My ideas about my story.

June 1 2006Dear Bruna (Her name is Brunilda but I call her Bruna short)It has passed a long time since I have had not news from you. I hope that everything is ok for you and your family. How are you doing in school and how about the exams? Are you ready for those?Yesterday I was talking to Ilma (my sister) about you and she said that even if I write to you today I will not get an answer in time because I am coming back in Albania this summer vacation. It was supposed to be a surprise but I could not keep it only for myself because I am too excited to see everyone again. I know you told me last time when we talked that you have not changed a lot but still it is different if I will see you in person.So now I tell you what I have done till now and what I have planned for this upcoming week.Last week on Monday we bought the tickets for Albania. We are leaving at 10:00 a clock on June 28 and we have to stop In New York and also Milano. I can not wait till the day comes. After two years and a half I will be back in Albania.It is funny but my arrival will coincide with the time when my cousin will be born and I will be there before prom.I have so much to say that now I am jumping here and there as soon as thoughts pop in my had. I hope I do not forget something important.
My graduation is coming up pretty soon. They do it different in America they do a cap and Gown celebration. Here are all the details.
On June 4 I am going on a breakfast with my father and Ilma. The School president has thrown this breakfast for the top ten students. As I said you on the phone I found out on Thursday that I made the top ten and I was number seven. It is nice because I get to go in some places that I never thought I would go. Yesterday I was at the Board of education and they distributed for all the top ten a plaque that included my name, my class year and my GPA. On June 7 it is the award night. The students will get their recognition and also the scholarship will be awarded that day. Till now I have gotten a scholarship from the university but who knows I might get another one. On June 8 is the ceremony of the graduation. All the students will be seated in the auditorium and the diplomas will be distributed.
I was to Sider Point for my physics final and it was great. It was a different world. There were a lot of games to try but not a lot of time because we had to finish our finals first.
These upcoming weeks I am getting ready for my trip. I am going shopping every time it is possible. I have not yet decided what I will buy for you and some other friends, but I hope I will be ready by the day of the trip.
My mom says hi to your mom. I hope your exams go well and I will see you in two weeks even thought I might stay in Tirana (The capital of Albania) for some days.
Your best friend Noela




This letter will be on entry of the series of letters from me and my friend. I am reading the book you gave me and it is helping me a lot. It has some interesting ways on how to write letters and it is interesting also for the context.

Braided Lives and Sylvia’s letters.

Sylvia and Jill are two college students from the 50’s that are living on campus and away from their home.
Jill seems to like to be away from home because if she stayed close to home she would have to work but also she would waste time not learning anything. In the other side Sylvia is having a hard time to stay away. She would rather be close to home and stay with her boyfriend even though he does not have a lot of time for her. She enjoys her studies but also wishes to be with Chet. It seems like Sylvia wants to be on two different places at once.
Both Sylvia and Jill want to have an education. The difference between them is that Sylvia has a boyfriend which from her letters I got the idea that sometimes she felt that he was not more than a good friend, and Jill is struggling with the idea of having someone in her life to dedicate time.
Sylvia and Chet had a relationship similar to Annie and Carl; both of the couples are fulfilling a need to each other by having someone close someone to rely on.
Carl and Annie had a good understanding with each other they enjoyed each other company but it was not a great relationship, because the only time they had together they spend it on some activity. Sylvia and Chet are having a long distance relationship, they have a hard time to stay together but they make sure they see each other on main events.
Having a relationship does not mean to meet with your boyfriend only for events, it means to have a relationship in which you enjoy each others company but also you fulfill each other needs- that does not include the unstoppable need of Sylvia for favors.
Jill and Mike are not sure for their relationship how it will end but they do want to be together.
We are having three relationships that even though parts of them are fictional they still can happen in real life and they do have a truth inside. The relationships that the main characters formed were important for them to go through that period of life.

A letter From Chet to Sylvia.

January 15, 1953

Dear Sylvia

It is been a long time since I have gotten a letter of yours. I hope you are ok and the study is going as you have planned. As for me I have been very tired because we are working extra hours too. We have a special order for this week and it has to be ready by the end of the week. I saw your sister the other day and I went to visit your parents the day before.
They are ok but they want to know if you are coming for this weekend. If you come I want be able to meet you, because I will work for a friend that will substitute me for the dance. I hope I will make it for the party also because till now I think it will be very hard.
I wish you health and good luck on your exams. I will see you at the dance.

With love,
Chet

As I read the blog again after these four months have passed I got this feeling that people are balanced and they feel better if they have around or close someone they know. For freshman students is a known face in a class full of unknown people. For someone else it might be a good word that will make them feel better for what they do or for how they look. To me it was scary at the beginning and I would always look if I would see around for someone I knew for someone that I could talk to. This semester having worked at the library and by having an experience at college I am not anymore scared and I am not looking for the same old known face around. This happens because we are surrounded with people that can be friendly and very helpful and we can create new friendships. This does not mean that I will forget my old friends in contraire I am staying in touch with them every day. Like the couples above that were trying to stay together even though their relationship was not great we friends are trying to support each other in studies and important decisions.

