College App!

Describe the world you come from — for example, your family, community or school — and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

I come from a world in which I have learned that I either have to depend solely on myself or on my family for moral support. From a young age, I learned that it is hard to trust many people in your life. People are never how they seem to be and situations change most of us.

Through tough times, my family is the best thing that I have in this world. Without them, I would not be the person that I am today. They are the people who fulfill the entirety of my life.  

My mother and my father both inspire and motivate me to do my best. Both of my parents have always wanted me to do the best in anything I do. They both have set very high expectations for me just like any parent would for their children. Although my parents are divorced, they still never fail to make me and my sister feel loved and supported. They are both the rock in my life. Without them, I would have been lost for a long period of my time, but throughout the years, my parents have taught me that I have to be strong and independent in order to get very far in life. In order for my life to turn out successful, my family has taught me that you must believe in yourself before anyone else. I learned to trust myself to go far and I have learned to fight for myself in any situation.
I am as strong as both of my parents. They have toughed out many situations in their lives and so have I. Most kids cringe to think that they will someday turn out to be like their parents, but I honestly do not mind having the same characteristics as my parents because I have learned to be a warrior.

It is strange to say, but my sister motivates me each and every day. It sounds crazy that an eleven year old girl is my motivation in life, but it is true. Emily motivates me to do my best in school. I want to be successful not only for myself, my mom and my dad, but also for her. I want her to be able to see me in less than 2 years graduating from high school and going on to college. She would know that I have a very successful life and that I already have goals set for myself. I want her to be proud of her older sister and hopefully, she will follow in my footsteps one day.
I have been very successful in making my sister proud of me. She sees how hard it is to be in high school especially at the rigorous high school I attend, ASTI and she is already taking initiative to be just like me in the future. She wants to be able to have good grades in high school as I am doing at the moment. Already, she has a 4.0 grade average in 6th grade and she wants to go in to the medical field such as myself.  I am happy to see that I inspire my little sister when truly, she is my inspiration.  

When I was 8 years old though, my little sister almost died. If she wouldn’t have made it in to that surgery room in time, I would not have a little sister right now. Before, I used to fight with my little sister even though she was only 3 years old. Even now when I argue with her, I think back to the time where I could have lost her and I begin to apologize. Her near death experience made me appreciate the fact that I have a younger sister. For that reason, she is also my inspiration. I want to make her proud. I want to be that role model older sister. I wish that one day she would be proud to say that I am her older sister.

Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

My parent’s divorce from when I was 9 years old completely changed me as a person. Due to this, I had to move to a different environment from what I was used to and it taught me how to love both parents even more. Their divorce made me a stronger person because I had gotten used to establishing myself for 9 years in one place, then I had it completely change in such a short period of time. Divorce taught me that through horrible circumstances, I can still rise to the top. My education has always been my number one priority and even when times were tough, my grades never dropped.  

 

My ethnicity inspires me. I am Mexican and Salvadorian; I am Latina and I am proud. Throughout my life, I have seen the dark sides of racism. It has been around me ever since I was little. Although I grew up in a community where it is primarily Latino, I see that even the same kind of race do not believe in each other. My culture is beautiful, but others out there stereotype us and try to keep us down.  I want to beat that stereotype that Latinos cannot get far in life because we can. My inspiration is to my culture because I want a better future in order to prove people wrong. My family has a history of not being able to go on to college because of their poor grades and the lack of tuition money, but I know that I can beat the odds and turn out successful.

Comments

Peter: I think that that at the begging of your essay you should make it cleat about what question you are going to be talking about. From what I read in the beginning of your essay it seems that the question that you write about is to describe a character. You do a hood job specially by going into their background and orating pus know how her life is like. Try tk get in more into the charecter. I really like how you ended your essay it was really strong it helped support the question you were talking about

Shiyun: I really do not know what question you are talking about.it seems like if you are just describing the book. Also you need transitions when you move on to the next paragrsph. I also like the description of the book. I already read this book and I think you did a good job of describing it it helped me understand the book beter. You should focus a litle more on the characters you should had spent a litle more time on them. Overall you did a really good job on ur essay.

Ianna: You seem to have no transition between your paragraphs. You did s really hood job of answering the question. You did a good job by telling ous how the purpose of writing the book was to show of his life and to inform ous about his lifestyle. I also thought you did Good job on telling ous the weakness of the boom. Overall I think that you wrote a good essay.

Book Review Rough Draft

In The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, it speaks of what our future world will look like when the government takes control of everything in a monarchy way. The story takes place in the futuristic North America.

Some background info about the Games is that North America is divided into 12 districts and during the Hunger  Games, 2 teenagers from each district (a boy and a girl), ranging from the ages of 12-18 are chosen to take part in the games which take place ion the Capitol. The main goal, the challenge, is to fight until the death;the last man standing wins it all: that is food for their district.

The main character Katniss, steps in to go to the Hunger Games for her sister who was originally chosen at random. Her act of replacing her sister in the Games shows courage and strength. Throughout the first section of the book, she shows that she is an independent girl fighting for her survival. While actually in the Games, she learns that she has to fight independently and that was the only way she would truly survive. Even Peeta, the boy that was also chosen from her district, abandoned her. Katniss is a passionate and loving character. Her main focus is to win, not only for herself, but for her family: her mother and her younger sister, Prim.

