https://padlet.com/mariareyesplancarte221/tdo5yjgkihbf My literary responses en-us 2019-03-20 19:28:48 UTC 2019-03-29 04:58:45 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Rocket.png mariareyesplancarte221 https://padlet.com/mariareyesplancarte221/tdo5yjgkihbf/wish/343522773 - My parents do not want me or my sisters to follow in their footsteps. My parents don’t have a career and have minimum wage jobs, so our life can be difficult sometimes and they don’t want our future lives to be like theirs. I don’t mind parents putting or adding pressure to their children because it allows us to have an idea of what to do. But I do believe that adding too much pressure is damaging to us especially if our parents aren’t supportive or helpful in our work.
- The top five qualities I admire most are kindness, loyalty, selflessness, determination, and humility. I admire these characteristics the most because it shows who they truly are and how supportive or good friend they are. Usually, people with these characteristics are the best people. All my best friends have all these characteristics so they are the characteristics I admire most because I admire all of my best and closest friends.]]> 2019-03-20 19:48:08 UTC https://padlet.com/mariareyesplancarte221/tdo5yjgkihbf/wish/343522773 mariareyesplancarte221 https://padlet.com/mariareyesplancarte221/tdo5yjgkihbf/wish/344997911 1.)
“All one can really leave one’s children is what’s inside their heads. Education, in other words, and not earthly possessions, is the ultimate legacy, the only thing that cannot be taken away.” - Dr. Wernher von Braun

Dr. Wernher von Braun was a very important rocket developer who inspired Homer H. Hickam, Jr. when he appeared on television talking about the space race. This quote shows us how much Dr, Wernher cared for education among children. The quote explains to us how our education and the education of children will forever benefit them especially because it’s something that can’t be taken or destroyed. He compared education with “earthly possessions” by saying how unimportant it is for your legacy because it’s not what will get you to the future. He shows us how valuable education is because it’s something that we carry our entire lives.

"All I’ve done is give you a book. You have to have the courage to learn what’s inside it.” - Miss Freida Joy Riley 

Miss Freida Joy Riley was Homer’s chemistry and a physics teacher in high school who encouraged him and his friends to keep building and learning about rockets. The quote was actually what she said to Homer when she gave him a book about rockets. The book required you to be knowledgeable about calculus and other equations so it was a challenge for Homer. She gave him the choice to be brave enough to open and try to understand the book or leave it alone simply for giving up on it. The book allowed him to be more knowledgeable which forever changed the life of Homer. The quote shows us that we have to be brave enough to “learn what’s inside”. It offers us courage and inspiration to do or learn something we never thought could learn simply because we believe in it and are passionate about it.

2.)
“When I was in the fourth grade, I started going upstairs to the junior high school library...There I also discovered Jules Verne. I fell in love with his books, filled as they were with not only great adventures but scientists and engineers who considered the acquisition of knowledge to be the greatest pursuit of mankind” ( Hickam, Jr. 11). Reading books that fascinated Hickam forever changed his life because it helped him find out what he was passionate about. By reading about scientist and engineers, he started to pursuit his passion later on by actually building rockets. Reading started his journey to what soon would be his career as a NASA engineer. For Homer, what inspired him to start building rockets was reading about fictional scientists and engineers, which for me is amazingly inspirational and sort of relatable. As a child, I always loved to read and reading books about certain people inspired me to become a certain person. Reading helped me learn new things by simply acknowledging weird things that I never thought would become a passion or fascination for me. As someone who still enjoys the pleasure of reading, and as someone who still does not know what to do with her life, I hold hope that by reading, I can be able to find that certain spark that will start my journey to what is meant to be my future.

“ I knew exactly what it was. All the science-fiction books and Dad’s magazines I’d read over the years put me in good stead to answer...” (16). All the science-fiction novels and books that he read over time lead him to this moment, the space race. Being knowledgeable about this certain subject only helped him to become more passionate about being an engineer. It helped him become more creative and it also helped schools to actually focus on engineering and science which only benefited Homer more. This quote stands out to me because that was the moment that turned everything around. It was an important memory because it was what spiked his desire to become an engineer and learn more about aerospace engineering. It shook everything and it’s very inspiring to read about a tiny moment that caused such a big transformation to everyone’s life. It has me craving for more of these type of  moments and for me to experience one of these life changing moments.   ]]> 2019-03-25 19:43:21 UTC https://padlet.com/mariareyesplancarte221/tdo5yjgkihbf/wish/344997911 mariareyesplancarte221 https://padlet.com/mariareyesplancarte221/tdo5yjgkihbf/wish/346277775       In Homer Hickamk’s memoir “Rocket Boys”, Sonny defines the role of family in one’s life as people who support and care for you. In the story, Sonny has a difficult relationship with his family. His mother is very supportive and loving towards him, but his father doesn’t believe in Sonny and therefore doesn’t truly care for him. Sonny’s father instead cares more for Jim, Sonny’s older brother, because he is a star football player and is more “manly”. Sonny obviously knows this and after his first attempt at building and launching a rocket, which blew up, he asked his mother, “Why doesn’t Dad like me?” (45). Sonny can’t understand why his father isn’t supportive or loving in any way towards him. Sonny wants his attention for once and it was something he had been wondering for a while. He knows and believes that a family should be supportive towards their children but he doesn’t have that and he wonders why. Later on, Sonny launches a new rocket, but it ends up going towards the direction of the mine. Luckily, the rocket didn’t hurt anyone but Sonny’s father was furious and sent him home. During that time, Sonny talks about an old memory in which his dog was killed and he was then buried. At that time, Sonny and his father were together and Sonny prayed to God to take care of his dog and take Sonny as well because he deserved it. Sonny’s father finds humor in his prayer but he still prayed to bless his little Sonny (94). This memory shows and reminds Sonny that his dad still cares for him and that they were close before. It shows how Sonny’s father was, and possibly still, cares for Sonny. The memory reminds him of a loving family relationship in which he believes should be what a family does. The role of a family is to be supportive and caring to Sonny because it’s what he remembers and craves.]]> 2019-03-28 17:58:42 UTC https://padlet.com/mariareyesplancarte221/tdo5yjgkihbf/wish/346277775