O Lawd!

   I'm grateful that we've come a long way from the day big Walters check came home. That day gone done us the best and worst but this family ain't never gave up in the five generations past and we ain't about to give up now. Money money money. All anyone ever care bout now is money. I can't blame them none. Everything needs money in this changed world. Only thing that mattered in my time was gettin out of dem ways of getting lynched. But now that these young folk use money so often our whole lives depend on it. 

    My son Walter lee is a good man, was and still will be. But when he lost all his daddy's hard earned money I thought we was done in this world. All those years of big Walter comin late every night day after day makin sure his children are happy. I prayed to the lord that he'd show Walter Lee the right way out of this mess he done got into. 

 But we survived my family and I. Walter Lee called that Mr. Lindner and old him that we don't want none of his money. We were gonna stay in that house we bought with big Walters money. I always knew my son was a lot of things but a bad man was not one of them. He got himself a job and worked his way up for his money. Travis grew up to be a hard workin boy ready to learn and earn. Beneatha got to be the doctor she wanted to be and now she helps give lfie to her patients. Ruth? Ruth gave birth to that beautiful new baby and being the strongest one over the years she sure is the happiest now. 

 It all worked out big Walter. Thank the lord it all worked out. 

Connect the dots

Langston Hughes wrote significant poems about the journey of black society and how they fought through their steps to freedom. The black society was isolated and alienated from what was supposed to be the land of the free; what was supposed to be home. We could almost say that they felt like they were living in outer space, where there's no air of reassurance to breathe in and sustain. healthy atmosphere for them, like there was no life around them and within them. However, there were stars of hope and a new world not far off. 

While others might say that black society took a decline in this time period, they actually flourished and made a name for themselves in the world of art, music and talent overall. The beauty of their culture was that it was their coping mechanism while better days were on the way. Jimi Hendrix is a good example of the growth and flourishing of music in the black society. Hendrix is known till date to be one of the greatest of not the greatest instrumentalists in history. 

You could say that it was hell for the black society with fire that burnt them whichever way that turned. With the rest of the world like the fates at the gates of hades, caging you in, watching your lives and making sure you don't escape, it really did seem like hell. However there's a certain sense of life and hope that can be interpreted from fire. JeannetteWalls in her book, The Glass Castle, uses fire as a recurring motif. Initially the fire threatens her and hurts her, but she learns from it, she later uses the fire to her advantage and turned her weaknesses into her strengths. When she was finally independent and on her own, the fire remained a symbol of her journey and what she had been through and learned over the years of her life. The black society may have suffered but they used their vulnerable position and turned out to be stronger Han ever. 

History? Or His Story?

      Recently in class we read a poem called "The History Teacher" by Billy Collins. It was about a history teacher fabricating the events of wars with intentions of protecting the innocence of his students. 

However the same teacher who was trying to 'protect' is students didn't know that it was them whom other students needed protection from, while they bullied kids and broke their glasses. 

There seems to be a slight misinterpretation and a thin line between protection and ignorance, approach and avoidance. 

Protecting someone doesn't necessarily entail the act of having to lie to them, but to simply restrain from sharing too much in too much detail for them to process and interpret what it means to themselves. 

There's a reason why the hideous crimes committed were never explained to us as children but simply labelled as 'bad things' done by 'bad strangers'. 

It's not like our parents or other adult figures hid the truth from us, they just never disclosed the severity and detail of things we weren't prepared to be so aware of. 

We still aren't prepared to be aware of some of the things we are made to. 

It's simply a matter of how we comprehend our surroundings.

Sometimes we can't be protected from the things we learn. We can only learn from the things that can't protect us.    

Punctuat!on

hey guys how are ya I feel excited for the holidays are you you should be because its one of the best times of year dont  you think so I know I do

Well that shouldn't have been to difficult to read, right? At this point I think all of us have a sense of where and when to punctuate our sentences with pauses, breaks, questions and excitement. 

