Denison's Theme

I would identify the theme of my book as trying to catch a dream. John Denison's dream or "goal" was to try and find a cheaper and more efficient way to deliver supplies to remote villages and mines in the Northwest Territories, beyond the Arctic Circle. Edith Iglauer, the author of the book, points out many times throughout the book how determined John was to construct this road. He has encountered many obstacles constructing this road like putting thousands of dollars into trucks and trailers and having them sink to the bottom of a lake. Or the year before, having his whole garage burn down, but still be able to get back up on his feet and come back to do what he loves. John and his crew not only successfully built and constructed a road of ice, but made it for the next five decades to come. This was an amazing feat of its day, making John the first man to transport goods by tractor & trailer successfully through the most rugged and harsh climates in the world. In order to accomplish a feat like this, you would have to be such a determined and hard- headed man, chasing after that dream, not for the fame and glory, but for the better of human welfare.

The main protagonist in my choose novel Denison's Ice Road is John Denison. John Denison's role is to take his crew of 10 - 12 guys on a long grueling trip of about 320 miles north, past the Arctic circle, past where no man dares to guy, where the sun shines for 4 hours a day, where the temperatures reach 60 below on a daily basis just to supply small villages and mines with vital supplies such as food, fuel, equipment & lumber. I question that comes to mind about this book is how a 50 ton load could possibly make it across ice? Just think if it weren't for John and his brave crew, the north would not have what they have today. If we think about the whole world in general and how fortunate we are to have truckers to bring everything to us. " If you got it, a trucker brought it."

The book that I'm currently reading is called Denison's Ice Road. It is a book about a man named John Denison who was the first to construct a network of hodge podge ice roads throughout the Canadian wilderness to supply remote mines and villages. I just started the book, but have gained a real interest in it. The one question that I have about this book is " How could the ice support such a load like that." John said he wouldn't started driving on the ice until there was at least 18 in of ice. You would also need about 36 in of ice to support a hundred ton load.

Education Reform

Ken Robinson & Dan Meyer both provide good topics on how school needs to be changed from like a factory set- up to a individual set- up. Ken points out that school should be based on a agriculture style. This method would let students discovery their individualism. This way will be a longer, drawn out method, but in the end, it will let students be themselves, not the same like schools are trying to make.

I absolutely agree with them. Many people are starting to turn this idea of individualism and turn away from the idea of a factory set- up, cranking out the same part as fast as the can. Being a student, I can see how schools are making us read the same book as everyone else and writing the same paper as everyone else. Everything that we do is the same as everyone else. I would like to choose a non- fictional documentary such as a WWII book or something like that and write about what effects war have on the future generations. Everyone learns and expresses their feelings in a different way, and schools should respect their way. The following videos are where I came up with my opinion about school reform and hope you enjoyed them as much as me.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/dan_meyer_math_curriculum_makeover.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html