Dear Journal,

     Oh. Well that just happened. I am still in the process of importing all the information that just happened into my brain, so please stand by. Lets just go to where it begun. It all started in fourth period homeroom…

     I was happily picking up all of my papers and books sprawled out across by desk along with my five inch binder with is a chore to pick up. Despite the small negativities, I was having a good day. The way I see the world depends on the mood I am in. And today the entire world was vibrant. Warm shades of orange and tan drowned my sightline. Copper pennies reflecting light, bright orange sweaters that were what I was paying attention to. I can ignore the cracking paint on the walls and the other unimportant details. And then the lovely Tuck walks up to me. Tuck and I don’t typically get along. I don’t think we even fit under the category of acquaintances! There were multiple instances where I could have possibly aggravated him, but he aggravated me! For example, one time we got into a debate over my use of the word, “OD,” which is slang for "over-doing (it)", "to do something to EXTREMES", "to go crazy with something." Moving on, he approaches me with that idiotic smirk of his and says, “Hey Chloe! I invented a new disease!” My eyebrows shoot up like a skyscraper, and I know I should just walk away. Plus, you cannot simply “invent” a disease! But instead, I say, “Okay... what is it?” and he replies, “Its called EbolAIDS!” My eyebrows have extended past the skyscraper point and are on the clouds. “What-what is EbolAIDS?” I say, preparing myself for his revolting answer. “It’s when someone with Ebola has sex with someone with AIDS.” I clam my mouth shut to prevent myself from going on a long rant. At this point in time my eyebrows are on mars. I grimly open my mouth just to be interrupted. “Get it? Ebola? AIDS?” I got it all right. I was just about ready to walk out so I could enjoy my lunch in peace, but my alter ego decided otherwise. It somehow took control of my mouth, and began. “Do you know how disrespectful that is? That is so rude! There are people in this world suffering and dying but it’s really funny when a thirteen year old jokes about it right?” I was then cut off by Tuck. “Calm yourself. Its just a joke.” I ignored his remark and miserably continued. “What about cancer? You would never joke about cancer. But Ebola is hilarious.” His friend chimed in, “Nobody was talking about cancer.” I rolled my eyes and snapped, “I am trying to compare Ebola to something you can relate to.” “Don’t be that guy.” He snorts in response. I can feel my anger about to spillover, but before I utter a sour word I turn away, and finally walk away. I should have walked away in the first place. The world feels warm again. I feel relived. Why did I make it my responsibility to set the straight? I shook away the negative thoughts and scurried off to meet my friends for Dumplings and Things.

     While writing this I was reliving the emotions I felt while it actually happened. It was very interesting to write. Although it wasn’t very funny at the time, it is kind of funny now looking back on it. It isn’t funny what the kind said, but the levels of ignorance were so high I can’t help but snicker. Who knew someone could be so inconsiderate to something like this? It gets to a point where you can’t help but laugh.

      I find that a great issue within the teenage society is cutting. I believe that a lot of kids are insecure. They are stuck with labels. They can’t figure out how to get them off. These labels consist of things like prude, slut, freak, weird, antisocial, and much more. Sometimes, we can look past these labels. But some kids don’t have the resources to look past these labels. And they desperately need a coping mechanism. So the resort to self-harm. I will never understand or promote self-harm, however I will do my best to help those who are locked in there own minds.

      I guess people like to put labels on others because it means that they are not unknown territory. You can mark them so you don’t have to take the time to figure out who they are. Its territory you have already crossed. Easy! Right? Except by labeling others, you are showing your own weakness. You show that you are not willing to think about others. That does not make you weak, because weak is a label. It makes you negative, however. It means you have a negative mindset. This isn’t a label; it’s a way of thinking.

