety of people from church.

I thought that this section was a little on the boring side. Although it is interesting to hear about Alice's strange childhood, it's not what I expected the "recovery" section of the book would be like. I thought she would go to meetings or seek guidance but instead the section mainly talks about her internal struggle in dealing with the rape, not so much external. I hope that in the next section I read that there will be a bit more action.

Lucky Journal Week 1

Pages 1-35

The book starts out with Alice Sebold walking home one night when she is brutally attacked and raped. At the beginning her attacker tells her to stop fighting or else he will kill her, but she continues to try and fight back. He then pulls out a knife but she somehow manages to kick it out of his hand, which may have been the key factor in her survival. After Alice realizes that she can't physically keep up with her attacker she decides to go along with it to save her life. An example of this is when she says,"So he wouldn't hurt me more, I needed to say the right thing." Finally after a very difficult 20 minutes the attacker tells her that they are done and that she can leave, but not before making her give him a kiss goodbye.

As she begins to walk back to her dorm she hears people whispering about her appearance. She is covered in blood, bruised in multiple areas and her hair is torn out in certain spots.

She finally reaches her dorm where her Resident Security Assistant realizes that something has happened to her. All that she manages to say to him is that she is sorry, she left her i.d at home and would like to get into her room and go to bed. He finally allows her to go to her room.

Alice knocks on her dorm door but receives no response, because all of her belongings were left at the park she had no key. She goes to another friends dorm but as the girl opens the door she passes out and falls back asleep. Alice now has no one to turn to but her R.S.A. So she heads down stairs and says,"I was raped in the park, will you call the Police?"

Immediately Alice is rushed to the hospital where they collect the evidence for what the doctors refer to as a standard rape kit. At this time her two best Friends Tree and Mary Alice arrive at the hospital. After they finishes collecting the evidence on Alice's body she is driven to the police station.

When she arrives at the station Alice tells a young man with a type writer her story. She is then asked to try to identify her killer by looking through mounds of books filled with mug shots. Unfortunately Alice does not find him and is then sent home.

after finally gaining the courage Alice calls her mom and tells her what happened and that she would like her mom to come pick her up. After about thirty minutes Alice's mom comes and picks her up from school and drives Alice home.


Through out reading this section I was extremely suprised by the amount of detail the author put into the book. I could visualize every second of the rape, whether I wanted to or not. The only way I can phrase my reaction is schocked. I was filled with remorse for the author because it shows you just how much she went through. I think the fact that the rapping was told with such graffic detail will really help me to understand her recovery process.

Author: Martha Graham

Title: An Athlete of god

I believe that we learn by practice.

Examples: Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living.

Favorite Passage:" In all of us who perform there is an awareness of the smile which is part of the equipment, or gift, of the acrobat. We have all walked the high wire of circumstance at times. We recognize the gravity pull of the earth as he does. The smile is there because he is practicing living at that instant of danger. He does not choose to fall."- Martha Graham.

One goal for myself in my sophomore year is ...

My goal for sophmore year is to be more out going. I want to make sure I have the "highschool expirience," and meet as many new people and join and many clubs as possible. If I am more open to new things and really put myself out there I know it will make highschool that much better.

The thing I am most anxious about at Edina High School is ...

The thing I am most anxious about while starting Highschool is loosing the friendships I have with my friends from middle school. Throughout the past four years, I have built some of the strongest friendships I have ever had. I really cherish my friends and what great people they are. Not only do I enjoy there company but I also think that they make me a better person.
After watching my sisters go through highschool and seeing the amount of changes they went through with their friends, I can't help but think that will happen to me. I am so excited to meet new friends and experience new things in highschool. But at what point do I stop exploring new things and appreciate what I have going for me now?