In “The Michelle I Know” there are many decisions made. The biggest decision that was made was Michelle choosing to pity and feel bad for herself rather than accepting her condition and trying to move on and not dwell on her disease. Another decision was Rob continually visiting Michelle. He could easily move on and forget about Michelle, but instead he sticks to it which shows he truly cares about Michelle. Finally Michelle decides to stay and listen to what Claude had to say which ultimately helped her perceive her life with cancer in a new way.

If I were in Michelle’s position, I’d like to say I’d be more understanding of my circumstances, but it’s hard to tell. Having cancer is serious business and I think it’d make any touchy to a degree but I’d try my best to not be nearly as miserable as Michelle. As well, I wouldn’t take my frustrations out on Rob who is the one friend who comes to visit on a regular basis. All in all, I would definitely not like to have cancer like Michelle.

If anyone in this world believes that us Canadians are not nice and helpful to the other countires of our world, then they are nuts. I mean just by reading “The Courage to Turn the Other Cheek” people should understand that we do all we can to make, and keep the peace of the world. Our goodness is in the actions of Lt.-Col. Donald Ethell. He willingly and bravely walked out into the line of fire multiple times. One time was mentioned in the article “The Courage to Turn the Other Cheek” of Ethell marching his man into the line of fire of two feuding armies – two armies that have absolutely nothing to do with us in fact – just to make peace between them. I think we have entirely earned the title as the “Nicest people of the world”.

                In almost every story you hear, read or write, there always seems to be some sort of courageous act, or wild adventure. A reoccurring theme in almost all literature is “Courage”. It’s so fascinating because do you ever really wanna read a book about some kid who had the power to change the world, but instead went to the mall because he was too scared? Of course not! We do that kind of stuff ourselves on a daily basis, so we don’t want to read about other people doing it as well. We as the public want to read about adventurous people going above and beyond, defying all odds and doing the impossible. Those stories are more interesting because those characters have the ability to do what we can only dream of doing.

          A novel or better yet a series that I believe is full of courage, adventures, quests and everything we normal folk wish we could do but can’t, is the “Harry Potter” series.  Harry Potter is the magical, brave guy that we all wish we could be. Ever since he was born, people have seen him to be almost godly, and won’t accept anything less. He’s the “Chosen One”, the one who survived and the one who is to defeat Lord Voldemort, a dark and very powerful wizard, when Harry is only a kid himself. In every novel of the series, Harry demonstrates his bravery; whether it be defeating a massive and scary looking snake in the sewers, or being one of the youngest person to ever compete in the Triwizard Tournament.  Harry’s final act of bravery happened at the end of the seventh book. Harry sacrificed his life on the belief that he would not die. He took full faith in Dumbledore’s theory that Harry would not die and sacrificed himself to Lord Voldemort. Now that takes some real courage to do that.

            Automatically, the first thing I think about when thinking about science fiction, is some sort of advancement in technology, and a futuristic world. Science Fiction to me seems to have a broader amount of possible themes. Firstly science fiction can be like Star Wars where it’s an entirely different universe, full of aliens, space ships and multiple planets with life forms inhabiting them. Science fiction can also go in the direction of sending a message in a creative way. For instance, “War of the Worlds” is about an alien attack on our planet. We as humans believe that all of our powerful technology will defeat these aliens, but in the end it was the simplest of life forms that kills the aliens. Basically it’s saying that pretty much, our greatest weapon is nature.

            A novel that we have recently done that I believe fits in the science fiction genre is “The Chrysalids”. It fits in this genre because it is based in the future, but the people live in the ‘Frontier Days’ due to an atomic bomb that destroyed almost everything. They are reduced to living simple lives on a radiation filled planet due to the irrational actions of their ancestors. It fits because how the Waknuk people live in the book, is a possible future for our world unless we learn to use our new technology and power responsibly. I find it interesting because not only does it talk about our irresponsible and ignorant use of technology, but it also speaks about how people treat one another. “The Chrysalids” in my mind was a fairly good book.  