In my opinion, the strengths of the book is honestly how the author chooses to characterize the main character Katniss. Usually, it is strange to see a girl actually being able to fight and fend for herself. Collins does a great job of adding a lot of detail as well so the reader is able to really get to know the main character after they're done reading. Another strength of the book is the overall story and theme. The Hunger Games is a metaphor for the government thinking they can control everyone around them and turn everyone in to their puppets. This is what our future might become like if the government takes control of each and everyone of our lives. Overall, the Hunger Games is one of the most compelling books I have read so far.


Whoot! I finished the book! Overall, I thought Hunger Games was really a great book and sort of kept me on the edge in terms of it being really exciting for me to read. I think I'm capable of reading the other two books by Suzanne Collins,Catching Fire and Mockingjay because I really enjoyed reading Hunger Games.

On my last book review, I had some comments saying that I should expand on my ideas more. The end of the book is very good! Throughout the games, Katniss had only one ally, Rue, but after she was killed, she was all alone. The Gamemakers had announced that they would be letting the two people from one district survive together and they would both be victors. With that in mind, the main character, Katniss, had to team up with the boy from her district who survived, Peeta.

Before arriving at the games, all of the members of the games have to meet up at the Capitol. There, Katniss' and Peeta's mentor, Haymitch had trained them. Right before going in to the arena, Haymitch told Katniss to pretend to be madly in love with Peeta in the Games because everyone would be watching and that gave them a better chance at survival.

The last couple sentences in the book is :

"Already the boy with the bread is slipping away form me. I take his hand, holding on tightly, preparing for the cameras, and dreading the moment when I finally have to let go," (374).

Peeta, throughout the entire games was not pretending to be in love with Katniss, but Katniss was. This shows how much a person would do to stay alive. In the Games, it's all about survival of the fittest, and in this case, Katniss survived by putting on a great show for her audience. The Capitol and the makers of the Hunger Games in the book demonstrate how they are the puppet master for all of the tributes in the game.

In my opinion, I still stand by the idea that this book was intended for an audience between the ages of 12-18, or maybe even younger. My little sister who is 11 years old read this book and she also enjoyed it. The book is appealing to all ages and there is a good reason behind that.

Hunger Games DONE!

Whoot! I finished the book! Overall, I thought Hunger Games was really a great book and sort of kept me on the edge in terms of it being really exciting for me to read. I think I'm capable of reading the other two books by Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire and Mockingjay because I really enjoyed reading Hunger Games.

On my last book review, I had some comments saying that I should expand on my ideas more. The end of the book is very good! Throughout the games, Katniss had only one ally, Rue, but after she was killed, she was all alone. The Gamemakers had announced that they would be letting the two people from one district survive together and they would both be victors. With that in mind, the main character, Katniss, had to team up with the boy from her district who survived, Peeta.

Before arriving at the games, all of the members of the games have to meet up at the Capitol. There, Katniss' and Peeta's mentor, Haymitch had trained them. Right before going in to the arena, Haymitch told Katniss to pretend to be madly in love with Peeta in the Games because everyone would be watching and that gave them a better chance at survival.

The last couple sentences in the book is :

"Already the boy with the bread is slipping away form me. I take his hand, holding on tightly, preparing for the cameras, and dreading the moment when I finally have to let go," (374).

Peeta, throughout the entire games was not pretending to be in love with Katniss, but Katniss was. This shows how much a person would do to stay alive. In the Games, it's all about survival of the fittest, and in this case, Katniss survived by putting on a great show for her audience. The Capitol and the makers of the Hunger Games in the book demonstrate how they are the puppet master for all of the tributes in the game.

In my opinion, I still stand by the idea that this book was intended for an audience between the ages of 12-18, or maybe even younger. My little sister who is 11 years old read this book and she also enjoyed it. The book is appealing to all ages and there is a good reason behind that.

Hunger Games Part 1

In The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, it speaks of what our future world will look like when the government takes control of everything in a monarchy way. The story takes place in the futuristic North America.

Some background info about the Games is that North America is divided into 12 districts and during the Hunger  Games, 2 teenagers from each district (a boy and a girl), ranging from the ages of 12-18 are chosen to take part in the games which take place ion the Capitol. The main goal, the challenge, is to fight until the death;the last man standing wins it all: that is food for their district.

The main character Katniss, steps in to go to the Hunger Games for her sister who was originally chosen at random. Her act of replacing her sister in the Games shows courage and strength. Throughout the first section of the book, she shows that she is an independent girl fighting for her survival. While actually in the Games, she learns that she has to fight independently and that was the only way she would truly survive. Even Peeta, the boy that was also chosen from her district, abandoned her. Katniss is a passionate and loving character. Her main focus is to win, not only for herself, but for her family: her mother and her younger sister, Prim.

In my opinion, the strengths of the book is honestly how the author chooses to characterize the main character Katniss. Usually, it is strange to see a girl actually being able to fight and fend for herself. Collins does a great job of adding a lot of detail as well so the reader is able to really get to know the main character after they're done reading. Another strength of the book is the overall story and theme. The Hunger Games is a metaphor for the government thinking they can control everyone around them and turn everyone in to their puppets. This is what our future might become like if the government takes control of each and everyone of our lives. Overall, the Hunger Games is one of the most compelling books I have read so far.

Vanessa, Pedro and Marco! yeahhh...

A pattern that I have seen between two other stories similar to mine was Pedro's story and Marco's story. I have noticed that we all write about the same thing: our families hometowns.

In Pedro's story, he writes and tells us of how his family is from Mexico and the history behind how his grandfather establishing a small town in Mexico.  I remember this one story she told me about how my grandparents started a village that is now well known.  

