Similarities in different coming of age ceremonies

Although all these tribes are located in different areas around the world, I was surprised that most of their coming of age rituals were proceeded in a similar way. For example, a lot of tribes had hunting animals, and being isolated from the group/tribe members,etc. were common in a certain number of tibes. As well as this, I could see that some rituals were really painful and "harsh" and some were disappearing and becoming illegal due to the modernized law and the developing civilizations. Something that I have noticed, which a lot of tribes' ceremonies had in common, was that the girls' rituals were usually less painful and harsh than the boys'.

Bud, Not Buddy Writing Response #2 Chapters 17-19

1. What surprise did Eddie bring to the house for Bud?

Eddie brought an old alto saxophone to the house for Bud to practice on.

2. What did Bud suddenly realize about the guest bedroom he was staying in?

Bud suddenly realized that the room he had been staying in, belonged to his momma. He found out she had been using it when she was a child before she left home from her father, Herman E. Calloway.

3. What did Bud discover in the glove compartment of Mr. Calloway’s Packard?

In the glove compartment of Herman E. Calloway’s Packard, Bud discovered lots of rocks with dates and names of different places carved on them. Bud was very surprised because the rocks looked exactly like the ones momma gave to Bud when she died.

4. Why didn’t Mr. Calloway ever visit his daughter Angela and grandson Bud?

Mr. Calloway really wanted to see his daughter again after she ran away. He looked for her amongst the audiences at every show they had. He wasn’t able to find his daughter because Angela ran away without telling Herman E. Calloway where she was going.

5. Why had Mr. Calloway’s daughter run away?

Herman E. Calloway was a very strict father to his daughter, Angela. He gave his daughter a very hard and stressful time, so in the end, Angela ran away with a drummer in Mr. Calloway’s Band.

6. Why do you think Mr. Calloway was so stubborn in accepting Bud? Do you think their relationship changed once he realized Bud was his grandson?

I think Herman E. Calloway was so stubborn in accepting Bud because he didn’t trust Bud so much. Mr. Calloway had always thought Bud as a strange kid who insisted that Herman E. Calloway was his long-lost father. It didn’t say so in the book, but I think Bud and Mr. Calloway’s relationship is going to change and Mr. Calloway would probably start to accept Bud since he found out that Bud was his very own grandson.

Bud, Not Buddy Questions

When Bud is in the room he is going to sleep in that night, what makes him think that the room used to be a girl’s room who is now dead?
1) Bud thinks that the room used to be a room of a girl who was now dead because Miss Thomas mentioned that the girl who had been using this room, was gone. In Bud's rule book, the 28th rule is "Gone = Dead". So, this made Bud think that she is dead.

Is Herman E. Calloway happy to have Bud at his home? Give evidence to support your answer.
2) I think that Herman E. Calloway is definitely NOT happy to have Bud at his home, because on page 179 Herman says, "You've got the rest of them fooled, but not me. There's something about you that I don't like." This passage shows that Herman E. Calloway doesn’t like Bud’s presence in his house and around him.

On page 185 we read: “ I can’t believe you, you’ll take care of any stray dog wandering through this neighborhood, but when it comes to a child all of a sudden you have no sympathy.” Who says this and what does he or she mean?
3) When you look at page 185, you can see that Ms. Thomas says, "I can’t believe you, you’ll take care of any stray dog wandering through this neighborhood, but when it comes to a child all of a sudden you have no sympathy." From this passage, you can see that Herman E. Calloway is always willing to take care of anything but Bud, who he thought was a fraud who didn’t like him. Herman E. Calloway still hates Bud until this chapter.

On page 191 Eddie asks Bud: “….are you attached to the suitcase, or is it the things inside that are important?” Why does he ask this? What does he give to Bud?
4) When you look at page 191, Eddie asks Bud, “….are you attached to the suitcase, or is it the things inside that are important?” Steady Eddie asks this because he didn’t like the fact that Bud had to carry such a raggedy, tattered, suitcase everywhere he went. Bud answered that there were special things in the suitcase that he is attached to. Steady Eddie gave his alto saxophone case to Bud to use as his new suitcase.

The band members give Bud the name “Sleepy Labone”. Why?
5) The band members called Bud the name 'Sleepy LaBone' considering the fact that Bud woke up at noon on the first day at the Grand Calloway Station (Sleepy), and the bad members used the “classy” French word La Bone because Bud was too skinny. Therefore, the name ‘Sleepy LaBone was created.

The San Tribesmen

One fact that I have discovered regarding my culture (San Tribe, Africa) of study that I found highly interesting is that "the eland ceremony". When a boy was strong enough to handle a bow and arrow, usually about age fourteen, he was sent to kill an eland. When he returned to the clan with his kill, he stayed in his hut and avoided all women. The clan cooked the eland on a special fire, separate from all other food. The boy did not eat his first kill, but the rest of the clan feasted on the meat. Before the clan recognized the boy as a true man, he had to kill both a male and a female eland.

FRIM Field Trip

The FRIM trip overall, was a pretty awesome experience in all aspects. I loved being in a large group of around 40 people despite the fact that it had a lot of disadvantages as well. During the trip, I made a few new friends and learned how to get along with new people. The one and only uncomfortable situation during the entire camping trip was sleeping in our tents. Being in a small tent with my "tent-mate" and relying on only a 1 liter bottle of literally 'warm' water was horrible. Anyway, even though there were some uncomfortable things that I didn't enjoy so much, the field trip to FRIM was just awesome.

My Quote

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm."

- Winston Churchill



The meaning of this quote may vary from person to person, but I personally think this quote means that to be courageous is to be brave enough to continue even if you fail over and over again. I chose this quote for my blog because whenever I fail over and over again, I tend to give up really easily. So this quote made me think that I should never give up on anything.