Big Question

Is immortality worth it? In the book Interview with a Vampire Louis turns himself immortal to escape the pain of his brothers death. But over and over again he asks himself if he made the right choice. He sees death all around him, he wants desperately to die. Also because he is a vampire he has to miss important events in his life like his sisters wedding, his mother's funeral and the love of his life. He has to explain to young Claudia why she can never age, how her mother died and how she became a vampire. He also has no way to escape the pain of his past life. He can't just forget it and these memories live with him forever, going wherever he goes. Lestat is no help to him. The one who created Louis is also his most hated enemy. Louis desires nothing but to escape Lestat, but Lestat tells him he does not know enough to survive on his own.So the person he hates most in the world is by his side until the end of time, and even if Louis escapes Lestat has all the time in the world to find him again. He can never escape his past, his enemies or even his fate. To be doomed to walk the earth for eternity. So the question comes back around, was his choice of Immortality worth it?

Book Theme

The Book "The Clockwork Three" follows the lives of three teens, following their daily lives in late 19th century address. The three children are often facing hard times, frequently relating to financial troubles. But, the story often then tells how the children decide their fate with their choices. In the case of Giuseppe, He struggles with paying his padron, Stephano, on a daily basis, while trying to hide his savings to try and escape and run back to Italy. In Frederick's life, he struggles with finding the right parts to his machine so that he can become a master Clock-maker  and finally raise the money to find his real mother. Hannah struggles from a lot of the same money troubles but, she is the only one with a job and a steady income. But her father was struck with a disease and is no longer able to work, so all money she makes goes to her families tenement housing, her father's treatment, her sisters schooling and food for all of them. They are all pressed to the point of theft, Giuseppe stealing from Stephano, Frederick stealing the head he needs from the guild, and Hannah stealing the diamond necklace from Miss Pomerey.  All of the kids have financial trouble and family trouble, however they thrive with what they have. Which is why I believe that the theme of the book is that hard work will pay off in the end, and that through all of their struggles they will find success.

Interview with a Vampire Intro

 The book begins with a young reporter arriving at the Vampires house, unaware of what he is about to be told. The story begins with the Vampire telling the boy about his family coming from France and settling in the New Orleans area of Louisiana. They owned many properties and were very wealthy. He then proceeds to talk about his brother and how quiet and calm he was. He then describes how his brother began getting detached from the family and focusing all of his attention on god and the gospel. He gave his brother his own house, and allowed him private time to get closer to god. One night, his brother said he got a vision from the Virgin Mary that the family had to sell everything and return to France where he would become a Religious leader in all the current chaos. At this the vampire laughed and thought his brother was crazy. One night after a heated discussion, his brother began to descend the front stairs. all of a sudden he was seemingly whisked down where he fell to his death. The vampire became very distraught, drinking constantly and wishing he would die. one night Lestat, a real vampire, came to him and offered him a way out of his current situation, immortality as a Vampire. An option he could not refuse.

Education Reform

Schools boring. It seems that even though the material may be interesting the way it is presented is awful. Students are handed a book and taught by teachers that read the book to them, not actually teaching the material to them. The grades of the students show it. If a student gets a B in the class which is an 80% they are missing 20% of the material and we have become OK with that. This system is destroying futures by crushing them before they get going. We are assigned endless homework assignments night after night, and if you miss one day or don't understand we get stuck.

Ken Robinson brings up a good point in the video
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html

Dan Meyers Does to in this video
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/dan_meyer_math_curriculum_makeover.html