     I believe people hurt themselves for a couple of reasons. Maybe they are mad at themselves, and don’t know of any other ways of coping with it. Or maybe others convinced them that they are worthless. And they crave a “release.”  However, people are not born in a state of mind where they want to hurt themselves. Other people put them in that state. However, the people that put them in that state of mind don’t necessarily think, I’m going to make x go home and cut herself.  They don’t know about it. And that’s the worst part. Maybe if these girls/guys that are so cruel walk a mile in their shoes they would be more sensitive. Maybe then they would understand there is no logical reason for being cruel.

Charli interview: 

Responce:

The Fight for Animal Rights-Animal testing

      When you look at your shampoo bottle, what do you see? You may see the silky smooth hair you are yet to have. You may see a shampoo bottle, no ideas or thoughts attached. Or you may see an animal. But what do animals have to do with our shampoo? According to “Animal Testing 101,” your shampoo along with makeup and lotion and even soap are tested on animals. And I don’t mean a simple swatch of eye shadow. These poor guys as locked in overcrowded cages, forced to be injected with chemicals. Now what do you see?

      It’s easy to shrug something so heavy and depressing like this off, and just continue to shampoo our hair with that same bottle. When the fact is, “right now, millions of mice, rats, rabbits, primates, cats, dogs, and other animals are locked inside cold, barren cages in laboratories across the country. They languish in pain, ache with loneliness, and long to roam free and use their minds.” The best part?” over 100 million animals are killed every single year. And others are not counting the reptiles that make up 85 percent of animal testing. And Millions of animals also suffer and die for classroom biology experiments and dissection, even though modern alternatives have repeatedly been shown to teach students better, save teachers time, and save schools money. PETA recommends boycotting this disgusting behavior and buying only cruelty-free products.

      The author shows the importance of cruelty free products through including numbers. These numbers show how big it’s become, to a point that makes you feel sad. Another example is the vivid images of animals in enclosed spaces without anywhere to go. Trapped internally and externally. It’s sickening. The biggest example the author can give is that there is an alternative option to this cruelty. The simple fact that this did not have to escalate is maddening.

      I cannot sit still now thanks to this article. I turn to my pets, my household pets and have to consider the fact that animals just like them are hurting, dying, suffering. It makes me feel depressed. The most depressing thing is I am only one pixel on the image of the world. I can fight, I can fight long and hard, but in the end I am only a 13-year-old girl who cries when she sees a dead pigeon on the sidewalk. So I will fight to protect these animals, and I will try, and hopefully someone will see this and help me.

ELA Essay

Themes in a book are like layers of a cake. A cake with just frosting wouldn’t be a cake at all! You need the layers in order to maintain a yummy cake. In the book, The Absolute True Story of a Part Time Indian, you discover that this would make one delicious cake! The most important layer is the fact that junior left the reservation. Although he was called a traitor and yelled at, he did it so he wouldn’t have to continue the sad hopeless lifestyle everyone he knows lives. Therefore, Junior leaving the reservation shows what can happen if you put yourself out there.

         Junior is a teenage boy living on an Indian reservation. He lives with his dad, an alcoholic, his caring mother, his understanding mother with the gift of tolerance, his sister who wastes her life sitting in the basement, and his dog. Everything is normal, until he is faced with a possibility of leaving the reservation and going to school. He decides to leave the reservation after speaking with his teacher, known as, “Mr. P.” He leaves, leaving his tribe behind him. At his school he is picked on and teased being the only Indian. His tribe is infuriated with him as well. Then out of the blue his sister leaves randomly with some guy she just met that day to marry him and move to Montana. Shorty after, he sees a girl he knows forcing herself to throw up and tells her to not give up. They become friends, and shortly after he becomes extremely popular. Things are beginning to work out, when his beloved grandmother is hit by a drunk driver and killed. With this entire going on, on top of this, his sister was also killed. Through the insanity, he reconnects with his best friend. This character goes through a lot, but at least now he has his new found hope. 

