Read three selections of student work from the PVRHS Gallery:http://galleryofwriting.org/galleries/223497 . Choose your favorite written work by either a Pascack Hills or Pascack Valley student, and comment on your favorite part about the piece.

What are your thoughts about the writer's tone/ voice? Is he/ she aware of an intended audience? If you could conference with the writer, what advice would you give to improve the selection?

Can I Feed Your Empty Stomach WIth Words. by Nicole Simet

Nicole happens to be a friends of mine and i love the way she writes. She can be dark at times but it just shows a different side of her. In the poem my favorite part is when she goes into the second part with such motivation and how she is telling this person(s) with such an attitude of LISTEN TO ME. Im pretty sure she didn't intend this to be told to an audience but just one person this is a poem of a broken heart and has alot of emotion in it.

Family vs Law

David's father shares his insight on page 156: "...I believe that in this world people must pay for their crimes. It doesn't matter who you are or who your relations are; if you do wrong, you pay. I believe that. I have to."

What do you think about these convictions? What other story does Wes share with David about himself? How does this story complicate his belief system?

I Feel David's father is stepping up to his sheriff role and is saying, you will pay for your wrong doings. He shares the story about him and Cordell by the golf course and they bumped into the Blackfoot brothers who had a bad rep and they were chasing him. People might think Wes is a hypocrite but because of his experiences with bad people he strongly believes that bad things happen to bad people.