 "I remember this one story she told me about how my grandparents started a village that is now well known."

Pedro's family story tells of how his family came to be in his hometown and his families hometown of Mexico. Later in the story, he talks about mini-stories that his cousins used to tell him about La Llorona  and the Devil. I can relate to those same small stories my family once told me.

In Marco's family story, he talks about how his grandfather was really from El Salvador and how he moved to Honduras when he was really young. The thing that I related to with Marco's story was that his grandfather died when he was only three years old and he never really got the chance to meet him.

"I did not even know my grandfather was from El Salvador, and I found out years after of his death. I never got to spend much time with him. I have only one memory of him with me. I was too young to remember more about him. He died when I was three years old." 

I can relate to Marco's story because for a while when I was younger, I never really knew who I was in terms of race.  Finally, at some point in my childhood, I learned the difference between my family's ethnicity and my father's ethnicity. I learned that my father was Salvadorian and I later learned that I have a Spanish background. At the same time, I never got to meet my dad's father. I never got the chance to meet him and spend time with him like other kids do.

Our cultures each interact. We are all Latinos and we have similar backgrounds.  If I were to actually sit down with both Pedro and Marco, then we would each find that we have many simmiilar things in common.  I like the feeling of being able to relate to two other people based on our cultural background.

Cyclical Stories in the Joy Luck Club

In the Joy Luck Club, there are many cycles that repeat themselves beginning from the mothers and ending with the daughters. The children of the four mothers do not appreciate having their mothers until they do not have them there for them. There is also that factor of bad marriages. I believe that the purpose for the cyclical stories is to express the reality that daughters eventually turn out to be just like their mothers no matter what. It is unavoidable for the daughters to have a life similar to their mothers. 


Inappreciativeness for the mothers leads to them not being there any longer. In The Joy Luck Club, the chapter Rules of the Game discusses how a mother, Lindo Jong, pushes her daughter, Waverly Jong to play chess and the daughter finally gets tired of it. As a result, she tells her how she feels, "I wish you wouldn't do that,telling everybody I'm your daughter" (99). When Waverly gets the chance, she ends up running away and doesn't come back until later at night. She comes home from her family ignoring her and her mother saying, "We are not concerning this girl. This girl not have concerning for us," (100). Waverly pushed her mother away and it ended up with her not having her mother's support anymore when it came to even acknowledging her as a daughter.


In Two Kinds, Jing-Mei Woo disappoints her mother, Suyuan Woo, when she fails at a piano recital and decides that she does not want to play from that point on. When the mother fails to force her daughter to keep playing, the daughter tells her something unbearable to hear. From then on, Jing-Mei never got better at anything

 "In the years that followed, I failed her s many times, each time asserting my own will, my right to fall short of expectations... And for all those years, we never talked about the disaster at the recital or my terrible accusations afterward at the piano bench, All that remained unchecked, like a betrayal, that was now unspeakable,"(142).

Jing-Mei's mother eventually died and she never got to appreciate how much her mother had done for her and how much hope she had for her.

Another cycle in this book is that of marriages ending up wrong either from the start or towards the end. In Red Candle, Lindo Jong is forced to be married with a man who she does not feel any sort of attraction towards whatsoever. Instead, he was a big kid who grew up to be a bad husband to Lindo, "I knew what kind of husband he would be, because he made special efforts to make me cry," (53). Lindo Jong was forced into a bad marriage and stuck with her for some time. The same cycle repeated with Lena St. Clair in Rice Husband where she didn't marry for love in the end. From her childhood, her mother had already warned her that she would marry a bad and it ended up happening. All in all, bad marriages are a cycle throughout the Joy Luck Club.

Although women everywhere try not to be exactly like their mothers, it is inevitable that it will happen. The cycle of a mother's life can lead in to be the cycle of her daughter. It is obvious that the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Family Story- A Look Inside My Familia!

My family, both from the Patron side (my mom) and from the Berrios/Melendez side (my dad), are HUGE! They are all crazy Mexicans and Salvadorians, but I love each and every one of them. Family always comes first. I have many stories to tell from either side, but I feel as if it’s more important to me to explore how I came to be in this world due to my family.

            Lorena Patron Berrios and Carlos Alberto Berrios had their first born daughter Vanessa Berrios on September 19, 1995 in Lynwood, CA. She has grown up to be an independent young lady. But the real story begins here…

                                                                                                                             My mom and dad:

            First, my dad, Carlos Alberto Berrios was born on October 29, 1973 in La Union, El Salvador. There, he was raised with his mother, her older half-brother, my Tio Ramon and his younger sister, my Tia Claudia. My dad lived in El Salvador for about 20 years of his life until he came to the United States. Here, he established himself for 2 years until he met my mother and had me.

           

My mom, Lorena Patron was born in Mexicali, Mexico on February 19, 1976. At the age of three, my moms’ family, my grandma, grandpa and an uncle and aunt decided to move to The United States as well. My mom grew up in Los Angeles, CA. She graduated from high school and eventually met my dad. Then I came along.

My younger sister, Emily (Vivi) Berrios was born on November 29, 1999. That was the day I was not the only child anymore, but I was fine with it. My sister and I have many stories to tell from ourselves. Although she’s irritating once in a while, she’s fun to be around. (I can’t believe I just said that).