         Junior encounters different people due to this decision. His decision had a very negative impact on the people around him, but it also had some wonderful outcomes. One example was Mr. P. Junior used his drawings to make fun of Mr. P because of the way he looked. But then Mr. P approached him and motivated him to go out into the real world and become someone better. Another example of this is Penelope. At first she pretended Junior didn’t exist. She was too pretty and popular to talk to the loser Indian. Suddenly, one-day junior caught Penelope making herself throw up. He talked to her and showed her kindness, something she wasn’t too familiar with. After Junior showed Penelope some kindness, she returned his favor. He was suddenly the it-boy. He received popularity, and even made it onto the basketball team. He also opened up about being poor, expecting others to leave him as so many have already. But instead he was faced with gratitude from people he least expected to bat an eye at.

         Junior didn’t have it easy, but he found an escape. Through basketball. And leaving the reservation gave him an opportunity to thrive. With a dedicated team and a motivational basketball coach, he could achieve anything. He worked hard and he gradually became one of the best players on the team.  At the end of the book he is playing with Rowdy head to head. I think basketball is a symbol of hope. Junior was always good at basketball, but it wasn’t until he fed and nourished this talent that he achieved anything.

         This book beautifully illustrates loss and hope through humor. It shows Junior’s struggle internally and externally. He is faced with lots of challenges, but in the end the best decision he ever made was leaving the reservation.

Synthesis page

Archetypes- Divergent

            What is an archetype? Archetype comes from the Latin stem that means original, and Greek stem that means pattern. It means, “the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form.” In ELA it means “a character, symbol, theme, or setting.” How can the archetypes help us? Why are they useful? By developing an understanding of archetypes we are able to recognize them through our texts. For me, it helps me break down a complicated character. For others, it may to the exact opposite. Nonetheless, archetypes are an important aspect to literature. 

Throughout the novel, “Divergent,” you see multiple examples of archetypes. For example, Tris is a heroic yet stubborn character. She hates when people under mind her because she is a smaller girl. She does what she knows is right, even if it could possibly cost her life. This makes Tris a warrior. The definition of a warrior is someone who “faces physical challenges.” However there are more layers to her then that. Sometimes she may go on suicide missions or she may be cruel to those attempting to help her. But the archetype begins to simplify her.

In, “Divergent,” Tris’s journey demonstrates all the trials Tris goes through that shape her as a person. Her journey can be an archetype as well. In the first two the Divergent books, the journey is filed under “The Quest.” However once the reader begins the third book he/she begins to discover the journey becomes less and less like a quest and more and more like an Initiation. I will break this down to help you understand. The quest is defined as “what hero must accomplish to restore peace, order, and normalcy to a troubled land. Initiation is defined as when the “The hero crosses a threshold into a new, more dangerous world gaining a mature perspective.” The Factions were simply fine until Jeanine began killing off the divergent, which had perfect genes, and nearly killed hundreds of innocent people. But Tris attempts to prevent that from happening. Through this process, in the third book she flees her former to discover a new, turning the book into an initiation.

See how important archetypes are? They can be some helpful in so many different ways. They help answer some questions and bring in some more. Therefore, archetypes are not only useful, but also crucial.

Reading Resonce

In “A Long Way Gone” I want to focus on how Ishmael (the main character) went from boy, to soldier, to man. The book was an incredible heart-wrenching true story about a little boy who is driven from is home multiple times due to war, accused of being a devil, and he was forced to join a war where he became a mad killer. He lost everyone important to him including his mom, brother, dad, and uncle. But at the end he I rescued. Through this book you discover the story of this boy, the bad and the good.

            What surprised me most about this character is the way he turned into the rebel. What occurred, is rebels killed his family, and as a child he witness these monsters torture others. He convinced himself that this is what they deserve. But then he morphed into a monster. He killed people whom had done nothing wrong but stand in his way. He had murdered children who couldn’t depict what a rebel is nor understand it. I think the author is trying to teach me even the kindest people  can do unimaginable things, but that doesn’t make them incapable of change.

            To conclude, Ishmael Beah is a strong man. Not because of his scars, not because of his AK-47, but because of his heart. Only a true man could go through that  and still be able to get help. This is a book one doesn’t simply forget.