" Joy in the morning" By Betty Smith

We read books and every time we get these feelings that the place where the story happened seems similar to a place where we have been. Sometimes we can picture in our minds what the place looks like. Betty Smith made up the whole village where the two characters lived together. Creating a town shows the ability of her to describe things so clearly that even though this place does not exist we still can picture it in our minds and get an idea of how it looks. She is very careful with the details and she is not using any real names in the whole story. She is making up all this names and she connects them so good that it gives a resemblance with the place and the people we live around. The weather and the agriculture make it easy to compare it with the weather of the real place and to find a resemblance with the invented place created by Betty Smith. The village Ferdon has weather similar with the Michigan weather. Given these detail we can have an idea on where the place might be and we can compare it to something familiar. Using these details she makes it easier for us to not go out of the reality, to not think that these places does not exist and that this story has a truth inside that is more important than just a name. By creating a town she is giving us a window where we can see from her point of view how things and how the place was like. She is trying to give us an easy way of seeing things and accepting those the way she is seeing them and accepting. If Betty Smith would have used a place that was real we might have gotten attached more to the place than to the story that was treated in the book.
The story is based on the two main characters Annie and Carl that are trying to live together and stay on a relationship that is opposed by both of the families.
As a young couple they have problems that are similar to the ones that every couple has at the present time. Their relationship is opposed from the families so they decide to protect their love and their sentiments by running away and getting married without the consent of the parents. They have economical problems that are similar to most of the problems that couples have on trying to have a life alone from parental help. And the main problem that is treated is the tolerance the way they treat each other and the respect that they have for each other. For example when Carl yelled at Annie, he felt really bad and he was sorry for what he said. He said that it was stupid of him to yell at her and he would never forgive himself for what he did. This situation is similar to the situation where today couples think to get the partner to do what you want him/her to do is by beating him/her up. It shows how diplomatic you have to be when you talk to your partner and the way you have to treat problems in order to get the best results.
Annie is living in a new place. She is trying to feet in the place. She does not want to be an outsider even though sometimes it is a good thing for her. She wants to be similar as Carl to be accepted by others for the way she is. What is most important to her is to accept herself the way she is. She reflects on herself and how important is to have a life where people treat you and respect you for the way you are and not for the way you act on being. For example most of the time Annie was worried about her appearance about her resemblance with other coeds. She was worried on being different she wanted to be the same as them. She found out that it was easier to talk to people when she did not act when she was herself. She made a lot of friends when she was herself. Being an outsider was a good thing for her too and gave her an idea of mystery. No one new her past, no one new where she was coming from. She was not judge on her actions and she was not treated badly for what happen on her past.
This is shown better on the part when Annie was going to school and she was taking a class of playwriting. No one new her very well but she was respected. She was an asset to her playwriting class. Her teacher told her how important she was to the class and how much they could learn from each others work. By being an outsider Annie had a different point of view on things. She was raised in a different environment and her experiences were different from the other student’s experiences. She had a different way on saying the truth and that is why the teacher had a good opinion for her.
Annie was different but what she valued the most was her education her desire to improve her spelling and the way she wrote. She was going to school just for the sake of learning. This was different with the other students that went to school because they were obligated or because they needed a credit.
The most important message that the book is trying to put out is to accept ourselves the way we are and to treat the others with respect because a little respect goes a long way.

Barbara Mellix " From Outside in"

Language is a tool we use to communicate with others. All around the world we could find thousand of languages. Even though there are so many languages people still communicate with each other really easy. This happens because there are people that learn more than one language or they are raised in an environment where more than one language is spoken. I personally speak four languages, Albanian, English, Italian and French. When I was a kid I was fascinated by the idea to learn a language and to understand better the people that spoke it. I wanted to know more about their culture and history. At home we speak Albanian and outside we speak English. Sometimes it is really hard to find the right word or to switch back to the language that I need to use.
There are even times when I forget that I am speaking in English and I start speaking in Albanian without realizing it. My friends ask me- “What was that? “and I respond that I did a mistake I meant to say this thing. To me sometimes is hard just to fix in my mind that I should use this language for this environment.
There are cases when I do mistakes but there are cases that are in my advantage. Sometimes I want to say something that I do not want other to understand so it is good to speak a language that others can not understand.
I wanted to learn another language but instead Barbara Mellix was struggling about the idea to use the Standard English. At her home her parents spoke both Black English and Standard English. Her mother taught her both of the ways, she taught her to use the standard English with people that she did not know and the Black English at home with people that she knew. She says that she did not want to use the Standard English, to her it felt like a strange language. She called the language of others, she did use it but she never owns it. She said that a certain age she could switch from one form to the other but for her was hard to accept the idea of using this language. She was proud of herself as the others were. When she went to college she had a hard time to express her ideas with the Standard English. She used simple expression but after she got more used to the language and explored it more she found a new way to express herself. She felt good with her achievement she could master the language and she no longer called it the language of others. Now the language was part of herself, part of Barbara Mellix that accepted herself and expressed her ideas in different ways. Every time she wrote she brought to life a new self. She explored more with her writing and every time she wrote she could get out of it a new quality of herself or a new side of herself that she might not have known.
Barbara Mellix was different then John Price. She had a hard time using the Standard English and she felt like an outsider at school. John Price was familiar with the place and he did not have problems at all with the language. He had a way in using the right words when he wrote letters to his parents and he was so good at it (that he solved his problems every time.) He wrote different to his mother with whom he had a more closeness and the letters to his father were more formal. If Barbara Mellix would write in standard English for her parent would feel more formal, if it is written in black English it would be more familiar and close to them. Barbara Mellix found herself by writing and accepting the idea of using both of the languages, but have we found ourselves?
Are we familiar of who we are? We can find more about ourselves just by exploring more on the inside of our mind and on our every day routine or in our action or responses to different issues.

