I think that two of the best bloggers are Ciarrah and Eliza. They both actually do very similar things that make all of their posts interesting. One thing that I have noticed that they both do well is staying on one main focus or topic through their post. They never seemed to get off topic or write anything but what their one focus was. I always seem to drift away from what my focus is thats why I think they did that very well because its not an easy thing to do in my opinion. Another thing that they both did well was not only always stay on topic but they always seemed to have a good topic that got you engaged on their thoughts about the book. What they thought about the book never seemed to be boring it was always something interesting. And they were also good with supporting their thoughts. They always had evidence to back up on what had led them to believe their thought. The last thing that i think Eliza and Ciarrah did well was not summarizing to much. The included their thoughts and not what happened in the book. For me i also find that difficult i often find myself just going on and on about what happened in the book and then writing just a couple of sentences about what i actually thought. But Eliza and Ciarrah were always writing what their thoughts were on everything and they were never summarizing to much or getting carried away with telling the story instead of actually writing about it. And that's why i think Ciarrah and Eliza are good bloggers. They do a lot of good things in their blog posts and some of them are actually very difficult.

I interviewed my tutor Paul. Paul makes an important difference in the world every single day. In Park Slope Paul teaches at pre-school co-op. He teaches toddlers the basic important things such as the alphabet, counting, and social skills. He also writes songs and plays them on his guitar to help the kids with sounds and repetition. Paul works from 9:30 to 12:30 three days a week. He also does activities with the kids such as playing with play-do, coloring, and even the oh so exciting baby yoga. After a brief snack Paul and his co associates lead the children outside for some outside time. They exercise, play at the jungle jim. After playing outside they return into the school eat their lunches and read some more books. Then at 12:30 the short day is over for the pre-schoolers as they then get picked up and their day comes to an end. Paul likes his job as a pre-school educator and finds it rewarding.

In the book, That Was Then This is Now, Bryon the main character has to face a number of issues and problems involving really close friends and family. One of the biggest problems in the book that I don't think was expressed much was the fact that Bryon was living home with a friend while his only parent, his mother, lay in a hospital bed. Bryon is very much affected by the absence of his mother in basically a big chunk of his childhood. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have to grow up for a of couple years living with a friend and no parent ever around. Though Bryon and his friend Mark are 17 and I'm 13. The result of his mom spending time in a hospital is that Bryon often comes into situations where he has to make money to support his family and he's going around having to find food. Plus with him, Mark, and his mom not having money just makes it a whole lot harder then if your mother had left you with money to spend. Instead Bryon is having to be his own parent and has to act like a mature adult maybe a little earlier then he had hoped. Plus hes still breaking out of being a teenager. I don't know if there really are any solutions to the problem Bryon is facing. You can't adopt a mother or hire one or anything and Bryon can't magically make his mom better. And especially with him Mark and his mother being low on money the few options he might have might not be possible without any money.

Cyber bullying is a big problem all across America and it is doing nothing but increasing. I’m almost scared of cyber bullying and it actually really upsets me. In my mind I couldn’t even imagine being bullied through the internet and having some dumb kid do this to you through the internet!!! I read a couple of articles and found that cyber bullying obviously mostly comes from social networking websites. Facebook is a common place where cyber bullying occurs. But pretty much any website where kids can interact there is some sort of cyber bullying going on. Cyber bullying worries me not only because it can happen to me but that it can happen to friends of mine which can be just as bad. And the worst part about cyber bullying in my opinion is the seriousness of it. People might think of cyber bulling as one kid getting his feelings hurt through the internet. But that’s not true. Lately bullying has affected a number of kids so much that some of them have hung themselves. Cyber bullying is doing the same thing to some kids. Some kids are going through so much pain because of cyber bullying that they have not only thought of killing themselves but actually done it!!! In fact one of my mom’s co-workers nephew killed himself because of cyber bullying. Cyber bullying isn’t a matter of feelings hurt. It can come down to such awful situations where a kid is thinking to him/her self life or death? Obviously things are trying to be done to stop cyber bullying. But I think there needs to be more.

