The Indian diary book response

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is probably the most fun book that I have had to read for school. It's fun to read and the best part is that I do not have to annotate it. The first noticeable thing about the book is it's pictures. The pictures are just low quality sketches made out to be on loose-leaf paper. They all are pretty simplistic but entertaining and enjoyable.

The book is a very strange book to be chosen for a class read. There are a lot of sensitive topics that the book talks about with out very much concern. For that reason I find it interesting but not at all awkward to read. Right now I am about half way done reading it and look forward to finishing it.

free post

This coming weekend I am looking forward to my second half-marathon race. I ran my first for a good time and to do well. This time am looking to do it with more people so probably a much slower pace. I plan to run it more leisurely and less as a race.

The race is on Sunday in New Orleans. I have to be there pretty early in the morning. I'll probably have to wake up at 2 or so to properly prepare. It should be a fun event though because there will be a lot of free food and I also think some bands are preforming and just stuff like that. To clarify, a half marathon is 13.1 miles.

comments

Comment on Max's blog

http://mhr416.blogspot.com/2017/01/post-2-123.html

my comment of Alex H's blog

https://harambememelover.blogspot.com/2017/01/my-topic.html?showComment=1485484624155#c1589134530141759990

Post about last semester

What I learned most about myself last semester is that I will procrastinate my work more than anyone else I know. For instance I posted around half of my blogs late last semester when I could have easily done them earlier in the week. Another example is that I am writing this blog at nine in the night the day it is due. I know people enjoy my blogs, especially Charles Lee, a lovely guy, and I would hate to keep up my bad habit of posting and doing work late.

This semester I am really working on doing my work in a timely and organized fashion. My goal is to turn as little work in late as possible. I believe a good way to help me accomplish this amazing feat is to make better use of my time in study hall. Another way I will work to be on time is to not leave any work until the morning that it is due.

My research project

My thesis for the project is "How do terrorists justify their actions and in what way Islam involved?". I feel like my project will shed some light on the general reasons for not only terrorism, but Islamophobia as well. I feel that when acts of terror happen some people are very quick to put blame on broad group of people, particularly Muslims. I am writing this to better educate myself on the topic of terrorism and understand why people think it may hold value.

So far I have three general reasons I am observing through research. The first reason is that terrorism is a response by fundamentalist Islams who fear impending western culture. The second reason is because the Islamic Empire conquered a vast amount of area by sometimes means of violence and Islamic groups like ISIS who are trying to create a similar government feel that the violence created by the Islamic empire justifies their own. My third point is text from the Qur'an. The Qur'an is interpreted in different ways but while some are very peaceful some interpretations do encourage violence and the punishment of non-Muslim people.

blog comments

My comment on James's blog...

https://jamescblogpost.blogspot.com/2017/01/free-post-winter-break.html?showComment=1484856952120#c8088699320943511170

My comment on Jack's blog...

https://graysonallenftw.blogspot.com/2017/01/free-post.html?showComment=1484857322913

Free topic

For 2017 I have made some goals for myself to accomplish this year. One of main goals is to finish every assignment on time. I know that for most people that is not a problem but for me I have trouble finding time to finish everything. I am also a filthy procrastinator and feel like I can accomplish my goal by absolving that bad habit.

My other big goal is to run in the cross country state meat. In order to do this I must be seventh of the team. This is going to be very difficult because of people like Gram Frazer (returning state champion), Kenny Schafer, Michal Lee, William Kennedy, Austin, and David Whitehurst. In order to do this I need to work harder then the competition for the seventh spot like James, my closest competitor. I am looking to drop my three mile race time by one minute this year. That might not seem like much but in terms of a race that is the transition of dozens of places in a meet. 

Research so far.

Currently I am working on note cards for the project. The process of making note cards, while it is tedious, is much better than working on the annotated bibliography. The note cards are really helping me to the information that I have obtained from my sources. Some of my sources have fundamental disagreements but have enough information to help me form my own opinion.

The hardest part of the project so far was finding enough sources to get all the information I needed. To be honest I think that this project is a good opportunity to research something that genuinely interests you and to enjoy doing it. I enjoy researching my topic and I think that the broad option of topics that there were give most people a chance do something they like. The one thing I fear is that I will mess up on something or get behind and end up screwing myself for this project.