Walter's Diary Confession

I don't think I've ever been this nervous and satisfied at the same time.  I invested the money today.

Mama gave me the money to put into the bank for Beneatha's medical school.  I never went to the bank.  Instead I went straight to Willy Harris and I gave him all $6,500 to go towards the liquor store.  I really hope this works.

I just want a better life for my son.

As much as I want Beneatha to be successful and happy as a doctor, I also see Travis with a brighter future. "Besides, ain't many girls who decide to be a doctor" (36).  Not only will the new house and the new neighborhood open him up to new opportunities, but the money that I receive from my investment will help him go to school or play on a sports team.  If I get enough money, maybe I'll take the family on a nice trip, or send Beneatha to Africa with that man she's been seeing.  To be completely honest, I think George isn't completely right for her-even though he has the money.

No one seems to get why I want to invest in this.  All of the members of my family seem to think that liquor is the wrong business to invest in, but even if people don't have the money, they will still go drinking.  It's a business I don't think will ever die out.  Hopefully Bobo and Willy will come tomorrow and bring me the good news that the deal went through and I can tell everyone before the movers get here.

Winter Dreams as Told by Emily

Once upon  a time, there was a young man named Dexter Green who began his rise to a successful business man as a caddy on a golf course.  Little did he know that he would meet the girl of his dreams the day he quit.  Many years later, Dexter was hitting the peak of his success, and he was now a member of the golf club he used to work at.  While playing a game of golf, one of the men playing with him was struck with a ball hit by Judy Jones, who Dexter had met when he used to caddy. Later that night he sees Judy again, when she asks him to drive her boat so she can water ski.  She left her date who she doesn't like because of his lack of money.  Today, this would be considered something very wrong to do.  Dexter begins to pursue Judy.  She shows affection towards him, but she won't stop toying with other men.  Dexter continues to work; Judy continues to date multiple men.  Dexter decides that he will never get Judy, and he develops feelings for a girl named Irene.  Before Dexter and Irene are about to announce their engagement to everybody, Irene has a headache and cannot go out to make the announcement.  Dexter decides to go out to the club without her and sees the one person that could change everything again: Judy Jones.  The two discuss their previous relationship and Judy states that she wants to marry Dexter.  The two go for a go for a ride, and Judy expresses her undying love for Dexter.  It is as if she wants him to be like Moses, a man that will do anything for his people, and in this case the people are referring to Judy.  After the pair arrive at Judy's house, she invites him inside, and Dexter agrees.  After this Dexter moves away and begins to climb the business ladder again.  One of his co-workers, Devin, tells him that Judy has married a man that doesn't treat her well and she is not pretty anymore.  Judy went from a pink elephant, special and beautiful, to an average, normally colored elephant.  This rhetoric change shows how Judy was put into her place by a man she thought she truly loved, but she ended up disappointed.  Dexter, much like Gatsby, spent so much time in their lives trying to achieve the love of one woman, that they don't know where their lives went.

 

How To Be A Perfect American Family

Many people have ideals in society of what they think the perfect American family is.  If your family is a perfect family, then you're successful in America.

Dad has a great job to support the whole entire family.

Mom stays at home and takes care of the kids.

Sally is a soccer star at the age of 8.

Jack is the next Mozart with his piano skills.

Fido the dog is healthy and loves to play outside.

The whole family lives in a nice house in a safe suburb and they have many friends and nothing is wrong with the world.

If you know a family like this then there is something clearly wrong with the world and this blog post is about to be negated completely.

People see things that are on the surface.  In the family I described above, there could be some underlying factor that makes the family not as perfect as described on the surface level. The dad could be struggling with a drinking problem. One of the children could be struggling with school.  The mom could have had a miscarriage.  This one small flaw wrecks the perfect American family.

What people need to know is that no one is perfect.

People expect perfection, but since it is so hard to obtain, it should not be expected.  A family does not have to be perfection.  A family should strive to be what they believe is successful, not what society makes it out to be.

Rumors, Gossip, and Lies

Everyone talks. People make up lies so that people will feel more secure with things they do not know about others.  It's everywhere in the media as well.  Gossip magazines spread stories of scandals and plastic surgery.

One of my favorite Disney movies is Ratatouille.  One of the sous chefs, Horst, has been to jail and he changes the story every time the other members of the kitchen ask him why. Here is the video if you've never seen the movie or are forgetting the scene.

I don't blame him for doing this, especially since it appears he has been pestered so much.

This specifically reminds me of Jay Gatsby.

Does he know what people say about him?

