Genre: 8th

BENJAMIN ZHAO

Mr Watt´s Literary Services

It seems ludicrous for Said to complain about one of the greatest tourist attractions in South Dakota, even more, scold a national symbol of the US to be not worth his time. However, with nothing else to do, he and his wife rented an audio tour wand. At that moment, Said and his wife Karen were drawn in by the “firm, gentle and wholly optimistic [voice].” The couple followed a concrete path around the base of the mountain and what was a three minute disappointing gaze became three hours of relishing history from “the sculpture, the mountain, the Indians from whom the mountain had been stolen [to] the artist-Gutzon Borglum-whose idea it had been to carve the mountain in the first place.” At the end, “… We lay down on a bench and listened numbly as recordings of everyday people described what Mount Rushmore meant to them

SOPHIA SU

Mr Watt´s Literary Services

Claude McKay wrote poetry, articles, and novels to depict the unfair life of a Negro in America. How did he discriminate in choosing friends? In one of his autobiographies, A Long Way from Home, McKay documented his emotions, personality, and experiences as he traveled from Harlem to London to Russia to France to Africa and back to America. Along the way, he met many influential people and made many dear friends. Some of these friends were revolutionists, most involved in advancing Communism. McKay fought the war against discrimination with these people and others. Figues such as James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, other leaders of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), black radicals of Harlem, and the Japanese Communist Sen Katayama. He was not racist when making friends, and he was aware that there were plenty of whites who supported his cause. Some white associates of McKay, such as Frank Harris and Max Eastman, were major figures of the time, but McKay also had personal companions. A prime example is Michael, McKay’s white friend who was also a thief and a gangster.

ZHUO-WEI LEE

Mr Watt´s Literary Services

Alison Bechdel and Joe Sacco decided to write about their state in graphic form, and they had different styles of conveying the quirks of the state. Joe Sacco spoke mainly about his personal life, even going into his relationship with his girlfriend. Alison Bechdel made Vermont seem very unique with its rugged individualism and connection with nature. Since she went into the most detail about the state’s people, politics, and geography, and because she offered an insight into the State’s character affecting her own, Bechdel was more successful in her depiction of Vermont.

SOPHIA SU

Mileena Nguyen’s Three Simple Words is narrated by Evangeline Garnier, a girl who seems to possess a mysterious power to feel the pain of others. The story begins with a quote from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Evangeline, which happens to have the same name as the protagonist. This is probably not a coincidence, as the prologue Read more…

VICTORIA LI

Mr Watt´s Literary Services

      Chapter 1 – The history report “I pulled an all-nighter to perfect this history report!” “Really? Well, mine is so much fancier than your plain sheets of paper!” Ella rolled her eyes at the nerds in the front of the bus and inspected her perfectly manicured fingers. Please. There was no room Read more…