WORD: The Official Blog of READ and WRITING magazines

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

- Poem by Sadaf Qureshi, Grade 11

I like the way it works its way up into my mouth,
the way it sounds when it escapes
an-eh-mauws-it-y
It starts out hard-headed and proud
But by the time you get to the third syllable it has lost its staccato,
Instead it flows like thick liquid,
as though it has slipped on the wet surface of my tongue,
and when you expect it to finish off staying down,
it gets back up and regains its composure—but with a lost severity.
There's a picture in the paper today,
About the lives they led
And what that has all been reduced to—a muddle of paraphernalia scattered on a sidewalk,
About the living, breathing, feeling, human debris that
War has left in its path,
About animosity in action
"Civilians collect their belongings from their shop
that was damaged by Israeli air strikes in southern Beirut, Lebanon."
That is the picture in the paper today.
The picture has it looking as though
Animosity never had to wipe the dirt off a scraped knee,
Or bare a bruise on its shin
It looks as though it has never had that humbling and humiliating opportunity
To get up and recover from a miss because it never does miss
Never trips up
Never forgets to strike
It looks more unrelenting and nimble than it sounds.
Still, they say that looks can be deceiving
They never say anything about sounds

Posted by
StudentWriter
on 8/29/2006
11:06 AM

Friday, August 25, 2006

Of Mice and Men - A Discussion with Student READers

WARNING: If you have not read Of Mice and Men yet, you may not want to read this blog entry. It kinda sorta spoils the ending. 'Nuff said.

In Issue One of READ magazine, we asked you a few questions about the Reader's Theater play Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. One of the questions was:

Does George make the right decision at the end of the story? Why or why not?

Here is what a few of our READers thought:

Sarah M., Grade 7 said

Yes, I think that he made the right decision. Like they were talking about earlier in the play, you shouldn't let someone else kill your best friend. But also, he was wrong because it was murder.

Heather, Grade 8 said

I think George makes the right decision. If George didn't kill him, a stranger would have ... or he would have lived with the guilt forever. I'm not saying if a friend does something bad that you should kill them, but you sometimes have to be a little rude to get them to stop. So both ways are right.

Hayley, Grade 7 said

Yes, George made the right decision. He didnt want a stranger to kill his friend. It was like the guy with the dog said "I should have killed him myself" George thought Lennie was sorta his responsibility. He didn't do it out of anger, he did it out of love!

Laura S., Grade 7 said

George and Lennie were such good friends that George wouldn't feel right if he didn't kill him. He would probably feel sad and not be too happy that someone else shot his best friend. I think that since Lennie was so fond of the rabbits that that is what George wanted his last thought to be.That is why I think that George did the right thing.

So it sounds to me like everyone agrees that George did the right thing. It still breaks my heart though. Does anyone else out there agree? Is there anyone that thinks George should have not killed Lennie? Leave a comment below or email us at word@weeklyreader.com.

Until next time...

Posted by
Bryon
on 8/25/2006
11:46 AM

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Planet Envy

Oh Pluto. I'm still with ya, big guy.

Did you hear? Some smarty pantses out in Prague decided to strip Pluto of its planetary status. We're down to 8 now. Can you name them all? Can I? Oh, I certainly hope so.

Earth um Mars um Venus um Mercury um Uranus um Saturn um Jupiter um um uhhhhhhhh I probably should have gone in order. Oh yeah, and Neptune. Phew. I pass 4th grade science. Yayyyy!

Bark. I thought our universe was supposed to be expanding? Not constricting. In fact, I know a family that lives down the street from me who was seriously considering going to Pluto next summer for their vacation. They were all like "Oh yeah, you gotta go to Pluto! It's the furthest planet!" Now they won't even look at it through their high-powered telescopes. All the Plutonian brochures have vanished from their house. It's so sad.

If you all feel like I do, and you want to see Pluto get it's planetary status back, then leave a comment below or write to word@weeklyreader.com. Once I get 100,000 concerned readers on my side, I'll print out all your letters and shoot them off in a rocketship to the farthest reaches of the universe. Together, we can give Pluto it's 248 orbital years back!

Posted by
Bryon
on 8/24/2006
12:29 PM

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

School Daze

Is it June yet?

Welcome back to school! Are you back yet? I may be jumping the gun a little here. When do you start?

A) This week
B) Next week
C) After Labor Day
D) I'm never goin' back, man! Never!!!

Take it easy, partner. I'm just curious. The whole gosh darn educational world is curious!

Next week is WORD's birthday. You can send your birthday wishes to word@weeklyreader.com. If you're new here, welcome. We usually have more to say than this.

Posted by
Bryon
on 8/23/2006
4:07 PM