Eleanor & Park

         The book I recently read was Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. This book is about a 16 years old girl, and a 16 year old boy. The girl, Eleanor, is a little different from others, she's very unique and independent. She's always been bullied or laughed at for how she dresses, or even for her big red curly hair. Many students would refer to her as "Big Red". She also has many family problems going at home. Her mother remarried and now Eleanor had a stepfather. He's very controlling and never Eleanor and her 5 other siblings have any freddom or anything else they want. The reason Eleanor dresses so different in because her stepfather never lets her buy new clothes. So she had to create unique clothing combinations to make it wearable. On the other hand, Park, is half Korean and half white, he's cool with all the popular kids, and his home is always filled with love, and no fighting.

          It's Eleanor's first day of school, and she gets on the bus having no where to sit. So park rudely offers her a seat. Pak usually reads comic books on the way to school everyday. When he notices Eleanor is reading along, he slows down and makes sure she's done reading the page. The next day Park brings Eleanor some more comic books to read, later on the start to talk about music. A quarter into the book, Eleanor and park begin to hold hands on the bus. The rest of the book is just about their love story. 

         Every time I read this book, I never wanted to put it down, it always left me for wanting to read more. I would never get distracted by anything else since I was lost in the book. There was so much detail and it was so easy to actually visualize what was happening. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes romance novels, and books that make you never want to put them down. Comparing this book to all the other ones I've read, this is by far my favorite. 

Immigrants

          Most immigrants come to America to get a better life, but most of the time they are just getting an ever worse one. They try to do to everything possible to get financial help and get a better education for their children. But many racist people are making it even harder for immigrants to live their life.
         In my opinion, immigrants should get help. Yes, they do take up jobs and many other resources for American citizens. However all they ever wanted was a better life, not racist comments by others who think they are wrong just because their race. But if we work together, we can organize certain organizations for immigrants so they can get the help they need to live a better life.

Women Equality

         Many people may not see it, but women are not treated equally to men. Men have always been seen as stronger, more powerful, and smarter. Women  have always been seen as just weak. The real question is, why does gender matter?
          One example is the amount of money a man makes while working. For every dollar a man makes, a women only makes 90 cents, that's 10 cents less. According to Pew Research Center, "From ages 25-34 women made 90 cents for every dollar a man would make" but they also say that "90 cents for every dollar is an increase from 1980" in 1980 a women made 67 cents for every dollar a man made, in 2015 a women made 90 cents for every dollar a man made. So that explains that it had increased ever since then. Who knows, maybe now it can be the same. If we work together we can end women oppression.

Speaking Up

          Have you ever wanted to speak up for something you believe in? Or have you ever actually stood up when you seen something wrong? You should always speak up and say something whenever you see something that you know is wrong.
          By you saying something, you can possibly make a change or even impact on a lot of others. I personally speak up whenever I see something wrong, or I say something about topics I'm passionate about. By speaking your mind towards something you're extremely passionate about can possibly lead you to being a person who changes the world.
         As I grow older, I want to change others perspectives on the world. By informing them about real world situations, so we can come together to find a solution. 

Racism

          Racism has always been around, it may even never end. No matter what people do, how hard they try, there will never be a solution to racism. In my opinion, it's honestly just so stupid. Anyone with a different skin color is still a person, still a human that functions the same exact way as everyone else, so why judge someone just by their skin color?
          Who normalized it for white people to take over America? Who said that was okay? America started off with indigenous people, not whites. White people came in and took over just because they thought anyone who wasn't white was wrong.
          So now our President thinks it's okay to judge others just by their skin color or race. It's definitely not okay to judge anyone no matter what race, gender, religion, age, sexuality, etc. I believe that each and every person should be treated equally to everyone else no matter what.

The Storm

"The heavens sense our burden:
The threat of future downpours
I carry on my back
We are drunk on wine vinegar.
The nearing storm rouses me,
It makes me want to shake the world

We are an assembly of misery.
If our hands are bloody
It is from the blood of our own wounds.
The grotesque scars
We bear on our bodies
Testify to battles fought
That went unrecognized

But then next storm will unfurl our flag
And uproot the rotted trees!
Then we together with the gusting wind,
Will scale spilberks heights,
And stand in victory on the peaks of the cliffs,
Our hair blowing freely in the wind"

Life is Beautiful

         In the movie Life Is Beautiful, there are many similarities to our readings. For example, they showed how the prisoners were put to work, how older women and younger children were killed in the gas chambers, as well as older men. In our readings it explained how anyone that was Jewish, was put into a camp to either die, or to work. In the movie, It showed how each and every prisoner was put to work, while the Nazis watched them suffer.
          The moods of the film stayed kind of the same. In the beginning, everyone was very happy and excited about life. They lived in a town where everyone seemed happy, and no one was ever sad. As things started changing over the years, People's moods started to be come negative. The only person who stayed positive was Guido Orefice. He stayed positive for his son who was still a small child. He didn't understand all of the things going on around him, like the internment camps and all of the guards. So Guido told his son it was a game, whoever got to 1,000 points first wins a tank. Comparing this to everything we learned before Is very different. Moods of the poems we read were always sad and depressing. But The movie is always happy but sad only at certain times. There is always humor throughout the whole movie. This is because Guido is trying to be strong and keep things fun for his son who is still a young boy.
          The film shows life is beautiful by always having good times out of the bad. Guido tried to keep his son happy and not frightened by the bad things going on around them. They even gave little hints to the mother to show that they were safe and still alive. At the end of the film, I think it was the part where it really showed life is beautiful. The young boy reunited with his mother after they survived all they went through. They were all happy and worried about nothing else but each other. Another example is when Guido would always come back to the cabin and explained how the points worked to his son. He made sure his son was following the "rules" and was never scared that something bad would happen. So throughout the whole film, it really explains how you should always have good times out of the bad and try to always stay positive.