People are in constant questioning about the life of Gatsby.  At the party in Chapter 3 of The Great Gatsby Nick hears many different things about Gatsby including "'Somebody told me they thought he killed a man'" (44 Fitzgerald).  People are so intent on finding out what goes on in people's personal lives.  Many people do not even know Gatsby, even though they go to his parties and make up stories after seeing how crazy his parties get.  People are not aware of his background with Daisy either.

If I was in a situation similar to Gatsby, I would make sure that everyone knew a bit about my history, and I would also make it a bit public as well, that way no one would accuse me of killing a man. 

I Have Never Seen Any Punctuation Mark Looks Like That

Although it would be nice to keep everything the same way, things change, and the world is evolving as this is being written. 

Punctuation is just one of those things that changes as time goes on.  Most people write how they talk or think. An unknown writer reflecting on a piece by Henry Hitchings states that "punctuation comes and goes" (Punctuation, Social Media, and Evolving Rules of Communication, unknown author). Punctuation changes with the time, as does text message lingo.  Teenagers do not know what a pilcrow or a hedra is. Some authors have decided to do away with punctuation all together as blogger Elizabeth Austin did in her poem "On Punctuation." In her poem Austin is bored by the "dogma of the period" and the "tight-lipped fence of the colon."  In the second half of the poem, Austin speaks fondly of ellipses and exclamation points, which are known by the majority of people, but not commonly seen.  With the use of more modern punctuation, people will be able to convey their emotion in a better way than before,  Punctuation helps show tone of a work without the use of  words. Another well known poet, Emily Dickinson, uses dashes in her poem and talks about the possibility of "A fairer House than Prose." Dickinson uses dashes to express her emotions about how she sees poetry as a world with new punctuation.  Many authors dream of a world where they are unrestricted by the rules of punctuation and can adapt to the lingo of the modern world.

Cholly Breedlove Could Have Been A Lawyer

When I first hear the name Cholly Breedlove, I thought of Atticus Finch because both names were interesting and seemed pretty proper.

I assumed they would be the same.

I was so wrong.

Cholly Breedlove had a rough childhood. His father left his mother before he was born, Shortly after being born his mother placed him in a pile of trash.  There was a small glimmer of hope when Aunt Jimmy took Cholly from the trash and began to serve as his parental figure.  Aunt Jimmy died when Cholly was still a young man, leaving him with no one to send him in the right direction and keep him morals in the right place. After marrying Pauline, he developed a drinking problem. Cholly hit his lowest point after raping his own daughter.  

What would have happened if Cholly had a different upbringing?

Cholly had a rough life from the beginning.  The sad childhood that he had could have been the reason that he continued to struggle later in life. Here is an article that shows how a bad childhood can effect the life of a person forever. 

When I think of bad childhoods, I think of my friends who have divorced parents.

Their lives were changed forever by the actions of their parents.  The children have to overcome different obstacles including new living situations, a different relationship with their parents, and possibly new step-siblings as time progresses on.  Parents determine our futures for us.  When two people agree to have a child, maybe they should think about how their choices will change their child.  It's not often that people are not ready to have children, but still do.   If Cholly's parents would have been there for him, his whole life could have been sent in a completely different direction.  With more help and guidance, Cholly could have worked a better job and received more education.  

Shirley Temple and Pecola

Everyone has had or currently has an obsession with a celebrity.  I'll admit it, I have mine too.  Every July you can find me crying at the local Warped Tour because the singer of *insert current favorite band name here* accidentally touched a piece of my hair when he was singing to some other girl squished up against the barricade with me.  My mother's and I stalked Mathew McConaughey a few summers ago in New York.  Some people have a stalker deep inside of them that they haven't quite revealed yet.
People read gossip magazines, follow their favorite stars on Twitter, and in certain cases, even write fake stories about them.  Everyone wants to be treated like a star.  Stars get the nicest things like fancy handbags from Prada and they can spend hundreds of dollars on cosmetic surgery if they don't like the way they look.

Celebrities get whatever they want.

Pecola has a fascination for Shirley Temple and her cuteness.  After watching a clip of Shirley Temple, I thought that she was cute, but she did not have the majority of the talent that her black co-star, Bojangles, did. Pecola may have only been longing for the physical looks that Shirley has.  The white celebrities at that time were treated better and were liked more by audiences.  Pecola may have not been looking for stardom, but also someone to like her in general.  She can connect with Frida over their like for Shirley Temple, but not Claudia.  I think that if anything, Pecola should have wished for a talent, particularly like the ones that Bojangles had, instead of wishing for something that is only on the outside.

Banned Books

While reading the Toni Morrison piece about Huck Finn, her mention of the book being banned, I wondered what are some of the books that have been banned from schools today?

