My Rez

This blog was supposed to compare my neighborhood to the Rez, yet I hardly see a connection there. I've grown up in all parts of the city, and my house is a place where I've probably spent the least amount of time, not including sleeping. And honestly, if it weren't for the fact that my current house isn't about a half a mile from the blue line, then maybe I'd feel a little more isolated... But the Blue Line takes you anywhere. So I thought a little bit more about the comparison and I can connect it to a lot of other places in my life. For example my old school, which is a comparison I  believe a lot of students at Whitney will probably be able to identify with. I am the only one from my graduating class to have come to Whitney young, and maybe about a handful of others from my school went to selective enrollment schools or IB program schools. I can say the same for my family, because I'm the first to have gone to a selective enrollment school amongst my cousins. It's an accomplishment for me, but it also creates a barrier whenever I'm with my family because they put me in this high standard, making it seem as if I think I'm too good. As if I thought or I think I am little miss smarty pants with goals and ambition and I'm not afraid to admit that my dreams are probably too big. As for the rest of my non-American family, having been born in America in the first place has been like the reardan to Arnold's story. And that's the absolute best comparison I can think of as comparing a personal situation to the Rez. A lot of my family is still living in Mexico and Puertorico. I have yet to meet (almost all) of my Puertorican side of the family, but I know their situation is only slightly better than in Mexico. I love seeing my family in Mexico, but it's also a straight up feeing of being back on my own kind of 'Rez'. Seeing a lot of my cousins as teen parents already, only the lucky ones married. There's no room to grow out there, there's no room to follow your dreams because you're basically limited to two. It's still one of the happiest places I've known, but there's hardly any different ways of living. Like Arnold's Rez, it's highly influenced by alcohol, poverty and death but that's just the lifestyle on the 'Rez'. And it's basically engrained in our culture to be proud. And I am proud, of my family and my roots and where I come from, yet it's this idea of being too proud that hold everyone back. My dad has been in this country for at least 30 years and he still hasn't gotten his American citizenship because of this whole pride thing. Once you're 'American', there's no going back, you've already turned yor back on your roots.. Your history... But that's a whole other blog topic. The end :)

Native Son

In book three, Max gives an utterly long speech. The speech was nice at first, but ultimately it was not necessary for the reader to read the last 20 pages of it. throughout the book, Bigger is giving us his perspective and analysis of his situation involving the murder, racial problems, and society's influence on him. As we read, we also analysize the text that we read and discuss it in class as well as answer questions regarding it to give what we read deeper meaning. By the time book three came along, we as readers already had an idea of how the rest of Biggers life was going to play out, (or not play out) so reading through. Maxs speech was very repetitive as a reader. Max's speech was important in that it showed us as a reader that he had some similar views of Biggers situation and that his state of thinking was ahead of his time. His speech summed up a considerable portion of Biggers emotions and was well stated, although given the time period and Biggers crime, it was probably not convincing towards a hateful and bias jury.

Yellow cars, church steeples, and green lights

These three things are very symbolic in the great gatsby. Jay Gatsby drives a yellow car in the book, and it is seen as a big flashy statement. Tom refers to it as a circus wagon, and he believes it is just an attempt by Gatsby to show how much money he has. the green light is the light at the end of Daisys dock, that Gatsby looks at. The green light can represent the American dream to some, although that is a very general statement. At the beggining of the book, Nick sees the green light ahead of him, and in his individual case this might represent financial succes to Nick, seeing as he is a struggling binds salesman. I beleive Fitzgerald uses the color green to represent money for Nick. Finally, the church steeple. This refers to Immanuel Kant, who developed his theories on morality while looking at a church steeple. Fitzgerald relates this to Nick, because he resembles Immanuel in that he is pensive and thoughtful, and also carefully considers those around him and their thoughts/opinions.

Janie Crawford Killicks Starks Woods

Janie Crawford Killicks Starks Woods is constantly being defined by other people. As a child she is not liked because others thought that she felt as if she were better than everyone else, based on her home life and physical appearance. She is light skinned with great hair, making her stand out. Nanny had always wanted her to stand out as well, she thought it was a good thing that people thought she was superior.

The second very significant person in Janies life is her husband Logan Killicks. Logan defines her as a spoiled young girl and constantly compares her to his previous wife, who was much better and willing to do farmwork. Upon searching for a definition of Killick, I found that a killick was a heavy stone used as an anchor for craft, such as small ships. I then compared Janie to this small ship, because her and Logans marriage was the first thing that held her down. She did not want this marriage, she aimed for a romance as beautiful as nature itself but instead must settle into this mans house as a wife for Nanny. Logan Killicks was Janies very first Anchor.

