Marie Curie (ORR 2 - Living History Museum)

Title: Something out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium
Author: Carla Killough McClafferty
Pages: 134
Genre: Biography


Currently reading only my 2nd biography chosen, Something out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium, and it's basically about how Marie Curie (born Maria Sklodowska) got to what she had. So far as I have reached, she has tried really hard to collext enough money to study at the Sorbonne University in Paris, France. She gave up 4 years to work and gather money for her sister, Bronya for her tuition at the Sorbonne. After 4 years, Marie got very tired of working, and her father decided to help her, by paying her tuition (together with her brother) so that she could go to the Sorbonne. Another main event in her life was the wedding wiyh Pierre, her husband. Pierre studied at the University too, soon than became a professor. Both Marie and Pierre were into physics and chemistry, and they worked togetheron the discovery of Radium and Polonium.

The one very unique fact I found out about Marie was that she spoke 5 languages before getting accepted to University, yet she still hasn't had the highest chances sue to gender discrimination (women not allowed ito study, therefore France gave her more freedom.

*She spoke: English, French, Russian, German, and of course her native mother tounge - Polish*

Letters From Burma, Post 2

Title: Letters From Burma
Author: Aung Sun Suu Kyi
Genre: Autobiography (Letters)

     My last post described how Aung Sun Suu Kyi described Burma and told a bit about the book itself. Well, now it's getting very intense. The letters are getting far more desperate, like letters should when you've been under house arrest for 15 years. She is calling for a revolution, she knows that it can be done and that it will happen. She sends a letter to one of her closest friends, the high monk of her childhood temple. He receives the letter and rallies all the people he can find. The protest is a simple march down Rangoon's main square to the Capitol building, but it does not go well. Out of the million that rallied, 10 000 were killed brutally. Those that fled to Thailand were also killed, bringing the death toll to 300 000 people, all innocent. Aung Sun Suu Kyi's letters after this are sad, disappointed, and she personally writes letters to all the families that lost someone.
     Aung Sun Suu Kyi's upbringing was quite interesting. She was born to the man who negotiated Burma's independence from Britain, Aung San. She knew her father until the age of four, when he was killed by Junta troops in a public demonstration of power. Also, when she was born, her parents (even her mother) was horrified that she was a girl. In Burma, the birth of a girl is almost a sin against humanity, unless they are born on the month of the new year (April). Her names are derived from three people. Aung Sun from her father, "Aung San," Suu is her family name and Kyi from her mother "Khin Kyi."

Coco Chanel

For our living histories project, I decided to portrait Coco Chanel and the book I chose is called 'Coco Chanel' , it is written by Ann Gaines and it is part of the series 'Women in the Arts'. 


I don't really understand how the author decided to organize this book, it is as if she just wrote down all the things that came to her mind about Chanel in no specific order. Usually, biographies are organized chronologically, but here, she starts off with Chanel's comeback after her exile and moves on to her death and then back to where she lived when she was small and then back to her fashion show after her exile and then back to her difficult years as a child and how we don't know much about her childhood. 
Nonetheless, the book is well written and has a lot of good information in it. 


One thing I found out that I think it great is that she was very determined and she persevered whenever she set her mind on a goal. One example of this is when she came back from her 15 years self-imposed exile in Switzerland, she presented her new collection in a fashion show where everyone important in fashion was present. This new collection was very coldly received and the reviews were not very encouraging. 
'Reviewers regarded Chanel, then 70 years old, as being as hopelessly outdated as her work. They predicted that none of her plain but expensive little suits would find buyers.'
Nonetheless, Chanel persevered and decided to feature her collection in larger and cheaper stores such as department stores where people would go to find clothes more suitable for everyday wear, which was exactly the type of clothing she was aiming for. The CHANEL name became more famous and even spread to the U.S. where women would pay high prices for Chanel's designs. 
'By the '50s, she had the benefit of distance, and so could truly distill the Chanel look. Time and culture had caught up with her.' -Karl  Lagerfeld, heir to the CHANEL label.

1) Discuss the biography/autobiography so far:
    How is it organized? explain.
    Is the writing challenging? explain.
So far, the biography is very interesting for me. Not being an avid reader, I am surprised to find that I really enjoy reading this biography. So far, in this reflective book, Muhammad Ali talks a lot about religion and racism. He grew up with a baptist mother and his mother was very religious and brought her beliefs upon him. His father was a Methodist, but he allowed his mother to teach her beliefs to their children. Muhammad Ali lived in a time when racism was at one of its high points, and he was often discriminated against, as a child, society had confused him so much that he had asked his mother if he will go to heaven because he never saw a saint or painting of a black person in church.
2) What is one unique thing (so far) about your chosen human being for the Living History?  Explain it in detail.
So far, the unique thing about my person is that although I chose Muhammad Ali as an athlete that I admire, he has proven to be much more. Muhammad Ali is different from other athletes because he truly was a social activist and was known for his thoughts and opinions. Through this book I found that I agree with Muhammad Alis views on many occasions too, and I think that is rare with athletes.

