Non-Fiction Analysis: 3/30

"Hi Mom, I'm Home!" By Adam Davidson, is what the growing number of recent college graduates moving back in with her parents. The reason for my students are moving back in with her parents because of student loans and the economy.

The number of recent college graduate who have moved back in with their parents have increased significantly over the past 20 years."Today, one in three people between the ages of 18 and 34 live with their parents. And 60 percent  of all young adults or see financial support from them. That's a big increase from a generation ago and only one and 10 young adults move back home and few receive financial support." As you can see, the number of adults moving back in with their parents has increased significantly. Some reasons are because of the student's preference, "work is no longer seen by middle-class use as simply a means of earning money to put food on the table: it is a defining part of their identity. they want it to be meaningful and enjoyable. That's why, faced with a competitive job market along with the seemingly endless possibilities available in the search for a apostate free rewarding' career, young people are taking longer to figure out their paths." Graduates want a job that they think will make their identity meaningful. Some just decide to live with their parents, such as Monica Navarro who decided to keep living at home as she pursued her career as a librarian.

Overall, there are many reasons as to why recent graduates are moving back in with their parents. What wasn't mentioned was the incredible amount of student debt, some adding up to 35,000 dollars. But many economic and emotional factors take a place as well.

Blog Post: 3/23

"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie deals with many social issues including racism, body image, family dysfunction and most importantly; identity. The protagonist, "Junior," struggles to find himself as a young and smart American Indian teenage boy.

    Throughout the story Junior struggles to understand who he is. At the beginning of the book, Junior begins by telling the reader that he is hydrocephalic, a medical condition that puts him at risk of brain damage and makes him susceptible to seizures. “I was born with water on the brain. Okay, so that's not exactly true. I was actually born with too much cerebral spinal fluid inside my skull. But cerebral spinal fluid is just the doctors' fancy way of saying brain grease. And brain grease works inside the lobes like car grease works inside an engine. It keeps things running smooth and fast. But weird me, I was born with too much grease inside my skull, and it got all thick and muddy and disgusting, and it only mucked up the works. My thinking and breathing and living engine slowed down and flooded. My brain was drowning in grease. But that makes the whole thing sound weirdo and funny, like my brain was a giant French fry, so it seems more serious and poetic and accurate to say, ‘I was born with water on the brain.’” Hydrocephalus is very important to how he sees himself – and how others see him as well. He also mentions multiple times that he is a weirdo. Another example is, “They stared at me, the Indian boy with the black eye and swollen nose, my going-away gifts from Rowdy. Those white kids couldn't believe their eyes. They stared at me like I was Bigfoot or a UFO. What was I doing at Reardan, whose mascot was an Indian, thereby making me the only other Indian in town?” In this quote, Junior clearly mentions the ethnicity difference between him and the other students. He already sees himself as an outcast in that community, as well had his at home.

    Junior’s real name is Arnold spirit, and he struggles so much with his two identities, “‘My name is Junior,’ I said. ‘And my name is Arnold. It's Junior and Arnold. I'm both’ I felt like two different people inside of one body.”

    Junior is clearly confused as to who he is, however throughout the story, with the help of his new friends, he begins to realize who he is. He is a part-time Indian who is willing to live his life out to the fullest.

   

Blog Post 2/23: The Giver

    “The Giver” by Lois Lowry is a young adult novel set in dystopian earth. Everyone lives in a perfect community where everything is the same. At age 12, children are put into the job that they would potentially thrive in until they would be “released.” To make this world perfect the “Chief Elder” controls how the world works, and the human emotions. At the beginning of each day residents of the community must take injections to numb their feelings. The “Chief Elder” offers a great injustice, she takes away the people’s freedom.

    The protagonist, Jonas has been assigned the job as the Receiver. This job is assigned to one person every ten or so years. Jonas is an average boy in the community, he goes to school, he volunteers and he takes his injections. As the new Receiver he meets with the Giver everyday. The Giver provides information on what the world was like with history and laughter, with joy and emotion -- with colour. The community lives in black and white because the “Chief Elder” has taken away colour.

    The ‘Chief Elder” is the superior of the community, she chooses everything for everyone. This is a great injustice because no one ha freedom. They don’t understand what real emotions feel like, they don’t understand what the real world is like. Instead they abide by strict rules and all they do is make sure the community is healthy and they reproduce. She has taken away the freedom of the people, they aren’t allowed to do anything.

    We live in an era where we have freedom of speech, we see in colour, and although we hate to, we make mistakes. “The Giver” is really about the world that w could be living in, but instead we are rewarded with this one.

Blog Post: The Diary of Anne Frank

                         The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan is a fictional novel written from the perspective of four women and each of their daughters. The women; Suyuan Woo, An-mei Hsu, Lindo Jong talk about their past. And these women’s daughters; Jing-mei “June” Woo. Rose Hse, Waverly Jong and Lena St. Clair talk about the present. All these women suffer small to great injustices. Whether it’s with their husbands, or with the war. They all suffered.

    When Suyuan Woo was first married, she had twins; two girls. But war was going on, and the Japanese invaded. “I packed my things and my two babies into this wheelbarrow and began pushing to Chungking four days before the Japanese marched to Kweilin. On the road I heard news of the slaughter from people running past me. It was terrible… I pushed toward Chungking until my wheel broke. I abandoned my beautiful mah jong table of hong mu… I tied scarves into slings and put a baby on each side of my soldier. I carried these things until deep grooves grew in my hands. And I finally dropped one bag after the other when my hands began to bleed and became too slippery to hold onto anything… By the time I arrived in Chungking I had lost everything except for three fancy  silk dresses which I wore one on top of the other,“ including the babies. Suyuan had to face a great injustice, she was driven out of her home and forced to leave without her babies.

