. king still king.

  17 January 2011.

This is the day; most students get off to celebrate the birthday of one person who may have well help changed American society. This man is Martin Luther King Jr.; he was part of the biggest Civil Rights Movement of its time. He brought the issue of segregation and prejudice against all colored people in the country to light. Yes, he has influenced and changed our society and the greater, but is he still relevant in this time. Even Jan. 17^th, do people even recognize this as a day to celebrate this great man or to sleep in and watch the morning, afternoon, and evening cartoons?

                I believe that MLK’s ideas are still thought of. Yes, it would be ignorant to say racism and prejudices have ALL disappeared but it has not. We have all learned of him and taught to treat everyone with the same e     quality. Through teaching these morals through him, everyone knew the right and wrong of treating people differently because of their colored skin. His ideas still show us how to be civil in our ways. So yes, I think he is still the relevant, not known by his name maybe, but his ideas are held true. Maybe everyone should actually relearn about him and instead of watching cartoons all day of his birthday, enlighten themselves on the works of Doctor King.

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. “

“I have a dream today!”

. children of the sea . edwidge danticat .

Recently reading Children of the Sea by Edwidge Danticat, it was so good. I think this is mostly coming from someone who really has not read any good stories in a long time. No offense, Mr. McCarthy. The story was between two lovers in the form of letters. They tell of their lives in that time. The guy on the sea trying to seek freedom and the girl living in a horrific Haiti. The country in fear, the guy leaves the country to seek freedom and safety and the girl left behind with a family who did not want to make trouble. How to live in that kind of life? To be in fear of your life every day or to be tortured and harmed horribly? In the letters from the girl to the guy is when she tells of this. I found all these things to be so scary and unrealistic, but after some research, I knew it was. I personally like this type of story. A short story but in dialogue or first person. It makes the story more realistic. This story, even though not coming from a first person experience, showed an amazingly close first experience by how skilled the writer was. To come from two unlike situations and to put them together to give off two different situations, like from on a boat and to be in the middle of a country in crisis. Danticat brilliantly showed how two characters sides and how they were living and opinions they held. All in All, a great great story!

. jay and nick .

                Jay Gatsby and Nick Carroway. In the Great Gatsby, these two are made out to really get along, but in looking deeper, maybe they really are not. Gatsby, firsts becomes in contact with Nick, when he invites him to onw of his extravagant parties. When Nick arrives, Gatsby introduces himself and they become acquainted. It is not until Gatsby finds out Nick is related to Daisy Buchanan, a long lost love of Gatsby, that I start to think hey maybe Gatsby really just wants to start to become close to Nick to get to Daisy! I felt that, wow; maybe Gatsby is a user and is tricking Nick into liking him. I know though Nick isn’t a dumb guy and he would know that Gatsby is using him, and he seems to see that in Chapter 5 at the very end, when he says, “They had forgotten me, but Daisy glanced up and held out her hand; Gatsby didn’t know me now at all.” Gatsby was so fixed by being with Daisy again that he did not even look down to wave goodbye to the person who helped him find his way into Daisy’s arms again! Although I did find it strange that later on Nick does say that Gatsby turned out “all right” and I guess he still thought him to be a good person of character, which would be why Nick still had a good relationship with Gatsby. So for me I think that Nick and Gatsby were good friends. I think that Gatsby was using him but he still wanted to be friends with Nick. Kind of hard to figure but that’s what I think is true.

. my winter poem .

               Holding down the window blind and seeing outside for the very first time,

Noticing the white flakes falling between the cars

A snowman or two, and maybe three, all made by children full of glee

Cause you see it’s snow out there, chilling up the daytime air

Flakes that fall upon your hair

Lets run outside and take a look

Wind blowing the snow off the roof, catching it with our tongues

Coming back in is a chore, wanting to stay out for some more

Snowflakes in a winter blow

Okay this is my first draft of my Winter Poem. CRITIQUES! I neeeeeeeeeed them. Other than that ENJOY!