This is me holding my baby sister Vivi when she was first born. I was 4 years old:

           

My mother once told me all about the amazing trip that the family took to El Salvador to meet my dad’s side of the family. I was five years old and my little sister, Vivi had just turned one. The plane ride there took about 5 hours to get there. It was a long ride that was worth it though. When we arrived, the first person I met was my grandma, Fidelina Robles. Then I met my dad’s sister, her husband, and their two daughters. My cousins, Ana Lizet and Catherine Vanessa were about the same age as I was. The whole two weeks that I spent there, I mostly hung out with them as we played on the beach and played around their house. Salvador is a really small country so there isn’t a lot to do out there. To keep us entertained and to keep our minds off of the hot weather, the whole family would go down to the beach and stay there until sundown. My grandma would always make pupusas, a very familiar food in El Salvador. The couple final of days that we spent in El Salvador, the entire family went down to Agua Park: a Salvadorian version to Waterworld here in the US. After going through a whole bunch of albums that I had not opened for years, I seen all the pictures that we took on our trip. There was one really memorable photo that stood out to me the most and I wish I could remember that specific day. Myself and my two other cousins were standing in a line side by side all wearing red. We are standing on a hill overlooking the ocean smiling. I don’t know why, but it sort of hit me that I have not seen these two cousins for over 10 years.

           

When I was 9 years old, I spent that summer with my dad. That was right after my parent’s divorce. I thought that I was going to stay in L.A the entire month, but my dad surprised my sister and I when he said that my mom and the entire Patron family was coming to pick us up at midnight. We were going to go to Mexicali for a week. This time, we had to go by car, but since we left at midnight, all me and my cousins did was sleep. I remember the ride there because I got carsick a couple times. The last time I had been to Mexicali was 6 years before on my third birthday.

I have a picture of my 3^rd birthday in Mexicali hanging up on my wall:

 It is so hard for me to remember all of those trips, but I just let my mom tell me the stories. It was exciting to see all of my cousins and aunts and uncles that I had long forgotten about. The most important person that I wanted to see was my great grandmother, Socorro. The entire week spent there was so much fun and I can still remember the meals! Yum! My mom’s side of the family is Mexican, so when someone says there’s going to be a party, they are always going to be there. That’s exactly what my great-grandmother did. She threw us a party when we first arrived. Since I was just 9 years old, me and all my other cousins went around the block. My grandma lived right next door to a dulceria, a candy store. Me and all of the younger kids went up to our moms and asked for pesos to buy some candy. I loved the tamarindo. It was hard to say goodbye to the rest of my family when the week was over, but it was a good time spent.

           

When I was a little girl, I can still remember when I used to visit my grandma down in Oakland during some summers. She would always tell me stories of when she was my age living in Mexico. Although my grandpa was not alive to tell me his stories himself, my grandma helped the best way she could.

           

My grandpa, German Patron was born in Sinaloa, Mexico. My grandma, Maria Christina Quiroz was born in Sonora, Mexico. At some point in time, my grandparents met and my grandpa made my grandma fall in love with him. They then moved to Mexicali, Mexico where my aunt, uncle and my mom were born.

This is my grandparents and I:

 

           

Like any other Mexican grandparent, my grandma told me the story of La Llorona. That story kept me scared all throughout my childhood. My grandma told me that after the legend was established, the people of Mexico actually believed it and they were always scared to go out at night just as the story said not to do so. That legend is still alive now. My grandma first told me that the story was about this woman named Maria who had two kids and a husband. Maria found out one day that her husband was leaving her, so Maria wanted to be vengeful. She decided that she was going to kill her kids. As a result, she took both of them to the river and drowned them. After feeling bad about doing so, she ran down the river stream and began to scream for them, but it was too late, the stream carried them away, dead. After she tripped from running, she fell and hit her head on a rock. She died instantly. The legend lives on that every night, she haunts the children of Mexico at night still in search of her two kids. They gave her the name La Llorona because her spirit cries at night, “Ay, mis hijos” which in Spanish means, “My children!” Children of Mexico were taught not to go outside late or else La Llorona would come and take them away forever.

My grandma told me the story in which she began to fear of all La Llorona legends. One night, a friend had slept over my grandma’s house. After they fell asleep, or so my grandma thought, her friend woke her up around 2 in the morning and told her that she needed to go use the bathroom, but that she didn’t want to go alone. For some reason, my grandma told me that the bathroom was outside back in the days. After that, they both went outside and when the friend was done, they began to walk back to the house. Close by to my grandma’s house, there was a well. My grandma and her friend started to hear noises coming from the well. As they listened closely, but did not approach the well, they heard, “Ay, mis hijos!” they were scared that the legend was true. They immediately ran back to the house and they learned to never leave the house at night again no matter what.

A funny story that my mom tells me to poke fun at me was the story form when I was a little girl around 2-4 years old. My mom said that back then, I would come around to the living room and I would sit in front of the television and watch only the commercials. Whenever the actual show started again, I would grab my bottle off of the floor and walk away.

            A piece of history that was left out from me was my true ethnicity. I thought that I was only half Mexican and half Salvadorian due to my mom and dad, but I learned so much more. In reality, my dad is half Salvadorian and half Spanish which would explain his light features. As for my mom, my grandma’s grandfather also happened to be Spanish which would also explain the complexion of my moms’ side of the family. J

            My Interpretation: I believe that these small stories that were told to me to keep the tradition alive. In the Joy Luck Club, the mothers want their daughters to live the ‘American way’, but in my family, my mom, dad and grandparents have always taught me that our culture is beautiful no matter what and we shouldn’t be ashamed to learn about it. Each story that has been told to me had something to do with my family history and many of those stories were regarding trips that we took to visit our homeland. It is important to keep these stories within our family so we never forget about whom we really are and where we really originate form. All these stories shape my life and how I came to be the person that I am today, and I am very proud of all of that.

