The Alex Cross Novels

Prolific author James Patterson is a popular novelist whose books regularly appear on bestseller lists. He has written books for children and romance stories. However, his best genre is his tough and gritty crime novels. Patterson’s two most popular series are The Women’s Murder Club and The Alex Cross novels.

My personal favorite is the series about Detective Alex Cross. Patterson writes these novels from a first person perspective. You get to see the story unfold through Cross’ eyes.

Patterson describes Cross as an African-American man who “is six foot three, weighs 200 pounds, and is athletic. He still lives on Fifth Street in D.C., with Nana Mama, Damon and Jannie, and Rosie the cat. He drives a Mercedes Benz R 350. Alex Cross is forty-two years old”. Cross has a “PH.D. in psychology from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD. Special concentration in the field of abnormal psychology and forensic psychology”. He is a homicide detective with the Washington, D.C., Police Department. He specializes in cases involving serial killers and this has earned him the nickname, “The Dragon Slayer”.

The Death by Caitlyn DeWitt

As we ride in the car the whole family is silent,
The depression is hard to speak of,
I never seen a dead person before and I am not looking forward to it,
But I know when I see you laying there my face will light up one last time,
Even though you are gone forever,
When we finally get there the cold air is stiff on my neck,
When I step inside I can hear an eerie nothing in the air,
The I finally see you lying still in your little box,
I try to move but my legs don't move,
But suddenly I feel a strong push from behind,
They know I want to see you,
When I touch you I try to feel your warmth,
But all I feel is your cold,hard skin,
They tried to make you look pretty again,
I recognize the Revlon lipstick on your stale lips,
Your also dressed up in your best Sunday dress,
The velvet pillow you lay on makes me think of the Christmas dress you made for me when I was five,
Although I've outgrown the dress it still hangs in my closet,
So alone,so forgotten,
I try to cry but nothing falls from my eyes,
And then I secretly wish I was with you,
But I feel,without you I am gone too.

This was written by my Daugther Caitlyn when she was 14.It was an assignment for her English class;but it did coincide with the deaths of her grandmother and an uncle.My daugther Caitlyn has done a few other writings ,she enjoys putting them in a journal .She is a very sensitive person and puts her feelings on paper.She doesn't always want to share them though. Caitlyn won an award for this writing. I am very proud of her and think she did a wonderful job.

Thinking Critically exercise

1.a.That Merle Haggard wasn't the first outsider to rebuke Nashville prissiness in the sixties.
b.That Merle Hag was the most down to earth soul that Music City had seen for some time.
c.Haggard's sixties and early sevsenties work has been represented chiefly on compilations.
d.There is know tennessee gothic or flashy texas ego to this outsider.
e.Haggard was more about subtlety and west coast calm.
2.Emotional:a. The soft calm expression on Haggards face in the photo.b.The statement-The alblums that kept Nashville in the 60's and 70's.
3.Ethical appealA.Hag was the most down to earth soul that Musis City had seen for some time.b.Hagggard sounds like country's coolest customer.c.he was such a sublime recording artist.
4.Logical appeal:a.For years each CD showcases Haggards awsome gifts and inextricable orneriness.b.These reissues underscore how Haggards music far exceeds"Okie from Muskogee."

Heath Ledger By David Lipsky, Rolling Stone Magazine

When I read this article in Rolling Stone, it was at first more out of curiosity.The first time I remember seeing this young man was in the movie ' Patriot'.At the time I remember saying to my husband," that handsome face will go places."I thought we would be seeing him in a lot of future movies. When I heard of his death ,I felt very sad. Like most I wondered what could have happened to such a seemingly healthy young man. I also thought,'Here we go again', the press will drag his name through the mud like 'Anna Nicole' and' Brittany Spears'. Like I said, at first I read this article out of curiosity.I was surprised to find that 'David Lipsky' talked of 'Heath Ledger' in a compassionate manner.He spoke of him as a human being who was a talented, hard working person that sometimes judged himself to harshly.He was a person of simple origin who struggled with ups and downs like everyone else.The article stated that his best movies told a unified story, in chapters, about someone learning how to be. In the movie ' I'm Not There ' he played a man who had- like himself-for reasons he could not explain and couldn't correct, lost his lover, family and home. Even though Heath Ledger had problems ,it was nice to read an article that did not stomp on another human being for being human.

The Book Lady by Dave Hoekstra ,'The Rotarian'

I read this article in 'The Rotarian'. It was about the Book program Imagination Library that was started by Dolly Parton.It is a reading program for children birth to school age . It adresses illiteracy in areas that poverty keeps children from learning to read;it is for all children though. She states that even some who aren't poor can not read.This article is very informative. This program which works through the Rotary club handed out 4.5 million books to preschoolers in 43 states and provinces.The Imagination Library provides one free book per month to every child from birth to age five. One parent in the article says that her children get very excited when they get a new book in the mail with their names on it.She also said that when there are books in the house that she has read to them much more oftend. It was a really good article ;it flowed well, it was informative, and it appealed to me as a parent even though my kids are older now.Dolly Parton's inspiration for this program was because much of her own family did not know how to read including her father,Robert Lee Parton,who struggled to farm tobacco on dirt -poor land. The first book that is recieved in the program is 'The Little Engine That Could'.

1-4 steps for american dream paper

1. Is it made in America?
2 .We are considered to be a very prosperous nation.We take pride in that.Some think that we should keep America strong by only buying American products.Could everyone do this?Or would it be impossible?
3. America has always been seen as a strong nation.We have worked hard to get where we are;but lately there has been a lot of infiltration of foreign companies and products coming into the U.S. Will this become a problem in the future?Many think that we will eventually be taken over and that we will be too weak to gain back our power.This paper will explore the opinions of Americans on this subject.
4. My audience is 18 and over.

Death in Slow Motion by Andree Chedid

This story was taken from an anthology called 'Women on War'. Andree's themes involve war and violence that show the devastation of love brought on by those horrors. The moving story was about a young women who is called M. in the midst of a war.She is injured by a stray bullet two differrent times on your intended journey.She is trying to reach an old love who she is to meet at a bridge.It takes her awhile because of the pain of her injurys.She does not make it to him in the end;but a note is deliverd by a kindly couple before she dies.I liked the way the story was written because I could feel alot of differrent emotions as I traveled through the story.I could see the scene playing out.She did not care of her injurys, she only wished to get to her love and to see his face.It talked of the way her body felt,the things that where going through her mind, and the devastation of the buildings around her.I saw this book in the S.W.I.C library and thought it would be interesting .I have really liked the readings in this book.Some would say that it is a little morbid, but I think it helps us to understand what others have deal with in life. I tink that I will try to find her book'A House Without Roots' for further reading.She also has a collection of poems 'Modes Miroir Magies'.