          Fantasy is probably my favourite genre because you can pretty much do anything you want; sky’s the limit. The author is able to craft any world, characters or creatures they want. It’s what makes them original and unique. In most of the fantasy novels that I read, no matter how different their plots and characters are, there is one apparent theme, and that is the battle of good vs. evil. For instance this trilogy that I am currently reading is pretty much about Heaven vs. Hell, in “Harry Potter” it is Harry against Voldemort, and in the “Chronicles of Narnia” it is Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy battling the White Witch. Another popular aspect of the fantasy genre is there is a parallel world. A whole world hidden inside our world that no one knows about. An example would be in “Harry Potter”, there’s this whole other wizarding world that is kept hidden from Muggles (non-magical people).

            One series that I believe fits perfectly into the fantasy genre is “Harry Potter”. It embodies everything of a typical fantasy novel. There’s a hidden parallel world that no Muggles know about. The protagonist, Harry is the good guy and you grow along with him and want so badly to see him prevail. The antagonist, Lord Voldemort is an ugly, cold-hearted beast, who is driven by the hunger for power, and throughout the whole series you grow to hate him and wish to see the day when Harry defeats him. There are all sorts of magical creatures: Dementors, unicorns, giant talking spiders, griffins, etc. Finally, the series is full of magic. I believe “Harry Potter” is so popular because it’s new, original and entirely unique from any other series. It’s a whole other world that anybody could get lost into for hours.

            The”Unexplained” is a phenomenon that has captured the intrigue of so many people. Whether it is ghosts, crop circles, Nessy, or UFOs there are thousands of people who believe they’re real, and there are thousands of people who will argue with you until they’re blue in the face that they’re fake. See Greek Mythology is an interesting topic to me because it’s about this whole other world full of creatures and monsters that exist only in movies. A world that supposedly happened centuries ago. It’s interesting because it’s not the norm, and it’s not like the same old boring history. Greek Mythology is colourful and exciting.  I feel the reason why the unexplained is so heavily covered by movies and media is because it’s fascinating to people. It’s something new and exciting. So much in our daily lives can be answered with a logical solution, but things like ghosts ignites a spark of intrigue in people, makes them question all they know.

            One thing that has boggled my mind for a few years is ghosts. I’ve read the books “Ghosts of Saskatchewan” and “Ghosts of British Colombia” and read all these stories of so many people encountering paranormal activities, but I still don’t know whether I believe it or not. In fact, so many people ponder this very question: “Is it possible for human’s spirits to remain in this world.” I’ve always longed to sort of encounter some kind of ghostly activity. For instance I really want to go to St. Louis to see the ghost train, maybe then I’ll fully believe. Until then, however I will still remain on the fence.

            To me, when I think of the mystery, I think immediately of the classic detective novel. It embodies everything there is about mystery. Mystery is the genre where there’s something unexplainable, like “who killed him”, “where did he disappear to”, etc. There’s always that nagging question that you do not stop reading until you know the truth. Then there’s suspense, and when I think of the suspense, I think of those really tense moments when you have no idea what just might happen. Those times where you don’t know if they person’s going to live or die. It’s those moments where it’s a total buildup of tension, until finally there’s a huge shock in then end and you’re left with your jaw hanging to the floor. I also think of the total “cliff hanger” moments, the times at the end of chapters – or heck even in the middle of chapters – that just end when it gets good and leaves you wanting more. I believe that the reason people are so drawn to this genre is because it’s exciting and it pulls you in whether you want to be or not. It’s one of those genres that lets you have fun, and some adventure even if you’re just sitting at home on the couch. It’s like a roller coaster ride of emotions.

            One story that we have done this year that I believe fits perfectly into this genre is “The Death Trap”. It fits perfectly because it grabs your interest from the very beginning. The one part that I believe fits perfectly into the mystery and suspense genre is when Armando is put into the crate. When Armando is under, the tension builds and builds and you wonder if Armando is going to live or die. Finally when you cannot bare the suspense any longer, the crate comes up empty! No one knows how he could’ve escaped. Then later when Armando’s old assistant was out and about, he believes he sees Armando in disguise, leaving the reader with another mystery to ponder.