Responses to Eddie and Kevin

Response to Kevin’s Question:

I’m actually reading Take the Cannoli, so I know what Sarah is going through in this book. Sarah doesn’t mean to push herself away from her family but eventually she does because they are more about the “hunter’s orange” –pg. 15 and that color just doesn’t suit her well. That’s not the real case here though. She’s sliding away from her family because she feels like a loner. She has a twin sister and they don’t even feel like twins because Sarah is so different from the rest of the family. Throughout the story Sarah expresses her love for sound. It really doesn’t have to be music but it’s something that gives her a thrill. Her family would always come to support her when she was in school for band. She tried to take up many instruments. She fell in love with playing the trumpets but in the end had only one choice because her “mouth was too big,” and that was a baritone horn. “Trumpets are played by Miles Davis and baritones are played by nobody.” – pg. 30. She hated the fact that this was the instrument she had to play but once she got the hang out of it. Her father never missed a performance but Sarah always thought he dreaded to come because he would check off every song they did as if he was ready to leave but that was never the case at all, he may have wanted to leave but the only reason he was there in the first place is because he loved his daughter. Those little check marks her father made in programs became “heart-shaped symbols of his love” once she realized how much he actually cared.

My family and I are very close. It always wasn’t like that though. When I was younger, most of the people in my family were dancers and I was the exception to the family. I felt like Sarah with her music. My mom would always come support me through everything but I didn’t know why she was there. I realized she was there because she loved me. It didn’t matter if I was tone deaf or couldn’t rock the same way as the choir. I knew my mom loved me through the actions she made.

Response to Eddies Question:

In Take the Cannoli, Sarah was an awkward band geek. She was the kind of girl who wears her big furry 4 feet hat with pride. In high school kids are just naturally mean it doesn’t matter where you are its always going to happen and in this book that kid just happened to be Andy Heap. It wasn’t like he was making fun of her on purpose, it’s just his sense of humor was extremely different than Sarah’s. At a football game Sarah had a xylophone solo called “Tico Tico”, she was doing great and then Andy decides to yell out “Vowell! Vowell! Whooooo! Whoooo!” – Pg.26 but she couldn’t be unprofessional like she wanted to be and stick her tongue out at him but she definitely did in her mind! All she wanted to do was please the crowd with her selection and that going taking away from her because of the continuous laughter going on in the stands.

Well when I was in high school I was a cheerleader and the only male at that fact. People didn’t like the fact that I was cheering. They thought it was “gay, faggish, or feminine” but for some reason I just didn’t care what people thought! It was a lasting battle to get people to get off my damn back and after a few people getting cussed out it never happened again.