Exploration 3 by Carlyn Bower

      So far I think that my active reading has been going well. The story is very interesting which makes it a lot easier to keep up with. The main thing that I have been taking note of during each reading is each of the characters and a brief description of them. I think this has been effective so far because there are so many different characters and it helps me from getting them confused with one another. Something that I had noted for today's readings is that Curt Lemon was a very proud man. I noted that after reading the chapter called "The Dentist" because Curt had the dentist unnecessarily pull out one of his teeth just so that he could not be made fun of for fainting.
     The story that meant the most to me so far was "On the Rainy River". This story was important to me because it demonstrated an important choice that had to be made and how others can affect your decisions. A quote that best demonstrates this point is "I would go to the war- I would kill and maybe die- because I was embarrassed not to". I think that this quote was very powerful because Tim decided to go and risk his life in a war he was against, all because he was afraid of what other people would think of him if he didn't. I feel like this is something that happens relatively often, that people do something they don't agree with just to impress others, which is why I found this story so important.
     One character that stood out to me the most so far is Curt Lemon. He stood out to me the most because it seems like he's always doing something crazy. Curt is very outgoing and it seems like he enjoys being the center of attention. It was very heartbreaking when he died because he was so young and had a lot of life left in him. Although I don't think I can really relate his personality very closely, I think Curt is the most interesting character to read about because he's very unpredictable.