Reading Log Questions

Holly Leonard

1/28/17

ENGW 1101

Prof. Young

Reading Log Questions

1. Willa is a girl who sees “visions” of random things from shining lights, to random numbers on her mirror, to a little girl reaching at her to be held. Willa does not know what the visions mean or how to predict what they would be. She has never told anyone of her visions, not even her best friend Dani. Willa had a good relationship with her father as stated that they use to go on runs together and talk, but now she feels as though her father doesn’t care much for her anymore as he’s too busy.“But sometime last year, his schedule changed and he didn’t have time anymore, and she’d noticed he’d also stopped looking directly at her face, as if it somehow embarrassed him”(page 22-23).
2. Dex lives in a trailer with his mother and sister; his father left. His mother cares a lot about his and wants best for him. “‘I’m thinking of asking your dad to get you a new truck. That old Ford worries me-the door’s all rusted out.’”(Page 37). Dex’s sister is younger than him, she’s a cheerleader, and they get along well; his mother tells him to watch over her. At football he is stuck lugging equipment while everyone else plays. “-he’d had to haul the equipment off the field, dragging several tractor tires and rolling the bulky pass caddies through the grass while the players ran laps around him on the track.”(page 36). His other friends are nice too and they get along well with his mother. “His friends thought his mother was hilarious.She ran a private joke with each of them….” (page 38).
3. Hal is a man in Friendswood who works as a real estate agent. His relationship with his son, Cully seems good as of this point. “Hal felt closest to his son when he sat in the stands, watching a game.” (page 15). His relationship with his wife, Darlene was not good because he was cheating on her and was unhappy in their marriage. “Dawn’s tan, skinny legs wrapped around his waist, and the tiny shoes she wore, and the way he’d come home and feel sad at the sight of Darlene, her face in the nimbus of blue TV light, her grin set like a tiger’s.” (page 16).
4. Lee, a girl who lives in Friendswood, had to abandon her home in Rosemont 10 years ago and now lives in Friendswood all alone because tragically she lost her daughter and husband. People seem to care about Lee in the town, “He’d called her seven times during the storm, worried about her all alone in that house.” (Page 5). Lee also goes out during rainfall to get soil samples of the “sludge” from chemical dumping; when it rains, the water tables rise and push the chemicals up for Lee to get samples that will show toxin readings.
5. Chemical dumping can cause serious harm to the environment and the people around the land. In Friendswood, the dumping caused the air to smell of rotten lemons, red and blue sores on people’s necks, and black snake looking sludge's of oil to submerge from the soil. A company dumped their waste causing issues in the town but at this point in the novel, nobody other than Lee seems to react to it.
6. Similar to the happenings in Friendswood, another community suffering from environmental issues is Flint, Michigan. In the town of Flint, the people have been without drinkable water since 2014. Since the water was deemed undrinkable, there have been multiple detection of E. Coli, fecal coli form bacteria, and even high levels of chlorine. Water is needed for everyday common tasks such as drinking water, showering, cooking, cleaning dishes, showering, brushing teeth or washing laundry. Both Friendswood and Flint are low income towns and both have preventable environmental issues.

Works Cited

"Flint Water Crisis Fast Facts." CNN. N.p., 26 Jan. 2017. Web. 29 Jan. 2017.Web

Steinke, Rene. Friendswood. New York: Riverhead , 2014. Print.