Here is a list of commonly banned books from 2000-2009.

After looking through this list, I realized, I've read the majority of these books.  Some of these books I can totally see why people would want to ban them.  One of my favorite books from middle school was a book called Go Ask Alice.  This book takes the reader into the life of a girl who is being introduced to drug usage and adult activities.  The book was basically the diary of a girl overdosing on drugs every night. This book ranks at #18 on this list.  I personally believe it could be higher.

Some of these books don't deserve the rankings the got.  #1 is the Harry Potter series.

I think butter beer is the only reference to alcohol or drugs I have seen in these books.

Why is an innocent book the most banned book in American schools?

There is nothing I see wrong with this book series.  It may just be me, but I think that adults are banning this book in an attempt to take away our creativity.  Some of the other books on this list are written in a way to make the reader feel uncomfortable about the subject.  An example of this is The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.  We've started reading this book in class and after the first two pages, I felt awkward.  This book ranks at #15 on the list.  After reading the book, I might be able say why it belongs there or why it doesn't.

Social Event or National Holiday?

After reading Fredrick Douglas's piece "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" I noticed that everyone celebrated the 4th of July differently but there was always something similar: no one was really remembering why we are having this holiday. Frederick Douglas states in his piece that the July the fourth was a day of sadness for African Americans since they did not have full freedom.

Should we treat the Fourth of July like Frederick Douglass?

Most people exercise their rights on the 4th of July; maybe a little excessively with  the drinking and fireworks, but they legally have the right to if they are of the correct age. I myself am a huge fan of fireworks. The 4th of July is supposed to be a time of celebrating our independence, but I think it's become a competition between girls to see how many likes they can get on a picture of them in high waisted American flag shorts.

 A national holiday has been turned into an extreme social event. This can so be seen with Christmas. People spend thousands of dollars on material gifts all while forgetting that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ. For the people who don't celebrate Christmas, it's the season of buying MEANINGFUL gifts for their loved ones.

In response to my question above, maybe we shouldn't treat national holidays as a day of sadness, but maybe we should try to make them less of a social event.

Witches in Puritan Society

The mention of witches in Chapter 8 of The Scarlet Letter got me wondering: what were witches actually like in Puritan societies?

 "As they descended the steps, it is averted that the lattice of a chamber window was thrown open, and forth into the sunny day was thrust the face of Mistress Hibbins, Governor Bellingham's bitter-tempered sister, and the same who, a few years later, was executed as a witch." (Hawthorne 113) 

The only thing I really know about witches came from the music I listen to (not a good idea) and from APUSH (but did I ever really understand anything in that class?). The music that I listen to gave me a really bad impression that witches were burned at the stake and basically went on to burn in hell.

After doing some research I found a few facts.

• Everyone in Puritan society believed in witchcraft and the Devil.
• Most accused women were either poor, elderly, widowed, or a combination of all of them.
• A failed crop or a sick newborn were signs of witchcraft in a community
• Accused witches were tried and then hung if found guilty-most were.
• Witch hunts began in Salem, and then spread to other colonies.

"'Wilt thou go with us tonight?  There will be a merry company in the forest; and I well-nigh promised the Black Man that comely Hester Prynne should make one.'" (113)

Mistress Hibbins in The Scarlet Letter was openly a witch, but she doesn't have the standard characteristics of most witches.  Should Mistress Hibbins have been tried and hung too? This shows how people see what they want to see. Since Mistress Hibbins lived in a nice house with her brother the governor people assumed that she was a good person. 

Clothing Based Steryotypes

After reading There Is No Unmarked Woman by Deborah Tannen, I noticed that the way she described the three women was very stereotypical. One was classic and beautiful.  The next was older and more modest.  The third had an edgy and youthful style.  These seem like three styles that I see in magazines and are easily noticeable.  Everyone has a unique style, but some people are marked a certain way because of clothing choices.

Our school has 3 clothing types (according to my parents):

The Normal

The I Don't Even Have A Clue What Your T-shirt Says and How Did Your Parents Let You Dye Your Hair That Color

The Please Put Some Clothes On and Take Off Your Parka, It's Not That Cold Outside

These styles are pretty easy to describe and I can find myself fitting into all of these.  I know people who tend to judge others on what they're wearing and then treat them differently. I, myself, have gone through this.  I simply wore a shirt that was difficult to read with big red pointy letters that advertised a band my friend had gone to see. A girl in one of my classes looked at my shirt, squinting her eyes as if she was having a hard time seeing me.  When she asked what my shirt said, I told her the band name and who got the shirt for me, The girl quickly turned and walked away after whispering "oh."  She didn't talk to me that much after that.

