Debate First Blog

A few debates that i am familiar with are:

banning smoking all over: these debates occur in states and people debate back and forth about health reasons and other reasons why people should not be allowed to smoke in public places and then people who are against this debate
abortions: the argues are people are either for abortion or against it and this debate occurs all over, is a structured debate and a tough one because there are many pros and cons of abortions and this is a touchy subject and people can feel very differently about this issue.

Loving Natalee: Post 2B

In the beginning of this section Beth Holloway has just arrived in Aruba in search to find her daughter Natalee who did not make it home the last night of her senior trip to Aruba. When Beth is on the plane she goes over and over in her mind and tries to put the pieces together of how this could have happened to her Natalee. Natalee's friends told her some information. " She got into a car with a young man named Joran, or something like that."(page 33) This is usual and gives hope that Natalee is hopefully still somewhere on the island. Beth had a deep intuition that something bad was going to happen in Aruba. "A parent just knows when something is wrong."(page 34) Beth tells us how good of a daughter and person Natalee was and her leaving the bar, Carlos n' Charles was very out of character for Natalee. When Mrs.Holloway arrives to the Holiday Inn hotel where Natalee's high school was staying. At the hotel Beth meets two men named Alberto and Claudio who were assigned to help Beth in Aruba and help find Natalee. Everywhere Beth goes she brings a large portrait of Natalee and asks people around her if they have seen her anywhere. At the hotel the lady working at the front desk gives Mrs. Holloway Natalee's luggage that was left in her room. Mrs. Holloway also finds information about who Natalee left with from the front desk people. They say she left the bar in a silver car with two black men in the front seat and Joran and Natalee got into the back seat. Beth finds out that Joran lied and told Natalee he was a tourist but he really lives in Aruba. They find out his address and Beth, Jug (Beth's husband) and police officers and a DEA agent go to the house. When they get to the house Joran's father answers the door and says he is not home and tells them to go look for him at another hotel. Beth keeps saying " It's hard to comprehend that the beach patrol and the hotel staff won't pay attention to a tourist's crisis."(page 41) This is just terrible and I feel so sorry for Beth and her family.

Loving Natalee: Post 2A

Vocabulary Words-

*adhering(page 34): to stay attached, cling

*mustering(page 34): to call troops together for inspection

Figurative Language-

"Her badge identifies her as a U.S. Homeland Security Office representative, and I hone in on her like a radar."(page 35) I know this is a literary element and that it is a simile because it uses like and compares the person to a radar when she know the badge isn't actually a radar.
"It would wash over us like the tide, then ebb."(page 36) Again I know this is a simile because it uses like and compares it to the tide and Beth Holloway is talking about how the tragic disappearance of her daughter is hitting them hard like a tide.
"He is tall. Good looking boy. Like a Dutch marine."(page 39) This third example of figurative language from the book is yet again another simile. I know its a literary element because the lady working at the casino is describing Joran the person Natalee was last seen with and comparing him to a dutch marine saying he is that handsome but Joran really is not a dutch marine.

"It's very frustrating that no one will take any action or offer any help. Perhaps this is just how they do it down here."(page 40) I choose this quote because I think that this could be an arising theme, that Beth comes all the way to Aruba in hope to find her daughter and the people
there are not willing to do much for her to help find Natalee.

One emerging theme I see happening in the book is them finding even more evidence that it was Joran who either kidnapped or killed Natalee.

Loving Natalee: Post 1B

In the first few pages, Beth Holloway the mother of Natalee Holloway is talking about her life today and then it flashes back to the days before Natalee disappeared. Beth talks about clearing out Natalee’s room and talks about what kind of person Natalee was.

“ Natalee always worked very hard at everything she did. She was and all-around success story: she made friends easily, she made straight A’s, she made the National Honor Society.” (page 6) This quote is important because it makes you realize how great of a person Natalee was and what she was like. Beth tells about how just days before Natalee left she had graduated from high school and was very excited for the trip. Beth warned her to stick close to friends at all times on the trip and was already nervous because she had heard bad stories about people’s trips to Aruba but knew that Natalee would stick close to friends. Beth talks about how she decided to take a trip to their lake home with her sisters the day that Natalee left to spend time with her family. Beth was out shopping with her sisters when she received the terrible phone call that changed her life. The travel agent said that Natalee had not shown up for the bus ride that morning and her friends said she did not come home that night from the Carlos N’ Charlie’s club/bar that they had gone to the night before. Beth said she instantly knew that something terribly bad had happened to her daughter. She drove nine hours at 102 mph to get back to their hometown in Birmingham, Alabama. She informed her husband Jug that they had to get to Aruba at once.

Loving Natalee : Post 1A

Vocabulary Words-

*looming (page 1):to come into view as a massive, distorted image.

*municipalities (page 4) : a community under municipal jurisdiction.

Figurative Language-

examples:
1. "I feel like concrete". (page 2) I know this is a literary element( a metaphor) because Beth Holloway doesn't literally feel like concrete she is just showing how she is extremely sad and stressed with everything that is happening in her life.
2. "Apparently word of the fire didn't spread as fast as the flames". (page 17) This is a literary element because the news of Beth's daughters disappearance didn't literally spread as fast as flames it is just a simile showing us how fast the news spread.
3. " Certified as an electrician, he was talented as a jack-of-all-trades." (page 18) This also is showing use of simile and I know it is figurative language and it describes how Beth's father was a very good handy-man and fixed up their lake house when it burned down.

" I drove away not knowing that would be the last time I would ever see Natalee." (page 16)
This quote is significant because Beth explains how she was already apprehensive about Natalee going on the senior trip already and Beth's entire life changed when her daughter was reported missing. This is important because the entire plot of the story is about Natalee's disappearance.

One theme I see emerging in the book is more of the story of the entire tragedy and what happened when Beth actually got to Aruba.

2nd Quarter Reading Book Choice Write Up

1. Loving Natalee by: Beth Holloway
2. Copyright 2007
3. Nonfiction
4. 231 pages
5. This book is sufficiently hard for a high school because my mom and my older sister who is in college had to read it in a class so that obviously says something.
6. I choose to read this book because my mom and sister loved it and said I would too. It's about a girl who got kidnapped on spring break and I might be going on spring break to Mexico with a friend this year so the book will teach me to really stick with that friend.