Alyssa+Cone+Journal+Page

**//Write down your thoughts,comments and critiques on this week's reading/video.//** 

Hints on what to journal on:


 * Did you like it? Why or why not?
 * Can you compare it to something else you have read, seen, or experienced?
 * What makes it work? or not. ex: setting,pace (as in the build up of suspence),any startle factors, surprise ending etc...

Week 1: I believe that ghosts do exist. I think the reason that some people don't is because they don't want to believe in something that does not have a valid explanation, like the character, Grace in the movie //__The Others__//. I really enjoyed the movie and the twist that it ended up having towards the end and it makes me wonder if ghosts see us the same way that Grace and her children did in the movie. The topic of ghosts is one that scares you, yet keeps you interested and wondering why these beings still have an existence after death. I don't really believe that there is a way to disprove that ghosts/spirits exist because of the different ways of contacting them (mediums, Ouija boards, and electronic voice phenomena) and being able to catch them on video or thermal images and on photo like the 2 men in the video did.

Week 2: When I first started reading __**Dracula**__, I thought it was going to be really boring and hard to understand because of the time when it was written, but after getting farther into it, it's gotten really interesting and hard to put down. One thing that I was wondering is why Jonathan still went to Count Dracula's castle when people were begging him not to and the old woman gave him the crucifix for protection. Also, when he had arrived to the castle and noticed that Dracula had a very different appearance than most normal people, why that had not given him the slightest clue as to why the people had begged him not to go. I don't really understand why the Count wanted him to write 3 different letters for different dates stating that he has already left to Mina and Peter Hawkins. I think he may be keeping Jonathan for his own needs though. The second indication that something was definitely not right with the Count should've been when he saw him crawling down the outside of the castle and the third when he fell asleep in the other room and the three women vampires were after him. All in all I am really enjoying this novel (: 

Yeah good points!!!! I think that it should've been thought about betterly, Haha, is betterly a word? Anyways, like in true life i doubt someone would go somewhere where random people are telling him not go and stuff. Just seems kind of dumb to me! But yeah i like this book so far as well because I can never tell what's going to happen! --Cathy Cone (:


 * i totally agree with your reflection. i would never go to a place where everyone was marning me not to go. but the part i don't agree with you is i am starting to not enjoy this book. i think so far this Mina's journal is pointless really. especially the part where lucy is talking about her love life. -ryan mahdy**

yeah i agree too. im not a very avid reader myself. i only read when i have to, or i cant figure out what i did wrong. but this book might very well change that. -darren davis

i also agree it doesnt make sense to go somewhere where obviously people know that something is going on and try to warn you to not go there. kristina burdett

I agree with you on the start of the book. -Bradley Clark :D

very insightful, Alyssa! Ms. G.

I agree with your reflection and you made a very good point that, why the Count wanted him to write 3 different letter......When i first time read that. I have not pay attention on this question. you make me go back and finally i figure out. Hope so you can get understand too......... Meng Ling Zhao

Week 3: I think that everything that has been going on with Lucy has been interesting, yet frustrating. When I read about the blood transfusions she was receiving, I wondered how she possibly could receive it 4 times from 4 different men and how they all could possibly have the blood type that she needed. Also, I'm wondering how exactly Lucy became a vampire, because she had only been drank from and there was nothing mentioned of her drinking from the Count to become a vampire. The fact that she is kidnapping children is also very interesting, but it makes me wonder why children and not anyone else. I'm guessing that the Count is the vampire bat and that makes me confused as to why he was climbing down the wall at his castle if he is able to turn into a bat. Since he has control over wolves too, I'm thinking he may be able to turn into a wolf amongst other things, like a shapeshifter. Renfield is a very interesting character. I think he is under control of the Count, especially when he switches his moods, but the things he does, like eating the spiders and flies is still a mystery to me.

MAybe the children were more trusting. Bradley C.

sorry brad i disagree. it has been proven over time that kids are just irresponsible. Darren Davis

i know you like to read alyssa so i'm very interested to read what you thought about the book... Darren Davis

 Week: I'm not really a big fan of the whole witch subject. I have seen the Blair Witch Project before and I didn't like it all. I'm confused as to where the idea of witches originated from and why in 1692 when the Salem Witch Trials were occuring, that witchcraft was associated with the Devil, but I'm thinking that because it could not be explained and because it was something out of the ordinary, that people had no other explanation but the Devil. I think that because religion has always been a huge subject, that anyone that had any thought that was against God or what other people wanted them to believe, that they could be accused of tampering with witchcraft.

Like your theory on where witchcraft came from, very probable. Your right, the whole religion subject really has caused alot of negative things in the past and I'm sure it always will. -Leann