Punctuation is something that has been taught as vital to our english education. We need to what this means! Or what this means? I'm pretty sure you noticed the difference in tone and stressed words. 

Punctuation is the solid foundation of any canvas that is to be painted on. Changing punctuation or getting rid of it altogether may provide more availability to creativity, but an inevitable cry for chaos. 

The only reason we feel like we could do without punctuation is because we know that we will always have it with us. Would you be willing to give up something if you could never ever see it again? Don't say yes to contradict me be nice and go with the flow. 

In future years when children are learning grammar and punctuation, yes there maybe hundreds of changes and or elimination altogether. But how will they learn? They could use anything they wanted in the name of punctuation and the teacher, who grew up with the education we did, would have to take deep breathing lessons just to understand and decode this new language. 

Punctuation is an art of its own, it has rules, restrictions and worldwide relevance.  

How much is too much?

 The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is a novel talking about many things, one of them being the want for more. 

'More' can be described in many ways: more freedom, more food, more power and beauty etc... 

But where does the want for more come from? We all have our personal missions to accomplish and points to prove. 

In the end of The story Pecola finally gets her blue eyes but then we see how constantly insecure and self conscious she is of her own newly found "beauty". 

If that isn't enough, just like the blueness of her eyes, she judges everyone with blue eyes that passes by with her friend. 

She makes her tell her whos eyes are bluer or prettier. 

This drastic behavior shows how there's always someone with more than you who's better than you. Society will pressurize you into following the 'status quo' and being better than everyone else. 

This goes to show that too less of anything or too much of anything is bad. It affects the individuals and the society surrounding the society socially emotionally and mentally. 

Dandelyin'

   We all know a few celebrities, we love some and we despise others. The celebrities we despise may be rich, good looking and successful, but some of us will dislike them because of who they are and what kind of person they may try to be. 

Now, we could also compare this to a school setting. Although discrimination and bullying is now highly frowned upon, it was and still is quite a big problem. 

Even in school, the victims of exclusion and rejection may not necessarily look or seem like they are hated but are hated because they simply are who they are. 

In our english class we are reading "the bluest eye" by Toni Morrison. 

Morrison makes an analogy using a metaphor; comparing the black society to a dandelion. 

She implies that even if some find the dandelion beautiful, it will always be frowned upon, unwanted, rejected and considered ugly for the simple fact that it is a weed and weeds are to be removed from the yard. 

This can be paralleled with the black society, although you may consider the black society beautiful, in that time period, they would always be considered ugly simply because they are black. 

Remember when we were little kids and we would find those fuzzy dandelions that looked really cool and would make us sneeze? Remember how we would pick tons of them and blow all of those tiny stems into the air? 

Did you know they were weeds back then?

Well I didn't. 

I just thought they looked fuzzy and nice and I wanted to see the little stems fly into air. 

As children, we are oblivious to society's harsh norms as to what is acceptable and what is beautiful. 

Same thing with school, although this may be a touchy and controversial statement; when you were a little kid did you pick your friends based on how they looked? 

Or did you pick based on how what color they likes? Or what season or sport or food they liked best? 

What about now? 

We're too busy making assumptions and judging eachother on social media to ever take an initiative and get to know one another without being blinded by preconceptions. 

I'm not accusing anyone here as I myself am guilty of doing the things I just talked about, and I'm pretty sure most of us are, but this just goes to show how perception really can change everything. 

"If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is - infinite" - William Blake

In a Barbie world

We're all familiar with feminism and its ups and downs as it has affected our society immensely. In class we were reading a piece called "Our Barbies, Ourselves" which talks bout the sexualisation of a female and how Barbie is just a physical embodiment of what a man would like a woman to look like. 

Now a lot of people question what feminism really is and its motives. 

Could it be that for the past many years we've al been living in a 'Barbie world' trying to be like Barbie; trying to be what a man wants us to be, instead of being ourself? Isn't that what feminism is about? Not having to impress anyone and just learning to love oneself with all their prefections and flaws. 