The Joy Luck Club vs. The Crazy Mother!

Between Amy Tan's, 'The Joy Luck Club', and Amy Chua's, 'Why Chinese Mothers are superior, there are many similarities as well as there are differences. Chua states that the Chinese parents constantly insist on their children to work hard at something and that their purpose for that is so that their children will excel in many ways.

"What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences. This often requires fortitude on the part of the parents because the child will resist; things are always hardest at the beginning, which is where Western parents tend to give up. But if done properly, the Chinese strategy produces a virtuous circle. Tenacious practice, practice, practice is crucial for excellence; rote repetition is underrated in America. Once a child starts to excel at something—whether it's math, piano, pitching or ballet—he or she gets praise, admiration and satisfaction."

A similarity between The Joy Luck Club and Chua's article is that they both want the best for their daughters and that was their reason for pressuring them to do so well. In the section, The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates, in the Joy Luck Club, we have an insight view of the mother-daughter relationship between June Woo and her mother Suyuan Woo. The mothers' main goal that she wants her daughter to achieve is to become a prodigy. The daughter begins to play the piano and eventually fails. Even so, the mother still insists that she continues to practice to get better, "Only two kinds of daughters...Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind. Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter," (142).  This relates to Chua;'s beliefs that Chinese parents have to be persistent with their children. Suyuan would not let her daughter quit playing the piano although she failed miserably.

The difference between these two mothers is that Suyuan Woo did not insult her daughter when she failed at the piano; she didn't say anything to her at all. On the other hand, later in Chua's article, she tells of how she would insult her daughter and put her down when she did not get things right. She explains that this was her method along with many other Chinese parents who say things out of spite towards their children as their tactic to make them do better overall.

Amy Tan does not endorse the same ideas that Chua is making an argument about. Chua's article is completely biased and her points are not so strong. Amy Tan's novel suggests that the mother-daughter relationship is built to support the children whenever they are needed, while Chua suggests that Chinese parents are only strict to get what they want out of their children.

 

Joy Luck Club- The Meaning to the Introduction

The purpose for Amy Tan's introduction to The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates in the book, The Joy Luck Club,  is to foreshadow what mainly will happen in the next two chapters, Rules of the Game and The Voice from the Wall.

The introduction speaks of a mother telling her child not to ride her bike around the corner because she will be out of her sight and fall. The daughter questions this assumption made by her mother and the mother responds with, "It is in a book, The Twenty- Six Malignant Gates, all the bad things that can happen to you outside the protection of this house," (87). The purpose of the introduction is to show that the next section of the Joy Luck Club will be based on mothers protecting their children from the bad things that can happen to them and how they are trying to steer them away form that danger that lies ahead for each one of them.

In, The Rules of the Game, the main character in that chapter, Waverly Jong's mother wants to protect her from the dangers that can happen. After Waverly had won chess competitions, she was favored by her mother and she was always right above her, "My mother had a habit of standing over me while I plotted out my games.  I think she thought of herself as my protective ally," (98). A mother does not want to see her child fail in life, so in order to keep that from happening, Waverly's mother stands over her for protection from harm.

The second chapter to this section of the book, The Voice from the Wall, Lena St Clair's mother would make up lies to protect her daughter from the harm of the truth, "And I knew that was not true. I knew my mother made up anything to warn me, to help me avoid some unknown danger. My mother saw danger in everything," (105). Although Lena's mother still lied to her, it was her way of protecting her daughter from knowing the truth about certain things. Later on, we find out in the story of how Lena's mother had lost a baby that she kept a secret from Lena. It was an untold truth that protected Lena from going down the same path.

This section of The Joy Luck Club talks about the protection that a mother has over her child.

The Joy Luck Club Quickwrite

Shuyuan Woo changes her story about Kweilin various times. On one note, she ends the story talking about how the Joy Luck Club came to be and what they were all about. She spoke of how the women formed the club in times where they were struggling. The Joy Luck Club was a place where she got support from 3 other women and they felt close like a family. They would play games of mahjong and Shuyuan Woo was the main one who always won.

Another version to the ending of the story was when Shuyuan Woo abandoned her babies. June Woo, her daughter was complaining that she wanted a radio and Shuyuan Woo got angry. She finally told her the truth to her story at that point. When in Kweilin, an officer arrived at Shuyuan's home and had told her to run away before the Japanese came to take over Kweilin. After 4 days of running away, Shuyuan Woo's hands were bleeding from carrying two bags that held her belongings. After a while, she just dropped the bags that contained the food and clothing. Then, her story ends with her telling her daughter June that she left her two babies that she carried in her arms because she was tired. She told June that it was not her so that she had nothing to worry about.

I think that Shuyuan ended the story with different changes and hid the truth from her daughter to protect her in some way. I assumed that she did not want her daughter to know that she was capable of doing that in the past: abandon her kids.

She only told June the real side of the story when she was somewhat angry at her. June wanted a transistor radio and Shuyuan told her, "Why do you think you are missing something you never had," (25), referring to the fact that she had her babies and had to give them up. Shuyuan Woo made a tough decision in leaving her children. The message that she is trying to pass on to her daughter is that she is lucky that she was not one of those babies that she had to leave behind. June does not realize how much good of a life she has. She is blessed, she lives in America unlike the two babies without their mother.

