dialectic journal

this is my first dialectic journal for spring semester. my book is Thou Shalt Not Dump The Skater Dude And Other Commandments I Have Broken by Rosemary Graham.

1. "If none of the above work, tell your parents this: Experts say it's better for moves to coincide with natural transitions and milestones in a child's life--like the summer between middle school and high school." pg.4

Kelsey Wilcox find out that she's moving from Massachusetts to California. Her parents' divorce was finalized and her mother wanted to pursue her dream of going to law school. Being the teenager she is, Kelsey is against moving and tries to convince her parents to let her stay in Boston with her dad. I think this quote is important because Kelsey is trying to prevent a big change that's going to happen in her life. I don't think Kelsey's plan is going to work and she's just going to have to deal with being the new girl at her new school.

2. "We passed a mother with two little kids...But then he looked at me and Josh, and looked back over his shoulder at the woman, who kept saying, 'Spare any change? Spare any change?' to the people walking by. Dad dug into his pocket, peeled three twenties off his money clip, rolled them around each other, and stomped back to the woman while Josh and I watched." pg.21

Kelsey's family has a policy of not giving money to people on the street and this is a flashback to the only time her father gave money to a homeless family. I think this quote is important because it shows me that all rules have exceptions. Kelsey's dad really connected to the mother with the two kids, so he did something helpful. I think in the future, this flashback will help Kelsey distinguish right from wrong because of the model that her father demonstrated.

3. "Even though I was mad about having to give up precious summer vacation time to watch Josh, I had to admire his determination. Watching him those first couple of afternoons, seeing how he kept getting up and trying again after each fall, even though the other kids hardly acknowledged his presence, made me feel proud of him and mad at them." pg.66-67

Josh, Kelsey's brother, wants to catch up on some skating so Kelsey's stuck babysitting. This quote is significant to Kelsey's relationship with Josh. Instead of complaining about her brother taking up all her time, she recognizes the effort being put into this time so it's not a waste. She learns to accept the sacrifices she has to make to support her brother. I predict that Kelsey and Josh would discover things about each other that they never knew before, since they're spending so much time together.

4. "While Amy was gone, I studied myself in my full-length mirror. Not as bad as I had thought. At least you could still tell I was a girl. And the clothes were perfectly clean, even if they were previously owned." pg.91

Amy is Kelsey's best friend and they're both going to "The No", a kind of punky club. Even though "punk" is not Kelsey's style, she goes to the club because C.J. Logan, a hot skater, asked her to go. Amy plays dress up with Kelsey to make her look more appropriate for the event. This quote is important because Kelsey changes her image to impress other people and I think this is the start of another side of her. I think what will happen is that Kelsey will start making the wrong decisions and fall into peer pressure, as long as she doesn't stay true to herself.

5. "As for sense and consideration, I didn't demonstarte much of either freshman year. All those excellent reasons I had for wanting to go to East Bay High went right out the window as soon as I started hanging out with C.J." pg.105

Kelsey's parents were going to apply her to a private school, but Kelsey convinced them to let her go to a public high school. Then Kelsey becomes C.J.'s girlfriend so throughout her first year of high school, that's basically what she focused on. The significance of this quote shows that C.J. is a bad influence on Kelsey because she's stuck to him like glue and nothing else matters to her anymore. I think that Kelsey will soon wake up from this dream and realize what's really important to her, since she doesn't seem to have forgotten what her priorities are and will probably get in trouble for it.

6. "I didn't mind that there was so much waiting and watching involved in being the girlfriend of a Skater Dude. I didn't mind that sometimes C.J. had no time for me because he was training for a big contest. Because I knew that after the contest was over, the two of us would get into C.J.'s pickup and drive to our spot" pg.109

Kelsey realizes that being with C.J. meant dealing with skating 24/7, since C.J.'s a professional skater. I think this quote is important because it shows that Kelsey's life now consists of the same things over and over again. It seems like she doesn't have any control over her own life anymore because she doesn't leave time for herself. She also keeps making excuses for C.J. and blinds herself from seeing the truth of playing the role of C.J. Logan's girlfriend. I predict that Kelsey will eventually get bored and move on with her life because there's no excitement in her life.

7. "The thing is, I forgot to turn the phone back on, and when Amy called an hour later, she got my voice mail. And I was so tired by the time C.J. dropped me off that I went right to bed without checking my messages. " pg.113

Ever since C.J. came into the picture, Kelsey starts to drift apart from everything else in her life. So when her best friend has a problem, Kelsey lets her down by not being there for her. This quote shows me that Kelsey's lost sight of what really matters which gets her into more trouble. This also shows how a little thing can affect something that's been built over a long period of time. I think Amy will be very mad at Kelsey and tell her what the real problem is.

8. "C.J. and I had a big talk soon after the Amy incident. Actually, I did most of the talking. I told him I was tired of having everything revolve around his skating life." pg.115

Kelsey feels guilty for not being there for Amy and realizes that her life shouldn't be all about C.J. and skating. This is important because Kelsey stands up for herself and starts to get her life back together. I think what will happen is that Kelsey learns to balance her boyfriend, best friend, and family since she'll probably want to be there for the next time someone needs her.

9. "Silly me--I was worried about him. He'd seemed so hurt on our last night, I wanted to make sure he was okay. I wanted to see if he was back to his old, skating-obsessed self." pg.125

Kelsey broke up with C.J. after a year of supporting him with his skating career but C.J. doesn't take it very well. After the break up, C.J. writes fake crap about Kelsey on his blog/website, saying that she's a slut. This quote is important because another side of C.J. comes out to get Kelsey and now her life is ruined. I think Kelsey will do something to get back at C.J. but it'll be very hard because he has such a good reputation.

10. "Amy wasn't telling me anything I didn't know: I needed to establish myself as my own person. I needed to let people know the real me. The thing was, though, I didn't know what 'the real me' meant." pg.138

After the whole internet incident with the whole world thinking that Kelsey's a skank, Kelsey has to "start all over" with a fresh new year. This quote shows an obstacle that the main character has to get over and it really challenges her to do better, to discover more about herself. I predict that Kelsey will succeed in making something out of her high school years even though she's not even sure what.

11. "But I knew what Amy was talking about. The Bee is run by the superachievers of East Bay High... They seemed to spend every free moment of their lives working on the paper. Sometimes, Mr. Rundle told us, they'd work past midnight to make their deadline. But it seemed like they were having fun. There was always a lot of laughing coming from that room." pg.139-140

In order for Kelsey to get her life back together, Amy suggests that she should keep herself busy with an extracurricular activity and Kelsey's been thinking about joining the school paper. Amy's not sure what to think because being part of the school newspaper might be too intense, especially with the scary new editor. This quote is important because I learn that Kelsey is taking a major step in building a new life, and she'll have a new thing to focus on. But at the same time, I can't help but wonder if she'll be able to handle working for The Bee. I think what will happen is that Kelsey will struggle with keeping up with her outside life and her school life, since she'll have to dedicate a lot of time to the school newspaper.

12. "Seeing him made me feel totally weird. It was the first time I'd laid eyes on him since the night I'd broken things off... And for a second--just a teeny, tiny second--I had this over-before-it-started feeling of regret. Life had been so much easier as C.J. Logan's Girlfriend." pg.155-156

It's the first day of school, lunchtime, and Kelsey explains how it feels to see C.J. again. I think this quote is super important because Kelsey takes one last look at her old life and walks away from it all. I predict that Kelsey will do much better in her real life but still bump into her ex every once in a while.