Nineteen Minutes. #6.

This week, I had more time then usual to read for outside reading, and I ended up finishing the story. I absolutely loved the book. The ending was completely unpredictable. I don't think any reader would have imagined the book ending the way it did. The book ended with Josie saying she was the one the killed Matt. She completely took all the blame from Peter which wasn't expected. At first, I hated the ending and couldn't believe what I had just read. After thinking about the story, I started to understand Josie's reasoning. She had been super good friends with Peter all her younger years, until about 7th grade year when she became friends with the popular people. 9th grade year, she started dating the popular jock, Matt. He was never extremely loving towards her, and he spoke to her in an abusive way. Josie was one of those girls who would do anything to be popular. She longed for the title, and Matt helped her be popular. She was afraid and scared to be friends with Peter because he was considered the typical "nerd". She didn't want to ruin her popular name by not being like everyone else and being nice to "nerds". She wasn't strong enough to stand up to her clique and tell them she thought it was right to be nice to everyone, including the "nerds" and "geeks". She was afraid of what it would do to her reputation. I starting thinking about the ending, and I concluded it was her way of trying to make up for her actions. I think she desperately wanted to show Peter she was still by his side, and still considered him her friend deep down inside. I think the ending was proof that Josie was an individual who was extremely confused and easily manipulated. She spent all of her time trying to fit in and impress everyone at school and in her life. Overall, Jodi Picoult has yet to disappoint me with one of her novels. I couldn't believe how amazing the book was. It caused me to really think about how Josie was feeling and what prompted her actions. Not every story has the power to make the reader put themselves in the protagonist's shoes, but Jodi Picoult's stories are always thought provoking and original.

Nineteen Minutes. #5.

This week, I didn't have much time to continue reading nineteen minutes. I am currently a little over half way through the book. I still love the book and continue to learn new things from the reading. The book continues to emphasize the things most people wouldn't traditionally think about like the killer's feelings and those of the killer's parents. Most people would feel terrible for the victims of the shooting. The way Jodi Picoult writes causes the reader to have sympathy for Peter. The style of writing makes some people feel worse for Peter than the victims and their families. The book especially shows Peter's parents inner struggle over the love of their son. They can't decide if the sin their son has commited is forgivable. They are having a real problem trying to chose if their kid is worthy of their love and what specific actions they should take to support him through his struggle and difficult time. They are trying to figure out the most productive way to help get their son out of the slump he has gotten himself into. They obviously also feel protective of their kid and don't want him to be an outcast. This is an interesting topic to think about because it causes teenagers to consider how their parents would react if they pulled a stunt this horrible. It makes me wonder what my parents would do and fully understand what great parents they are by never letting me fall low enough where I would ever feel compeled to do anything that life changing and messed up.

ANNOTATED CITATION #2

Festing, Simon, and Greek, Ray. "Animal Research Necessary, Evil...or Both?." Ecologist Nov. 2003: pg. 28-31. SIRS knowledge.Proquest. Edina Library. 08 012 2009 . http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMN0307H-0-7772&artno=0000184551&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=&title=Animal%20Research%3A%20Necessary%2C%20Evil...or%20Both%3F&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=N&ic=Y

This article is a debate between two highly respected individuals, Simon Festing and Ray Greek. Festing graduated in 1987 with a bachelor in medicine from the London Hospital Medical College. He is now the executive director of the Research Defense Society in Britain. His job is to defend the use of animal testing in the UK. He has been a member or multiple voluntary support groups. In this article, he obviously represents the use of animals for testing in the debate. Ray Greek works with his wife, Jean Greek traveling the world speaking to scientists and activists about the negative impacts of the use of animals for research. They also speak with the intention of exposing the "money-driven superstition called animal-modelled biomedical research". Ray Greek is the scientific adviser of the National Anti-Vivisection Society in America, the president of Americans for Medical Advancement, and the medical director of Europens for medical advancement. Him and his wife are convinced human health is at risk if animals continue to be used for the purpose of medical reasearch. They also believe animals are going to become exstinct if this kind of reasearch and testing continues.

ANNOTATED CITATION

My question:
IS IT ETHICAL AND USEFUL TO USE ANIMALS FOR THE PURPOSE OF MEDICAL EXPERIMENTATION?

London, Edythe. "Why I Use Animals in My Research." Los Angeles Times 01 011 2007: n.p.. SIRS knowledge. Proquest. Edina Library. 8 Dec 2008 . http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMN0307H-0-7772&artno=0000269166&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=&title=Why%20I%20Use%20Animals%20in%20My%20Research&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=N&ic=Y

Edythe London is a scientist at UCLA who uses animals in her research. She is targeted by animals rights activists and highly criticized. Dr. London's research has advanced the study of substance abuse and helped come up with new approaches for brain studies. She has edited several books, and she has written over 200 original research articles. Also, she she is the author of over 60 reviews. Her largest accomplishment involves PET scanning of human subjects who suffer from addictions. London's group became famous when they were the first to prove a relationship between the activity of specific brain regions and drug cravings. She also showed that drug abusers have structural differences from normal people that highly affect their decision making. All these accomplishments are due to her use of animals for testing and research. Her work influenced other researchers to continue looking at what motivates and compels individuals to do drugs. Most recently, she and her peers have been researching the area of the brain nicotine affects and how it acts.

Nineteen Minutes. #4.

This week, new information has been revealed during my reading. I've read about four tenths of the book so far. There was much emotional turmoil during this section in many important characters. The reader finds out that Peter's parents think it is their fault, and they think they did something to cause Peter to act in a violent way. This fact is affecting them deeply and their emotions are starting to be revealed. They think they said or did something that caused Peter to become super unhappy and feel the need to bring the gun which causes them to think long and hard about what could have possibly motivated their son to go to such extremes. Also, Alex Cormier, Josie's mom who is the judge appointed to this specific case, starts to question if she really wants to take this case. On one hand, she realizes that this could potentially be the biggest most important case she will ever be a part of in her full career. On the other hand, she fears doing something or having an opinion that would eventually damage her relationship with her daughter, who was at one point Peter's best friend. Any normal mother would fear destroying her relationship with her daughter, and I belive I fully grasp the difficulty of the situation. This would be hard for any normal human being who feels emotions and places value on having strong relationships. This situation is a true example of something that has potential to hurt the mother daughter relationship because Josie might feel strongly one way and her mother might feel differently. In the end, it is Alex's ultimate choice because she is legally the one appointed to make the decision. I can't wait to find out if Alex chooses to take the case because it would change the story completely if she didn't. I am also still waiting to see if Josie "remembers" what happend when the trial begins.