. you are who i am most thankful for! .

So this blog is a great one because I really get to show who I am thankful which is great for the Thanksgiving holiday, even though this blog is uber late. Well I really have to say out of many great classmates; Berenice Alcantar is who I am most thankful for.  You, yes you are the awesomest friend, classmate ever! We have really been there for each other, whether it be in the classroom or out of the classroom. You can make me laugh and even make sure I have all my journals. Oh I can tell you everything and not feel weird because most people have opinions  and you don’t you just listen my crazy stories. Oh and Division!!!!! Division is fun and I always have to save you from the Wrath of Mr. C, haha not really but still fun! And to really think of it we only became friends this year, well not just friends but like Great Awesometastic(I know this word isn’t real but I like it) friend. I mean we hung out like a few times but I think this class really made us even  closer than I had expected. Well Berenice I hope you read this and see all the great things I lub about you!!! <3 and again This Is who I am thankful this very late Thanksgiving season!

. i am a plow .

                I stepped onto the stairs of my school’s second floor and each step carried more weight than Atlas holding the world. The dread in my face is not noticed by anyone as it usually is. Out of the corner of my eye I see a couple that seems to have been together forever. Best friends at their locker sharing a bit of gossip or secret. I look up and see my friend calling for me and I manage to put on a smile. “Hey you,” I call back and step quickly to her.  As we continue to class, my smile never falters but of course it never has.

 A plow. My whole life seems like it’s just the same and never worth getting up in the morning for. A plow. Everything has been set out and put together for me; like a present once opened you don’t really want. A never-ending replaying script for my day. I don’t feel in control of my own life. Like a plow, you see now.

Chemistry has never really had much of my attention, so I sit and stare out the glass wall watching absolutely nothing. I think of how I became this depressed, as someone would say, and can’t find a reason that hasn’t had an influence on me.  “Excuse me,” my teacher coughs and I turn my head. While staring intently at me she asks, “What is the conversion factor from grams to moles?” I turn my head back and continue to stare out the wall. “I believe it is one mole over the compound’s molar mass,” chirps my friend. “Very good,” and my teacher takes one final look at me and continues her lesson. I feel like this glass wall, you know it’s there but you look right through it. . .Though that is what I thought until I meet you. . .

. it was never really over .

           

      As far as most people know slavery was abolished on January 1, 1863, with the acceptance of the Emancipation Proclamation. Even people may think it’s all in the past; there are many forms of modern-day slavery. All over the world, there is an estimated 7 to 12 million people brought and sometimes even sold into slavery! For me to do this blog, I had to research some information on modern-day slavery. The information I found was just crazy, just like the millions of people that are slaves. Before slaves were usually abducted and forcefully brought to wherever they were to be sold. It is was it happening now, like in the Sudan since an estimated 14,000 people have been abducted since 1983 and counting! In many places thought slaves were once people looking for jobs and a better life and promised one by employers really just looking for cheap labor. In Florida, there are accounts of illegal immigrants and their families (mainly from the inlands of Mexico), brought here in hopes of a better life and forced to work on farms and orchards for employers that pay little to nothing! In places like Europe, parts of Africa, and Asia, slavery is still huge. In a 1992 law passed by the Pakistani government, landlords are barred from offering loans in exchange for work or to hold workers hostage to their debts, but in reality that is majority of slaves are brought into the trade and in India, Kidnapped from their villages when they are as young as five years old, between 200,000 and 300,000 children are held captive in locked rooms and forced to weave on looms for food. I can’t even begin to think how I would handle that situation to be alone and scared. Slavery is never a choice and the people subjected to this find it hard to find their way out. Throughout the various countries around the world, organizations have been made to ensure that this can be stopped, like the International Labor Rights and Education Fund which helps children find their way out of the trade along with many more organizations. Like I said it’s been over 100 years since the Emancipation Proclamation was signed but in our world today slavery is still flourishing.