Chinese Parents Suck!

Wow! Why Chinese Mothers are Superior by Amy Chua.

What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences. This often requires fortitude on the part of the parents because the child will resist; things are always hardest at the beginning, which is where Western parents tend to give up. But if done properly, the Chinese strategy produces a virtuous circle. Tenacious practice, practice, practice is crucial for excellence; rote repetition is underrated in America. Once a child starts to excel at something—whether it's math, piano, pitching or ballet—he or she gets praise, admiration and satisfaction. This builds confidence and makes the once not-fun activity fun. This in turn makes it easier for the parent to get the child to work even more.

Personally, I think that the Asian method that this lady talks about is CRAZY! In her words, Chinese parents are tough and that is the way they got their children to do what they want them to. Their way of motivating their children is by talking smack to them and degrading them. She talks about having fun only when the children become good at something. Children are supposedly lazy and they do not want to do their work to improve on something. In turn, the Chinese or Asian parents have to be tough and 'encourage' them by being rude and calling them names for' motivation'.WTF!

Asian parents do not want to comfort their children, they want their kids to do as they say and go with it no matter how they feel about it. Chua is trying to demean the Western parents by saying that they are not tough enough and that Chinese parents are better in terms of being strict. That's so dumb. My mom does a great job wiht me and she isn't rude to me or call me worthless if I don't get something right.

The thing that kind of tipped me off the most was the fact that I almost got the vibe from this article that the Asian parents will only love their kids if they do something right. She says that the child will get praise and admiration for their good work. Parents should be there for their kids no matter what. Even if their child were to fail at something, then the parents should give support instead of the Chinese version of 'encouraging words'. I would hate my parents if they acted like these Chinese parents. I'm just saying.

Quickwrite- Animal Farm and Egypt

The main similarities between Animal Farm and Tunisia and Egypt were that both of the revolutions lead up to something bad. Even though the revolution was meant for a good cause they had they both led up to something unreasonable. In Animal Farm, we know how it ended and it was not a good ending how the rest of the animals could not recognize the difference between a human and a pig. They both did so much bad things to the animals that after they had the revolution it was like if they had it for no reason.

In Tunisia and Egypt, we do not know the ending of it yet but so far it has had its negative effects. For example how people were willing to burn themselves to death to be able to show what they think of their government and starting up riots that show they hate their leader in Egypt. Also how people were ending up sleeping on the wheels of a tank so the tanks would not be able to move an inch with out killing them. People in this revolution are willing to give up their lives and some all ready did a hope to God no one else would die do to the fact of the revolution.

So over all the fact that both revolutions in Animal Farm and Tunisia and Egypt had their bad effects. This is something that both of this revolution has in common.

Another thing that this two revolution have in common is that they both trying to over throw their leaders. In Animal Farm the animals wanted to overthrow the humans, Mr. Jones, who basically ruled them and had made the decisions of the animals. So basically, the humans control the animal’s faith. While in Egypt they also wanted to overthrow their leader. In this case it was the government and their leader. They were tired of him not doing anything about the economy of their country and did nothing to help them get better jobs. He did the opposite and took their jobs away. The people were getting tired of not seen a change so the decided to make their own change and the first step to this was to overthrow their governor.

These are some similarities that both the Animal Farm revolution and Tunisia and Egypt revolutions had in common.

Chapter 11- Vanessa and Carly

Me and Carly worked together on this thang!


http://bloggerroggers.blogspot.com/2011/02/ch11-animal-farm-carly-vanessas-story.html

The English Language- The New Generation

Language is something that the human race can not live without. Without the English language, we would not be able to communicate with each other and we would not have gotten this far into civilization. People take many different forms of the way to speak within their language. The most well-known language used worldwide is the English language. The English language has been abused by many people and it has been adopted by many to be switched up from what it really should be. In George Orwell's speech, "Politics and the English Language," he analyzes the many factors in which the English language has been misused all over the world.

George Orwell's main points about written and spoken English are that humans are the ones who  make the English language seem as he says, "ugly and inaccurate," because we become too careless and lazy with our language and speech. Our language, as George Orwell states, creates foolish thoughts within us. In a sense, our foolish thoughts inhibited by our language can be erased. 

Back to his point, George Orwell states that our English language started on its own and that eventually over time, it developed and grew on its own without any input from the human race. We did not 'shape' our language, but we have supposedly 'damaged' our version of the English language.

I have to disagree with the fact that English developed on its own and that we as a collective race had nothing to do with it. "...the half-conscience belief that language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes." If it was not for us building on to the English language, then there would be no form of communication today. Although we have created the English language, George Orwell does have a point when he says that we have permanently damaged what we now consider to be the English language. George Orwell speaks of the Modern English which can be examined through the lives of everyday teenagers.  

Nowadays, we hear kids speaking in a manner in which people did not use to speak like before. This is an example from Orwell's' speech and how he says  that we have done so much damage to the English language that it is irreversible. We, as teenagers have the most informal language. Teenagers do not care what they say or who they say it to. In a sense, teenagers learn to speak their mind from a very early age and over time, they seem to not put a censor on the things that they speak of. They have a tendency to use foul language or as we know it 'cuss words'. I have met a lot of teenagers who must use as cuss word in every sentence in order for them to speak comfortably. For every two words, there is a cuss word. 