I think we're all recently stepping out of the fog of the spell casted over us by a plastic doll that is considered 'perfect' when really it is unrealistic, impractical and in the words of the author 'almost masculine' 

Man vs...

   Life is like a story. 

It has a plot or conflict, decisions and turns at the forked road in life. 

That is, when we think of a story we mainly keep in mind the theme of man vs. something; nature, life, himself, society, anything. 

   Our whole life is about overcoming obstacles; school, friends, sickness, injuries, decisions, success, failure, hunger, emotions, life and death. 

   

  But is that what life really is? Just a bunch of obstacles and how we overcome them? Or how we don't?

But what if man was not meant to overcome and survive but to simply be? 

Not man vs. something but simply, man? 

No obstacles of need or want, just presence. What would that kind of life be like? Could we even consider it 'life' in the sense that there are no 'life events'?

I recently saw a movie called 'LUCY' where the main character's bloodstream is exposed to a very powerful and fatal synthetic drug. However, she not only survives but she starts to reach a 100% of her brain capacity, allowing her to know every bit of knowledge existent to man kind and to be in control of herself, others, and the objects around her.

She explains how her higher knowledge helped her realize that life is just full of hurdles and as humans we do not see the bigger picture, can not see the bigger picture. 

Throughout the movie the audience is kept waiting anxiously to see what happens at 100% as the character gains power over time and all matter on earth. 

However when she does reach 100% she becomes nothing, she disappears, she becomes 'one with the universe around her', an omnipresent source of energy.

That left me thinking, I've always been excited and curious as to what happens if I had full control over my brain. Could I become a superhero? Could I finally get a vowel as my math grade? (Not E folks very funny) 

But now, I don't think I want to. I like life's hurdles and obstacles. The stress and the drama. The happiness and enjoyment. The fun. The success and failure (cough cough GBBE cough cough). 

I like living life 

Do you?

"First I was dying to finish high school and start college. 

And then I was dying to finish college and start working. 

And then I was dying to marry and have children. 

And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough for school so I could return to work. 

And then I was dying to retire.

And now I am dying...

And suddenly I realize I forgot to live."

-Anonymous

On your Mark

   I want you to picture a man. 

Done? Did you picture a guy with short hair, a casual shirt and pants? Yeah me too. 

Now picture a woman. 

Not that easy now is it. 

Would she have long hair or short hair? Would she wear her hair up or down? Makeup or no makeup? Pants and shirt or a dress? 

You never know.  

Deborah Tannen calls women marked and men unmarked. Well I don't think it's our fault were called that, and yet it IS our fault at the same time. 

Women are expected to represent themselves in some sort of fashionable or stylistic manner unique to them. But society has already painted a standard picture for men and what they should look like. 

If men were encouraged to express their own style as women are I'm pretty sure they would do a fine job at it. 

Have you ever thougt about how some of the most famous fashion designers with  impeccable style (and impossible prices aha ahaha why WHY) are men?

Society makes a lot of our choices for us, but I guess it's time we make them ourselves. 

Girls if you just don't care and want to look like a potato for a few days go right ahead I'll join you. 

Guys please we ALL KNOW THERES A FASHION GOD DEEP DOWN INSIDE ITS YOUR TIME TO SHINE NOW GENTLEMEN OH YES. 

Easy, A.

          Have you ever thought about how so many things have changed over time? Of course there are the obvious facts of how the dinosaurs existed and rise of technology. I mean its not like you see men wearing potato sacks running around claiming objects by smacking them with their wooden clubs anymore. But have you ever thought about how human nature has changed? What we've grown to accept and how we've grown accustomed to things that were considered unacceptable a few hundred years ago?