I don't think that clothing marking will end anytime soon because no one is the same.  We all have different likes and dislikes when it comes to how we express ourselves.

What's In a Name?

This week we looked into what the underlying meaning of Pearls' name in The Scarlet Letter.  I soon started to question what the definition of my name is.  After looking it up and avoiding the Urban Dictionary definitions, I found that my name meant hard-working and industrious.  I actually do think that this name does relate to me as Pearls name does to her.  I tend to work pretty hard in my classes and I try to put my best effort into everything I do. Another website mentioned that my name meant that I was creative.  I can also see this, as I perform on the color guard and I play flute.

Do names really make us who we are or is this just coincidence?

Is there a science behind it?

There really is no science behind it but some children are and aren't effected by their names and even their nicknames.  A friend of my dad wore red sweat suits all through college, earning him the nickname of "Tomato." Tomato made okay grades and kinda slumped through college.

Tomato is a millionaire now.

Names do not matter.  They simply attract attention.

People legally change their names all the time.  An example is Chad Johnson. Most people know him as Chad Ochocinco. He played football for the Cincinnati Bengals.  Chad changed his legal name three times, and all it did was attract attention to himself.  Names can change how a child is treated.  I have never met a child who is named "Computer" or "Blanket" but that doesn't mean that it won't happen in the future.  I am happy that my parents gave me a name that reflects who I am as a person, even though they didn't know this was going to be me.  Everybody has a different meaning to it, the question is, does it reflect you?

How Do Bad Neighborhoods Become Bad Neighborhoods?

This summer I went to Warped Tour for the third year in a row.

 My parents have always been concerned about me going to concerts with just my friends so my dad -possibly unhappily and unwillingly-used to accompany us to concerts. The past few concerts this hasn't been the case.

Even though I'm going without parents to these concerts, I'm continuously asked where the concert is taking place.  If the concert is being held in a "bad neighborhood" it's a no go for me and I'm stuck at home for the night.

What makes a bad area a bad area? Is it the people? The buildings? The financial situation of the people?

Here's what phys.org thinks.

Most adults I know think that the actions of the people make an area bad. I can't help but wonder, what do the people living in this area think about this stereotype? Does it bother them as much as it does me? I strongly believe that no one should be put into a position like this. People of minority races are discriminated against so much, just because they are different. People who dress a certain way are grouped with a type of people. Just because someone looks a certain way does not mean that they completely fit the stereotype associated with looks. Let me give you an example:

I've always been told that it is important to be careful who you stand with at concerts; they might try to give you drugs or abduct you. When I go to concerts, I am surrounded by tall broad men, many covered in tattoos, piercings, and dressed in all black. Almost anyone would be concerned for my friends and I. These men at concerts are some of the most caring and nicest people I have ever met. These fully grown men will politely ask if you can see over them or even if you want to be picked up so you can see what is going on. Never once have any of these men disrespected me or anyone around me in any way. I believe that if more people in the world could see something like this, they would be more open to breaking the stereotypes and discrimination that goes into the everyday life of some.

Throwback Sunday and War Memorials

After reading "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien and discussing war memorials, I thought that maybe I could have a mini flashback to an event that specifically reminds me of both of these-the Washington D.C. trip.  I think that the majority of us went on the trip when we were in eighth grade, so I think the majority of us can agree that the trip was spent more focused on what t-shirt to buy and less what we were actually supposed to be learning about.   Basically every monument that the group was taken to was more of an opportunity to take jumping pictures and to see our friends from the other buses because the trip was more of a social event and less of a learning event. In case you're wondering, here's a picture of what I got out of my trip.

"To go into it{the story}, I've always thought, would only cause embarrassment for all of us" (O'Brien 39)

This blog post is not about how dorky I was as an eighth grader or  how I can't jump. This is about how people do not know enough about the memorials.  Anyone can tell that the Vietnam War Memorial is about the Vietnam War but the average person does not know the difference between a cenotaph(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cenotaph) and a catafalque(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/catafalque).  All these people see is either:
A.) an empty hall with nice little statues and reflective black marble with names carved into it
or B.) a physical cemetery with lots of tombstones.
I'd personally like to go back to D.C., just so I could understand and see things in a different way than I did when I was thirteen.

My memory of seeing the Vietnam Memorial was a picture of a name on the wall.  Apparently I found it amusing that someone's name on the wall was named "Orange."

 Seeing this picture reminds me that everyone mentioned in "The Things They Carried" had different traits that made them different.  I simply wonder if Orange was like anyone in the book or if he was just a teenager like myself.