I can speak from experience. I am not so good with censoring my thoughts and covering up every cuss word that gets thrown out of my mouth. It is a bad habit and that is exactly what George Orwell speaks about.

Another example is the way teenagers seem to just make up some words. When I walk down the street, I hear so many people speak without them using the English language properly. People, specifically teenagers, use made up words such as "Bruh", "Dude", "N***a", and so on and so forth.

Also, we have sites such as Urban Dictionary, which transform a normal English word into something completely different. Although it is taken as a joke to many people, it does put a dent in the many years that humans have developed for the English language.

If we were to go back in time, we would see that no one would speak the way we do now. We have changed our language drastically. I wouldn't say that we have destroyed the English language, but we definitely have damaged it in some way.

Rebuttal for Carly

In Carlys' opening statement  of her debate topic that she chose, which was the same as mine, Should child actors in shows marketed to younger audiences be expected to serve as role models for people their age?, Carly does have some strong points that I can not disagree with. But at the same time, her thesis or her strongest point was that the child stars should not be role models simply because it strips them of their freedom and that is something I disagree with. 

"The main and most important reason that child actors should not be required to be role models is because it would strip the actors of their freedom."

I agree with her statement that certain child stars should not be role models to younger kids, but at the same time, it has nothing to do with stripping them of their freedom. It is mostly for them knowing what is and what is not the right thing to do when they know that millions of people worldwide can be viewing them 24/7.

"Everybody has done something bad, either by accident or on purpose. Actors' mistakes and faults are magnified and the results are painful to endure when everyone turns against you. Even though Miley Cyrus has committed something inappropriate for teens her age, she should be given the opportunity to learn from her mistakes, just like others are too. Furthermore, if Miley had not learned from her mistakes and commit it multiple times over, who are we- the audience, to tell her to stop? It is true that our youngsters are influenced by her, but they are also influenced by many other kids at school."

Carly is trying to say that we should let the child stars live freely and we, as an audience are not one to judge. Personally, if I had a child, I would not want them to be viewing the disastrous lives of many of the child stars. Yes, Carly is right when she says that we should give stars such as Miley Cyrus the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and that we should give them some space. But I think that they should not have done their mistakes in the first place. It is not like the mistakes that these stars did were too small notice. No! They were a very big deal. For example, Miley Cyrus had recently released some naked pictures of herself and her character in the music industry is not one that should be an advertisement for kids half her age. Child stars turn in to some of the worst people that should supposedly be role models for our generation of kids.

 

 

Child Actors!

Should child actors in shows marketed to younger audiences be expected to serve as role models for people their age?
Yes! Young actors should be able to hold themselves to a higher standard instead of falling through the cracks when they know that younger kids look up to them.


There are many young actors in Hollywood who know how to hold themselves together since they know that they are advertising to an audience who should not have to witness them behaving badly. On the other hand, there are the Disney stars who show up on T.V or in magazines doing things that they shouldn't be doing. For example, now on Disney, we have teenage girls such as Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato. Miley Cyrus has a history of repeatedly behaving what other people consider bad for their children to view. She showed up in an issue of Vanity Fair, she dated men that were over the age of 18 while she was still a minor, her music videos are too provocative and she pole danced at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards. All this behavior is something that parents would not approve of their child viewing. As for Demi Lovato, she ended up going to rehab for cutting herself. That is also a thing where parents do not want their kids to learn of that kind of stuff.


Both of these young ladies have had their pictures leaked on to the Internet, where they are exposed or there are racy pictures of them. Either they should learn how to have more respect for both themselves and the company that they work for, or in my opinion, they should not be allowed to be in the industry at all. When these girls show up anywhere where their names are being headlined for something wrong that they did, the parents of younger children do not want them to have to witness that for the purpose of keeping them from even learning about those type of stuff that should be left for the adults. If child stars such as Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato want to act more grown up o taken more seriously by a wider range of audience, the they should be on Disney Channel where there are millions of kids viewing them worldwide.

Animal Farm

Political power always finds a way to corrupt those who get the opportunity to attain it. People who fight for what they believe in take extreme measures to obtain what it is that they are rebelling for. In the end, those rebels become the leaders that are just like their old dictator or even worse. Everyone, even without admitting it know that if they were handed over the power to control something, they would not even have to think about it; before we know it, they will become tyrants.

This does not always happen, only to certain people. When democracy gives the people the right to vote for whom they want as their leader, they should pick wisely. Whomever it is that gets handed power over their people either choose to be tyrannical or not.

There was a quote that mentioned how even when the animals take over the farm for themselves, they should never become anything like their tyrant: the humans.

"And remember also that in fighting against Man, we must not come to resemble him. Even when you have conquered him, do not adopt his vices...And, above all, no animal must ever tyrannies over his own kind. Weak of strong, cleaver or simple, we are all brothers. No animal must ever kill any other animal. All animals are equal." (31).  

Although the animals say that they will not become anything like the human and that they will not adopt the humans ways, it is impossible to believe that they won't.


I think George Orwell would answer this question by saying yes, political power does corrupt people. In the first chapters of Animal Farm, we can already tell of who will become the dictators of the new animal farm: the pigs.  Since the pigs were the ones who actually followed through with the plan of taking over the farm for themselves, they automatically became the superior ones above all the rest of the animals. The rest of the animals on the farm think of the pigs as the most intellectual ones out of all of them and for that reason, they are the leaders of their newly formed democracy. Most likely, later on in the book, we will see how this power will turn into a dictatorship.

