Journal Three from Jackie Mickley

So far I like the book. I have learned new things, like how a hobo and a bum are two different types of people. I think its really interesting to read about many different people's lives. It makes me think about what they have gone through, and sometimes it can be inspiring to see how people cope with their lives. I think a strength of the book is how it doesn't just focus on the lives of similar people. It has a very wide variety of people in it, and I think it makes the book more interesting. You never know what you are going to read about next. Another strength of the book is that all of the people come from all over America. This helps to ensure that the people and their stories will be different, because there are different things happening in different states. I also like how the book gives background information on the person before you read their interview. My strategy for being a good active reader is to ask myself different questions as a I read. Like one is "what does this person value or hold close to them?" I just ask my self different questions to try and get myself to think about the story these people are telling.

A theme in this book that I can really relate with is to work hard and don’t give up. I have seen this theme in a couple different stories now, and it reminds me of when I played lacrosse in high school. I started playing lacrosse as a junior in high school, and I had no idea how to do anything. I barely knew the rules of the game. Our coach at the time held indoor practices during the winter so rookies like myself could learn different things about the sport. Going to those indoor practices really helped me to learn the rules of the game, how to hold a lacrosse stick, and how to throw and catch a ball. After I got the basics down and I realized I could actually do it, I wanted to be good. I made up in my mind that my goal was to become a starter. We were taught different exercises to improve our skills during indoor, and I would go home and practice them every night. I got my best friend who had been playing since her freshman year to practice with me, and teach me about the game. I knew it was going to take some hard work to be a started because I had so little experience, but I was willing to put in the time. When I would fail at passing during practice, I would stay after practice with my friend and just practice it a little bit more. She would help me fix what I was doing wrong. I really think the work I put into playing lacrosse really payed off because I had accomplished my goal, and more. I was a starter, my coach trusted me to face guard the really good players on other teams, and eventually the younger girls who haven’t been playing for very long (our freshman and sophomores) would come up to me and ask me how to do different things. I was really proud of myself when I completed my goal. I put in the hard work and I never game up.