The third very significant person in Janies life was Joe (Jody) Starks, her second husband. Joe defines Janie as his trophy wife, never letting her do anything but look proper and pretty like an expensive collectors item that would be kept on a shelf. Again, I defined the work Stark. Definitions included physically strong or powerful, incapable of movement, unpleasantly sharp or clear. Joe Starks I believe, was all of these things. The big man of the town and the very controlling husband to Janie. She is constantly speaks of Joe as a man who makes a lot of changes in everyone else but cannot change himself. Many others in town saw this quality in Joe Starks as well, but but the fact that he had done so much positive things in the town they never spoke up to him personally.

Lastly (that I am aware of) there is Vergible Tea Cake Woods. The character who inspired my research on names. Tea Cake Woods is so far the last husband of Janies, who defines her an an equal person and respects her as a woman. She finds everything she was searching for in her past husbands in Vergible Woods, just as she did in nature with the trees, which I connected to his last name Woods.

Thankful for a classmate

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for all of my classmates and teachers. To be specific, I'll start with Tikal. I am thankful for Tikal for being so nice, and everytime I come in to class she always has a smile and says good morning. She also reminds me of the Spanish homework that I may or may not have forgotten about. I'm thankful for Alex, because ball is life whether she is willing to accept that or not. I am thankful for Juan and his sneezes, because they remind me that it am very much alive. I a thankful for starving Artist aka Alexis, because she helps me with chemistry and is also fun to talk with during lunch and division. Im thankful for Jefri because shes so fun to party with and she even made me her #wcw even though I looked super gross in the picture! I am thankful for Isabella because she's so sweet and her outfits are really cute. Lastly I am thankful for Mr. McCarthy for caring about his job and giving meaning to it. I'm so grateful for all of my teacher that I have this year at Whitney Young. Each and every teacher that I've had this year is a blessing , because I can tell theta they all care about what they do and it makes me as a student want to do better. I realize that a lot of students take great teachers for granted, so I'd especially like to thank them right now for coming to class everyday and providing great lesson plans and making learning interesting.

Principle not Principal

A principle we should keep.
Apocalyptic situations are ever present in media nowadays, with it being a possibility within a couple hundred years. Zombies, cannibalism, chaos, and the struggle for survival leave many of us questioning our actions in situations like these. A big debate, would we really stick to the principles that define our character and personalities today? Have we stuck to the same principles that we lived by 10 years ago? Personally my answer would be no. When I was six i promised to never stop believing in magic like all of the adults I saw in the Disney movies. I would never lie, I would never lie, I would never cheat, and the yuckiest of all, I would never be friends with a boy, they had cooties...Yuck! So what makes 10 years into the future any different? Perhaps saying that you will always stick to your current principles is already breaking a very common principle, to never lie.

Personally, I try to avoid speaking for my future self. I'd say it is pretty unpredictable, and there's no telling if Ill be the same person in the next 10 years. We don't know what experiences await us, and its even less likely that it will be an apocalyptic situation. Many people say they would never kill a person, but what if someone was attacking you or your family? They would never steal, but have they ever gone a week without food and left in someone else's kitchen? Basic principles would be lost in  an apocalyptic world. The ones that keep our society in place today would not keep without society, because they both depend on each other. In The Road for example, self identity can be considered a principle. The father still grooms himself and the boy to stay clean. To remain as a civil human being. On the other hand, we see cannibals, who probably converted to cannibals after the apocalypse. If this is true, then it is unlikely that they kept the same principles pre-apocalypse. Therefore principles are temporary. Principals are also temporary, with or without apocalyptic situations.

Hemingway

The Early life of Earnest Hemingway
Earnest Miller Hemingway was an author, father, son, brother, unfaithfully devoted husband and much more. He was born in Oak Park, Illinois on July 21, 1899. Since the time he was born, Hemingway was dressed as a girl by his mother. This however, was not uncommon as many Victorian children were dressed in gowns. His parents were Grace and Ed Hemingway. Ed was an avid outdoorsman, which is seen as the reason Earnest turned out to the the same, by influence of his father. Growung up his father would take him on fishing trips which he loved because he was able to dress like a boy and be manly with his father. In school he was not so great at sports and would exaggerate many aspects of his 'athletic career'. Hemingway really showed his talent when he wrote in the school newspaper and is considered his first start in publishing his writing. In 1917 he was rejected from the army because of his poor vision, so he volunteered for the red cross. his published writing "A farewell to Arms" is based off of his experiences in the war. When he was volunteering for the red cross, Hemingway became bored and wanted to be more involved in the war. When he finally managed to become involved, he got injured after his 6th day on the front. by this time he was 19 and this is when he met his first love Agnes, who was 27 at the time. They had a romantic relationship until he had to return to America and she broke it off with him by writing him a letter. This was only the beggining of his romantic tales and successful writings.