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.