 

        The past week, we've been discussing The Scarlet Letter in our 11 AP English class. The book is about how one married woman is scorned by society for having an affair with another man, and giving birth to his child. Now, affairs and unplanned pregnancies are common daily occurrences so they don't throw us off balance when we hear about them. However, you were practically the devil if you did something like that back then.
        Coming to my point, are the things that were considered bad back then, actually okay? Or are we just accepting more bad as we evolve as a society? Maybe its because of the attention these actions get and how many people, of all ages, are aware of them. Tell me you haven't seen one movie or read one book where Billy Bob Joe doesn't cheat on Old McDonald and cause chaos. MTV even dedicated a show to 16 year old 'adultresses'. I think that just shows how numb we are to things that were cringe-worthy.
        Of course there are some of us that are unfamiliar with these things. The worst thing we could've caused was eating all your bestfriend's brownies in 6th grade and having her avoid you for a week. (.....ahaha I wonder who that was ahaaaaahahahaa)
       All in all, so many things are happening and so many things are changing. Its up to us to decide what we feel is right and wrong. Or you could be like me and just eat cheese.
(laugh frnds, pls.)


"It is paradoxical, yet true, to say, that the more we know, the more ignorant we become in the absolute sense, for it is only through enlightenment that we become conscious of our limitations." - Nikola Tesla

Typical. Stereotypical.

         Hello everyone, my name is Sriya Ramachandar.

Yes I think we can both agree you had difficulty reading my last name. Dont worry, most people do, and I should add that learning how to spell my last name in kindergarten was quite the struggle. That's why I usually go by Sriya Ram. Sometimes I don't think anything of shortening my last name from 11 to 3 letters, but sometimes I feel like I shouldn't have to. There are billions of people with complicated names and I'm just one of them. There are other times, however,  when teachers call out names for attendance and when they get to the r's they suddenly stop and look like they're having a stroke. Yes that would be me hello there. Thinking about it, it kind of reminds me of when Sherman Alexie had short hair, he may have not liked it, but it was more easier to accept than his long daunting out-of-place hair. Well, we are who we are, and if we weren't, we would all be as unique and entertaining as that half sack of potatoes lying somewhere in the kitchen never to be found again. Stereotypes are just generalizations made on observation of a group of similar people. They can be used to harm, help and humor, which isnt very hard to believe. Im pretty sure most famous comedians have at least one 'racist' joke in their jokebook. Most bullies pick on peers that have a long line of stereotypes following them. But stereotypes are also powerful, to the person whom they are being used against. Im pretty sure we've all thought that one particular group would definitely win because the group consisted of all Asians and Indians and the like. The International Academy is one of the smartest if not the smartest schools in the area, why? Well you know the answer to that. Stereotypes are our identity, they're what define us and what most of us live up to expect in ourselves. Its up to you and I to decide how we use them.

"Not sure if South Indian name, or someone fell asleep on their keyboard" - Facebook

Mind Over Matter

     When we think of power we think of things that are big and loud and hard to miss; strong animals, rulers, terrorists, large machines, Dyson vacuum cleaners and the sort. However, the most powerful things in this world are not obvious and out in the open, and most of the time no one can see them. They are thoughts, emotions, feelings and ideas. They are things hidden away in each person's mind until acted upon, and when done so, they hold the most power.

     During the past week in our 11 AP English class, we talked about how emotions and motivation can cause a profound change in not only the lives of the characters in our books ('The Things they Carried' by Tim O'Brien and 'The Glass Castle' by Jeannette Walls), but also the lives of everyone in general. Specifically how the after effects of war and PTSD can drastically change the lives of soldiers; showing us that even though something as destructive as war doesn't necessarily have to harm you, the emotions it brings out of you can.

    Despite the negative traumatic aspects of the mind having so much power over our lives, our minds can also drive us to do and be better. Thoughts, ideas, and emotions can all serve as motivation to escape a life we don't want, and start a new one. In 'The Glass Castle', the main character is driven by her hunger for independence and freedom to escape a life of neglect and to find one of stability and control.
    In general, our mindset can ultimately change a situation entirely to our advantage, or disadvantage, depending on how we react to it. Feelings of depression can harm you, feelings of happiness can heal you and feelings themselves can ultimately change you.



"We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think" - Buddha