Political power should be taken very seriously, but not in a way where the leader becomes one who was just as bad as the old leader.

Are Elite Colleges Even Important?

When it comes down to choosing a college for any student, it becomes somewhat of a challenge to select the best college out there. People seem to think that if you go to an elite college, you will somehow have a better life, while others tend to disagree. Between seven debates, I came to a conclusion that there was one response that was the most persuasive and one that did not seem to persuade me as much as the rest.

The response that stood out to me the most was "Skip the Admissions Game" by Kevin Carey. He states that if you have the money to go to an elite college, then it wouldn't be such a bad idea to attend, but if you simply just don't have the money, it's okay if you do not attend an elite college.

"If you're among the small handful of students who have stellar SAT scores and parents with several hundred thousand dollars to spend, you should seriously consider going to an elite college or university... But most students -- about four out of five -- attend colleges that have modest resources, are easy to get into, and are relatively obscure. Lacking any other way to distinguish among these choices, these students usually attend whichever college is cheapest and closest to home."

It only makes sense that if you are lucky enough to attend an elite college, that you should go, no question asked. But if you can't for financial reasons, then it's not the end of the world. Elite schools will only look good for instance, on a job application, but at a non-elite college, students might get the same education.

The response that was the least persuasive to me was "The Specialization Trade-Off" by James Shulman. To me, he honestly made points that were irrelevant to the subject. He mentioned sports which I thought was unimpressive.

But if you’re a school that is trying to beat Yale in swimming, then selecting someone on the basis of her potential in the 100-meter butterfly is a rational investment for the college; the trade-off is that although recruited athletes will go on to have great opportunities, they are likely to perform academically below what their preparation would predict.

The question was not asking about sports being incorporated in elite colleges. Shulman could have made a stronger debate if he would have stayed on the subject instead of heading off into another direction speaking of sports.

Response to Stan's Response!

Stan responded to my blog post about guys and girls. I liked many of the points that he made while at the same time, I had to disagree.

 Girls do need to look good at first to get the guy but then after a while guys begin to just care about the girl and not care if shes wearing make up or not. For example me: In the beginning of my relationship I kind of liked it when my girlfriend wore make-up, now I think shes more beautiful as a person with out it, she isn't hiding behind mascara and all that other powdery stuff on her face, its the real her.  

And that's why guys have the hard end of the deal.

I totally agree with Stan's first quote. He went through the same thing that me and my boyfriend somewhat went through, to say the least. Stan says that we he first started going out with his girlfriend, he wanted her to look good as in wearing makeup, but after a while, he began to see her as more beautiful when she exposes her natural beauty. Makeup and the fact that many people think that the ideal girl has to have makeup in order to look beautiful is what our culture has come down to. We as a collective group have seen that more and more woman have been persuaded to make themselves look beautiful in order to be liked, but as Stan said, it's really mostly the inner beauty that counts the most. I used to wear makeup around my boyfriend all the time, but I recently learned that he doesn't care whether I do or not since he loves me unconditionally. He thinks that I look good both ways. He tells me that he likes me, like Drake says, "Sweatpants, hair tie, chillin' with no makeup on." So the fact of the matter is that without makeup, we are able to see one another as their true self.

I have to disagree with the second quote simply because I still have my opinions and I honestly think that the girls still have it harder in the current society that we are in. The only things that guys have to worry about, in my opinion, is the fear of either rejection or being dumped at the end, leaving them heartbroken. I'm not saying that guys do not get hurt in certain relationship and that girls are the only victims, but I have seen more girls end their relationship with a broken heart than many guys I know.

The only way that the different genders were to be able to understand what the others go through is to switch positions.

Free Write- Stan Anderson, You Better Read This!

A while ago during P.E, Stan and I were having an interesting conversation. Out of those many topics that we were discussing, this one emerged and struck me the most: the fascination of how it’s easier for girls to get guys than for guys to get the girls.

According to Stan, “Girls have it so easy, dude! All the girls have to do is show off a little bit and that’s it. Guys have to work hard to get the girls!”

In some weird way, I agree and disagree with Stan’s epiphany, as he calls it. He did make some good points, but there are still ways in which he is wrong.

I agree because in the society we live in, it is rare for a girl to go up to a guy and ask them out. Girls are used to being approached by the guys and asked out. Guys do have to work hard. They are the ones who have to work up the nerve to even go up to the girls that they like and have the guts to ask them out. Even if most guys will disagree with me, they do stress over this process. There are guys out there who are very arrogant and they just get the girls out there, but other guys are timid and they are the ones who will most likely have it hard to get the girl they want. So if we really take a close look at modern day society, especially high school, we will see that ‘getting girls’ is a tough thing to do for some guys.

At the same time, I have to disagree with my conversation with Stan. Girls have to have it hard too. We are the ones who have to work hard to look nice in order for us to get noticed by the guys that we like. We take time out of our daily lives stressing over our appearances. It takes an hour or more to get ready. We have to deal with the clothes we wear, the shoes that match the outfit, the make-up, the hair, etc. We always have in mind that we have to look good for the guys and it is stressful for us if the guy that we like likes someone else. Stan says that all we have to do is show off our assets a little bit and that’s it, but in reality, it is so much harder than just that.

I guess I have to say that both guys and girls have it hard since there is that factor of rejection. Guys are scared to ask out the girl that they want and get rejected. As for the girls, they are scared that if they are the bold who do ask the guys out, that they will be rejected as well.