This taught me to appreciate what I have, and how unfair life can be. I have to appreciate my family, because one day I won’t have them. The Joy Luck Club is about getting closer to family, even if they are unfair and understand each other

Blog Review: Fuzzy Thoughts

http://vickym4201.blogspot.com/

The blog Fuzzy Thoughts run by fellow student Vicky Mai, she writes a response about Allegiant by Veronica Roth. I had already read Allegiant, and Vicky had similar thoughts as I did when I read the book. Throughout the response Vicky uses vivid evidence to support her claim. However, her claim, or point of view could be expressed a bit more. She already does, but not until the conclusion.

Vicky explains how Tris, Tobias; her boyfriend, and her brother flee Chicago to find out what is going on. She also mentions how Tris, in the end, sacrifices herself for her brother. She further more elaborates on this by introducing the moral of this novel. Life in a bumpy road, and sometimes you have to make sacrifices. I thought the same thing as I was reading this book; this represents my life. But Vicky reminded me of this claim, and it made me think a bit more.

The Divergent series is similar to The Hunger Game. Katniss has to lead a revolution, and make sacrifices to live a happy life. In both trilogies, Tris and Katniss are leaders of the fight, they are, what The Hunger Games calls Katniss, the Mockingjay. They will lead the revolution and make sacrifices, as well as make hard decisions.

Overall, Vicky writes a well supported post that reminds me of my life and another book.

Non-Fiction Analysis: Monkey Mind

Monkey Mind, by Daniel Smith is a memoir about his anxiety. Daniel Smith suffered from acute anxiety, he was often worried about the smallest things; he thought about death a lot. Through the text, the author demonstrates his anxiety with short sentences, and many reason why he believed triggered his worst mental state.

The beginning of the book starts off with Mr. Smith walking to his weekly therapy session, along the Freedom Trail; a two-and-a-half-mile-long path. Mr. Smith, at the time, was living the life anyone would want to live; he had a prestigious job, loyal friends and a great girlfriend whom he lived with in a nice apartment. But he was still anxious. On his walks to Brian’s, his therapist’s office he would often think, “a typical line of thought went something like this: I am anxious. The anxiety makes it impossible to concentrate. Because  it is impossible to concentrate, I will make an unforgivable mistake at work. Because I will make a n unforgivable mistake at work, I will be fired. BEcause I will be fired, I will not be able to pay my rent. Because I will not be able to pay my rent, I will be forced to have sex for money in an alley behind Fenway Park. Because I will be forced to have sex for money in an alley behind Fenway Park, I will contract HIV. Because I will contract HIV, I will develop full-blown AIDS. Because I will develop full-blown AIDS, I will die disgraced and alone.” This is an example of the author’s must anxious thoughts, that is built up in short choppy sentences, and ends with death.

Daniel Smith believes that the cause of his anxiety was by an older friend of his, Esther. He experienced many first-times with her, including sex. Esther, as he describes her, is crazy; she is wild, she does ridiculous things, she married a man even though she’s gay because she wants a child. And Esther took Daniel’s virginity in the most terrifying way, after he got drunk at a party. So you can understand why he believes she is the cause. But Daniel Smith’s mother, who is also a psychologist believes otherwise. Although he was raped, and right after began to worry much more than he had, Mrs. Smith believes it was a more than one incident that triggered his anxiety. When Daniel was four, he almost drowned in a pond. Also, his mother had anxiety as well, and anxiety is genetic. There are many other reasons, but Esther is not one of them

Overall, Monkey Mind closely deals with anxiety, social problems and te life a a sixteen-year-old in suburban Staten Island.

Blog Post 12/15: Social Inquiry Question #4

    In “Thirteen Reasons Why,” by Jay Asher, there are several moments when I cringe, and resist reading anymore. I did finish the book, however, and found that the book had a theme of sexual creepiness. Throughout the novel, Hannah Baker is harassed in several ways, realistically. It is possible for me to be victimized in the way Hannah Baker was.

    Hannah had committed suicide and left behind thirteen tapes, thirteen reasons why, stating why she killed herself; specifically who. Everyone had done something that was awful, jerky, or creepy. On one tape she tells the story of Tyler Down; a Peeping Tom. Tyler was the photographer for the yearbook at Hannah’s high school, and decided that he needed pictures of his own, of the student body. Hannah explains her encounter with him outside her house when she isn’t fully dressed, and he snapped a shot. Although this isn’t the worst of what Hannah had been through, this was the one story that had me resist reading anymore the most. This could happen to me. There could be someone watching me from the window. It’s something that could realistically happen, and is the creepiest.

    Hannah also witnessed things that would disturb anyone; she witnessed her friend get raped. Clay Jensen and Hannah were at a party; after Clay left, another couple stumbled in. The guy left, and the girl lay unconscious on the bed. That’s when Justin Foley came in and raped her. Hannah was still in the room, but she stayed hidden. That is what disgusted me the most. The girl had a chance not to get raped, but Hannah let it happen, and she agrees; “Justin, baby, I’m not blaming you entirely. We’re in this one together. We both could’ve stopped it. Either one of us. We could have saved her. And I’m admitting this to you. to all of you. That girl had two chances. And both of us let her down.” Hannah could’ve done something, but she didn’t; this made me resist reading the book for a couple days because I was so disgusted by the character.

    Overall, the author Jay Asher does an effective job at making you cringe in “Thirteen Reasons Why,” with one girl who witnessed and experienced awful things that ruined her, and took her life. I resisted reading this book for more than a week because of the depiction of when high school life is at its worst.