The Story of My Life

The Story of My Life
by Hellen Keller
Autobiography

1) Discuss the autobiography so far:
How is it organized? explain. 
Is the writing challenging? explain.
In the Book so far Helen Keller is talking about her life in darkness. At the beginning she talked about some memorable experiences that she had. She had thrown many temper tantrums when she did not get what she wanted or when she did not understand something. Like how everyone communicated through moving lips and not through the types of hand symbols that she used. Once she found her baby sister Mildred in her doll's cradle, so she dumped Mildred out because she was not supposed to be there. Luckily her mother saw and was able to catch Mildred before she hit the ground and would have probably died. Everyone that lived with them knew how Helen communicated and were able to understand her most of the time. It was a very hard life for Helen as she grew up especially because she knew that she was different than everyone. After the first approximately 10 pages of Helen going through some of the memories that she remembered the most she started going trough her life. She started when her parents were looking for a teacher to help her. The book then continues on with her life and what happened as she was there. Once Helen actually locked her teacher in her room and hid the key. Her father then had to carry her out using a latter. 
The writing is not very challenging. It is quite easy to understand and much easier than the book I recently read Pride and Prejudice. I really like the style that she speaks in because it is easy to understand. My mom thinks this is because she is not that good in English seeing that she is deaf, so she cannot hear new and more challenging words and if she does it would be hard for her to pronounce them.
2) What is one unique thing (so far) about your chosen human being for the Living History?  Explain it in detail.
Normally when I think of Helen Keller I see her as a naughty young girl who was always going into tantrums and throwing fits. By reading this book it seems that she was more interested in the world around her than in always throwing temper tantrums. This may be because Helen Keller was the one who wrote the book so she knew when she was actually have a tantrum or not or that she did not really want anyone to know the bad things about her, but that she was interesting in the outside world, and not just throwing tantrums all the time.


I am really enjoying the book about Helen Keller and her Life and I hope to be able to keep reading about her!!!!!

A Womans Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot

For my living history I am reading a book called 'A Womans Crusade' by Mary Walton. The book goes through Alice Paul's entire life from her upbringing as a quaker to finally winning the right to vote and her work in human right afterward. So far I have learn't about how Alice Paul grew up as a quaker not being exposed to much, her high level education, and how her work in London finally lead her to Washington. I think Alice Paul was quite impressive woman especially now that im am reading about what she did before she became famous for her work in washington.

Michel Jordan:

Michael Jordan is involved with a variety of charity  events including the Boys' and Girls' Clubs of America, UNCF College Fund, Special Olympics and a number of other charity organizations that support children and families

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.

With the possible exceptions of boxer Muhammad Ali and baseball player Babe Ruth, no athlete has made a greater impact on American society-or in the world-than Michael Jordan. Follow the life of one of the most recognizable athletes and living brands inside this engaging and balanced biography.

He is among the best-known and wealthiest athletes in the history of organized sports. With the possible exceptions of boxer Muhammad Ali and baseball player Babe Ruth, no athlete has made a greater impact on American society-or in the world-than Michael Jordan. Follow the life of one of the most recognizable athletes and living brands inside this engaging and balanced biography.

When basketball stars Larry Bird and Magic Johnson retired in the early 1990s, Michael almost single-handedly propelled the NBA to stratospheric levels of success and international visibility. As a player for the Chicago Bulls, he generated instant crowd thrills with his record-setting drives and dunks, selling countless books, newspapers, videotapes, NBA game tickets, and hours of television time. The NBA promoted Michael, basing its popularity on his image as the greatest showman in sports history. Yet his sports hero status extends beyond NBA records. Michael changed the game by becoming the most effectively marketed athlete of his generation. Nike and many other companies rode-and continue to ride-on the coattails of Air Jordan's legend. Author David Porter highlights Jordan's on and off the court accomplishments and examines his relationship with Chicago Bulls' coaches, his commercial endorsements, and his current role as part-owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. A chronology, photos, career stats, and a bibliography of print and electronic resources round out this biography of one of the most influential athletes of the twentieth century..

Lance Armstrong

talk about how its organized, is the writing challenging, what is one unique thing

IN the book, It Not About The Bike, I love the layout of the book. There is tons of writing and then in the middle of the book there is a collage of pictures of when he was a child till now, which i find to be really cool. Another cool thing is that the chapters are long, that there are not so many breaks between the book. 

The writing in the book, is not that challenging, here and there in the writing there are challenging words, but usually it is ok. But the writing is super detailed it is as if he wrote the book him self. Some times the book is in third person which is quite cool. 

Well the unique thing about my guy, Lance Armstrong is that when he was younger around 19, he went to the OLympic Games, when he left he was still in school. He was getting great grades. But the head of the school was a total jerk. When Armstrong came back, the told him that he had mist tons of school so has to leave. The mom started yelling at them and then straight away looked for other school, that would give him a free school year. 

 

Title: Joan of Arc, A Military Leader

Author: Kelly Devries 

Pages: 189

1) Discuss the biography/autobiography so far:
    How is it organized? explain.
    Is the writing challenging? explain.
2) What is one unique thing (so far) about your chosen human being for the Living History?  Explain it in detail.\

For the Living Histories project, I chose to do Joan of Arc. I’m currently reading the book “Joan of Arc” by Kelly Devries. At the beginning of the book, there is a list of illustrations and maps, chronology, and acknowledgements. The book begins with an introduction where the author explains his need to write another book about Joan of Arc. The second chapter explains why Joan of Arc was needed. The third chapter sets the question of a military mission and the fourth one is named “Relieving the Siege of Orleans.” The writing is challenging because it is based on many historical sources and there is a variety of interesting photographs and illustrations. Joan of Arc was unique because she was a significant person. In the middle ages, women rarely took part in political and military affairs- she was one of a kind. Even today there are many controversies about her extraordinary life and horrible death. She was a woman who played an important role in the world of men.