Sunshine Cleaning: The Bright Side of Suicide

Mary Pols's article on Sunshine Cleaning: The Bright Side of Suicide discusses the movie Sunshine Cleaning and what she thought of it. By using anecdotes and referring back to the movie Pols describes some of the characters and how she felt towards the characters acting and their character overall. She also goes on to discuss with more references to the movie, quotes and rhetorical questions on how she felt about the story line of Sunshine Cleaning and how she thought that the actor Alan Arkin's character was similar to the character he played in Little Miss Sunshine. Mary Pols's purpose for writing this article is to discuss how she felt about the movie Sunshine Cleaning and to tell others interested in the movie that it is a good movie to see. In her article, Pols audience is anyone interested in watching Sunshine Cleaning or interested in hearing abou the movie.

Discussion Questions:
* What does it mean when Pols says that the movie set is an affirmation-hungry Hallmark?
* Does Alan Arkin's acting skills make him a bad choice or does his role make him a bad choice?
* Do you think if actor Alan Arkin was replaced by another actor to play the father of Rose and Norah, the part of the father would have been better as well as made the movie better?

And Still We Rise (blog numero 3) pgs.300-410

In the fourth and final chunk, Miles Corwin, continues to use anecdotes, description, emotional appeal, and statistics to bring this rough school year for these 12 students and faculty to an end. Here we are able to see the accomplishments and progress of these students and see that even though they were faced with many difficult situations, such as: financial issues, abusive parents, drug addicted parents, distracted teachers, pregnancy, and confinement, they were still able to overcome and conquer them. They showed their accomplishments by not only receiving their diplomas, but going to a college/university. For example, Meisha goes to USC, Sadi goes to Clark College, Danielle to Pitzier, Curt to UCLA, Robert to UCLA, Naila to Standford, Willie to Morehouse, Claudia to Cal State Long Beach, Venola to Colby College, Princess to University of California, Santa Barbra, and lastly Olivia who goes to Northridge but reapplies and transfers to Babson junior year. These students proved that no matter how big a situation can be you can let it stand in your way of your goal. They also go on to study and major in great fields such as: management consulting, speech communication, sociology, black studies, psychology, anthropology, Spanish and much more.

After reading And Still We Rise, I was able to see that nothing is just handed to anybody, you have to earn everything , no matter what you are going through. I was also able to see that there is people out there facing some really tough problems, but they still manage to achieve in life. I mean, for students to pass the AP exam without much preparation because their teacher was out for awhile or she was to busy complaining about being discriminated against and then while taking the exam the students are distracted by a fight; well it's overall unimaginable. Overall, the number one lesson I can take and I think many students should take from this wonderful / phenomenal text is that you should not let anything or anyone stand in the way of your success



Discussion Questions:
Application: What lesson or theme can you take from this text?

Application: What story made you feel the most? Which one inspired you more?

Application: Do you believe that each of these students are out now accomplishing great things?

And Still We Rise (blog numero 2) pgs.201-300

In the third chunk, Miles Corwin continues to address the problems of these inner city students and the insecurity of Ms. Little, by using anecdotes,description, and emotional appeal. He also uses imagery to describe the weather and the city. In this chunk many of the students are waiting to hear if they got accepted to the universities that they applied to, such as Danielle who is waiting to hear from Stanford and Willie from Morehouse, however there is also that one student, Olivia, who is waiting to hear from a judge. However, I think she probably would have rather kept on waiting for the judges decision than receiving the results she did; which was that she has stop attending Crenshaw and attend Dorothy Kirby Center for nonviolent offenders for the check hoax she was invloved in. After reading about Olivia we came across Ms. Little's breakdown, Princess and we run back into Toya. Ms. Little has officially lost it; after moving on from the dispute with Ms. Moultrie, she found something else to bicker about and make a big deal out of; she is now complaining about an offensive comment made about her and how nobody seems to care about it and take her side. She is so upset about this situation that she is looking for a new school to transfer to. The third chunk also introduces Princess, a student faced with financial problems. Princess was a student who went from a steady life style to a really poor life style. She and her mother were in a constant battle with financing, it was to the point that Princess' mother was not going to be able to pay for Princess' graduation; however her mother pulled through and got a full time job. Toya was a student who had left Crenshaw because she had baby and could not afford a day care center that would take care of her baby while she was at school, however that changed when she found a program that would pay for her day care center and allow her to attend the school she wished, as soon as she heard about this she immediately returned to Crenshaw. All of these students have one thing in common and that is their courage and ability to never give up . All of them have faced many problem and have still managed to overcome them, move on, and get the education they need so they will not have repeat those problems. For example, even though Latisha and Willie both had mothers addicted to cocaine and suffered a lot with them, they have managed to look past that and continue with their education so their kids, as well as them will not have to suffer.

Discussion Questions:

Clarification: Is Danielle upset that her father will not let her become and athlete?

Application: Do you think it is always better to stand up for what you believe in, rather than just stand around and go along with something that is against your morals? If so why?

Application: Have your parents ever done something that made you want to do better so you will not repeat what they did?

And Still We Rise (blog numero1!) pgs.101-200

And Still We Rise, written by Miles Corwin is a non-fiction text based on twelve gifted inner-city students and the challenges they faced and overcame before graduating. These twelve students faced many obstacles; obstacles that if many of us came across, would make us want to give up.They faced many family, financial, and social issues. By using statistics and facts in this chunk, Corwin describes Prop 209 on Affirmative Action and how the outcome will affect minorities when applying for colleges and universities. He also introduces four new students and the problems they are currently facing as well as reminiscing on characters previously discussed; the three new characters introduced are Sabreen, Claudia,Curt, and Latisha. Corwin also describes and discusses South Central by using imagery and statistics; he also discussed the never ending battle between Miss Little and Moultrie.

*Discussion Question:
Clarification: Why and how did the battle between Miss Little and Moultrie begin?
Does a certain way/style of teaching have a greater affect in the way a student learns? If so why?
Application: How does the medias negative outlook on minorities and South Central affect the way society thinks?
Style:Does Corwin's understanding and compassionate tone towards these students and their obstacles help one feel more for them and their troubles?