How different and how alike are the newspapers of UMD 1966 with the newspaper today?


As I read the newspapers articles I found out something interesting. It was a school newspaper that most of the articles were written from professors.
The newspaper has a lot of information about the events happening outside campus, issues concerning the Vietnam War, civil rights, but not a lot of information about student life and the stuff that happens in campus.
The newspaper has more articles that do not describe directly the students’ life, articles that address issues like the draft, the women’s rights, civil rights, abortion, war and protest.
These issues however connected directly to the students and those issues made their life.
For example during this period of time 1965-1970 students were drafted to go to war.
If they did not complete the requirements of the credit hours they had to be drafted. Women were concerned about their rights and also about their option of having abortion when they had an undesirable pregnancy.
The protest against the draft and the civil rights movement were other issues that added up to the tension of whether the students will be drafted to go to war.
As for the appearance the newspaper has a good appearance, pictures and ads, a lot of information and was well organized.
The newspaper today is different but it is also so much alike to the newspaper before. The newspaper today it has a different name before it was called Ad Hoc now it is called The Michigan Journal. I wonder when did they changed the name and why.
The Michigan Journal has more information about student life, sports and academic information and a small portion of the articles are written for issues that have not a connection with the campus life.
I found it interesting that now most of the articles are written by students and before they were written by professors (and a staff that was qualified just for it.)
I get this impression from the articles because the issues treated on the articles are responded very formal and strictly also in some articles there were some faculty issues treated by one of the faculty members.
On 1965-1970 the students were concerned if they were going to finish their studies because of the draft and now the students are concerned about their studies because of the cost. I found interesting that in The Michigan Journal a lot of students’ events are posted and also a lot of possible choices are offered to the students.
Political issues are not discussed as much in the Michigan Journal now maybe this happens because students are occupied with their studies and because now it is more than ever clear that a degree is important on getting a better job.
If we continue to read more articles and we analyze more in depth we might find other similarities and differences. For the articles that we read these were all the things that I thought were interesting.

A place where the movie will be directed.
It was 1950. John Price was sitting near the fire place and around him were his brothers, his wife and his children. His youngest child as curious as he was, started to ask his dad about his college time. He wanted to know more about his experience on the years that America was entering a war, when movies were just starting to show up on cinemas and theaters.
To give his son a pleasure John started to tell him about a letter that he wrote to his mom about his settlement on the college and also about all the things he did during his days.
John had a good relationship with his mom. He wrote to her about everything that he did during his days and also he was not afraid to write her about his studies and how he did his homework and also about his expectations on the grades.
By opening the movie like this it will be a connection between John price and his family but also with his son. It will show 3 Generation and what role they play in each others lives.
Not only that but John Price will travel with his memories back in time and he will remember those times when he was first admitted to his fraternity. When he traveled to go and see the games but also he will remember his friend and he will gives us more information on what happened to all of them.

John Price is the main character and around him revolves everything. He will be telling the story, explain it to make it easier for the viewer.
John Price is a student at Dennison College at Ohio. (He is not an outsider because his all family went to this college and to him it felt practically like a second home.) He was friendly, cared about the people around him. He did not believe in God even though he was obligated to go to every church meeting, dinners and also in one case he was called to lead the prayer before dinner. He was almost caught because he never had to do the prayers at home, and now he was chocked by the surprise that he was the first freshmen to be called.
He is funny always looking for a good time and also dedicated to his job and his family needs. He works and he wants to be independent even though he is dependent to his father about financial need.
He cares about his studies and seems that he catch up really quickly. He never expected that his teacher would read his paper even though he spent just some hours before it was due.
He likes to keep correspondence with his friends but also with his family. What he likes the most is to keep a diary with a lot of information about his college life. From his diary now we get a lot of info not only about the period of time but also we learn more information on how was the life of a college student like at that time.

We will have more characters for example his mom. The movie starts with a correspondence with his mother and from those letters the movie will develop and will explain the events.

Some main ideas that I want the viewers to get from the movie are,
Independence verses Dependence, college life, job responsibilities and school homework. Exploring and learning new things, going with the flow or making a separate decision and also the most important issue is family. All of these issues will be treated on the movie and the issues will be shown from John Prices life in college and his decision about his job or his studies.