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.