http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=S44-4241-0-5002&artno=0000317665&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=cyberbullying&title=More%20Youth%20Seeing%20Their%20Facebook%2C%20Email%20Hacked&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&lnk=N&ic=N

http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=S44-4241-0-5002&artno=0000317048&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=cyberbullying&title=More%20Cases%20of%20Bullying%20Ending%20Up%20in%20Courts&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&lnk=N&ic=N

This week and I kept reading That Was Then, This is Now. My prediction was right. I thought that Mark and Bryon were just going to become closer and closer which was just a set up for the moment when they start to separate. When Bryon gets a new girlfriend him and Mark start spending less and less time together. And just at the time when the two couldn’t be closer. Mark was just out of the hospital, and one of their best friends had just been shot saving their butts. But when Cathy (Bryon’s new girlfriend and M&M’s sister) and Bryon started dating they spent most of their time devoted to each other. And it wasn’t just teenage boyfriend girlfriend Bryon had latterly fallen in love with Cathy. At one point in the book Bryon proved me right by saying “me and Mark hadn’t been spending much time together recently” (pg 86). Bryon and Mark have been as close as brothers and been through so much together so hopefully their valuable and meaningful friendship will not crumble.

Over the past couple of weeks I have continued to read the book That Was Then This is Now by S.E. Hinton. I really like the book and I keep seeing a continuing process of what I thought was going to happen in the book. Byron and Mark have been friends since they were practically born. There like brothers and even live with each other after Mark’s parents disappeared. I predicted that Byron and Mark would just keep growing closer and closer (if that’s possible anymore) and then with them both getting older I think that one of them will move out of their neighborhood and start their life. Right now I think the book is still at the point where they are both getting as close of friends as possible. And I feel like they just took another step and I think maybe even the last step before they might start to separate. In the last chapter I read Mark got into a fight at a party and was smashed across the side of his face with a glass beer bottle. That brought Byron and Mark together in a lot of moments where they thought back on how much they really cared about each other. Not only the fact of how much Byron was worrying as he rode next to Mark in the ambulance to the hospital. But also after that during the time Mark was recovering from the gash he had on the side of his head. They talked a lot because Mark wasn’t really able to do anything physical (including walking). That forced the two to lie in their beds a lot and talk. Mark thanked Byron for being there for him through the whole thing. This led them to remembering many moments from when they were younger. Not in high school and they used to always be there for each other. This really brought them closer because it reminded them of why they are best friends or why they are often mistaken for brothers.

I just started the book That Was Then, This is Now by S.E. Hinton.  I really like the book only about 50 pages in.  Something that I was kind of wondering about the book was the authors purpose.  A couple days ago I think I finally figured it out.  Its as the authors purpose being the importance of.  The book is about two friends being so close that its like their brothers.  They were even mistaken for brothers at one point in the book on page 33.  The two boys have always done things together and lived around each other.  And they swear to each other that it will always be like that.
The book is out of the eyes of one of the two friends.  Its told by Byron and his best friend is Mark.  The two of them are around 16.  Byron and Mark live in a dangerous neighborhood.  This book seems like it takes place a while ago because it often talks about how wouldn't even come into bad neighborhoods even if their was a crime going on.  Also cokes costed 35 cents.
So Byron and Mark find themselves having to litterly fight people constantly.  I think that is actually part of what brings the two boys together.  They always have each others back because they know they might tried to get jumped.  So while their friends and might just like the company or to hang out they also stay together a lot because in the neighborhood they live in its not exactly safe to be by yourself.    Byron and Mark are part of the reason they live in a bad neighborhood.  They might get jumped by people but they also often jump people together.  They also hustle people in billiards down at the bar.  And they smoke under aged.  On page 22-23 Mark steals 3 dollars from a kid (in the time period this book takes place in, that was a lot) and then the two saw a guy standing by himself and decided to jump him.   There actually not the safest kids to be with.  But the reason I always second guess that their bad kids is because of the things Byron thinks.  If this book came from the point of view of a narrator you would never think that their could be a good side to Byron and Mark.  I still don't know about Mark but there is definitely a possibility that Byron is actually a nice guy.  He always talks about how he feels bad sometimes if they beat someone up and steal from them.  He also wishes that Mark his best friend wouldn't steal so much or wouldn't want to fight so much.  And while its early in the book I can see that part of Byron showing and showing more instead of just being inside him.  And when the time comes that Byron does show that side of him, it will take an effect on their friendship.