Let's Talk About Our Mockingjay(EC)

I just finished reading Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. It is about a girl named Katniss Everdeen- who originally was in the Hunger Games in the first book and is now caught up in a revolution sparked by herself. She never planned it though- despite the fact her face is the face of the revolution- and instead she is being manipulated by both sides- rebels and the Capitol. Everyone had been talking about how great or how terrible Katniss is and it seemed like a good idea to bring my thoughts out on the subject also.

Well, Katniss is real. The type person she is is real. She feels deeply, but like so many people she has to use others to survive. Everything- ever since time began- was pretty much all about survival of the fittest. Everyone is for himself. That is the point of evolution. As the book itself says, no one survived by being compassionate. There is always competition. If a bird just lets another eat all the seeds, that bird is not likely to survive.

It isn't right to use people for someone's own benefit. In fact, everyone should be helping one another so everyone can survive, but the world just does not work that way. Katniss used Peeta to receive gifts from sponsers. The bright side is she didn't just do it for herself; she was trying to save Peeta too. From the start, she seemed to care about him since he gave her the bread when her family was starving. The Career packs in each Hunger Games also depended on one another to stay alive. They shared the supplies and hunted down the weaker tributes together.

Going back to the idea Katniss cares deeply, most people don't. Her attitude and personality do not always show it, but she does. Since most people don't usually care so deeply, it really means something about Katniss. She is often worried about Peeta in this book, because she knew the Capitol captured him and it would torture him. I can relate to Katniss; I care very much about the people around me. A couple friends this year seemed to be telling me- indirectly- to change. They never liked it when I started crying because I was overwhelmed by emotions. They never liked it when fretted so much about them. One of my friends told me I was very self-centered. Well, does anyone like me better?! Whatever I was then, I must be the opposite now! At this point, I don't really care about anything. All my friends aren't my real friends. In other words, I don't have any friends now. What is the point in caring if no one wants me to? It sure wasn't for my benefit! If anything it hurt- which is also why I can relate to Katniss. At the end of it all, pretty much everyone gave up on her- so it seemed anyway. Everyone went off on their own leaving Katniss in her grief. It says something else too. I remember one of my former friends telling me "the teachers you expect to care don't." Well, it doesn't just apply to teachers. It applies to many people. So my answer is Katniss is real. Perhaps she isn't great and she isn't terrible, but she is the sort of person who lives in our world.

Human Trafficking

This article- Financers and Sex-Trafficking by Nicholas D. Kristof - is obviously about human trafficking. It about the role of financers on a private, sex-trafficking organization called Village Voice Media. Recently, the governor of Washington State just "signed a bill into law" that would reveal Backpage- the organization's website for advertising- to criminal sanctions if it advertises under-age girls for sex without verifying their ages.

The author is trying to talk about what is going on with this main organization for trafficking. Honestly, human trafficking should not be happening. It shows just by how the main owner- Goldman Sachs- was trying to sell shares of company once he realized the writer was inquiring about the organization. Anyone would be embarrassed if someone was asking about something they were not supposed to be doing. Selling young girls and women into slavery? It isn't right. The author reveals that human trafficking is wrong.

To me, somehow lack of freedom of your own body is worse than the slavery all the way back in history. Sure, yeah, at least people are not being forced into laboring over plantations, but in a way.... It's still the same. Young women are still beat up when they do not do what they are told. They are selling their bodies. Sex is really only meant to be something between a person and his spouse. Only a person should share it with his spouse and not anyone else. I always feel uncomfortable when people talk about sex so casually. Forget about sex; I can't even talk about boys with my parents! It shows I am obviously not ready for it (and yes, I do believe in abstinence). But girls younger than I am are going through this!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/opinion/sunday/kristof-financers-and-sex-trafficking.html?_r=1&ref=nicholasdkristof#

You Are My Sunshine

Everyone seems to like all these "cool" songs. They all think a simple song has no meaning. Everyone will probably laugh when they realize the song chosen for this post. "My Little Sunshine" by Anne Murray is about keeping a smile on your face and, naturally, the sun. It also can be about a person the speaker loves. It is interesting how much it can be interpreted.

Anyone can assume the poet means actual sunshine. "You make me happy/ when skies are gray," (Chorus, lines 3-4). Every child loves playing- especially outside. When the sun is hidden behind large, menacing clouds and rain pores down, no one can go out to play. There are some exceptions, but most parents are not likely to allow their children out in the rain. Even if the sky is gray, all anyone needs is the sun to be out or for the sun to begin a new day- for children to go out and play.

"Sunshine" can be a form of endearment. "You Are My Sunshine/ My only sunshine/....Please don't take my sunshine away," (Chorus, lines 1-2 and 7) There are many forms of endearment. Some I cannot quite understand. Why would a mother call her child "pumpkin"? Evidently, her child is not a pumpkin and also how is a pumpkin, in any way, supposed to be adorable? I sing the chorus all the time with my little sister. Now and then, I call her my "sunshine" because I loved her since before the time she was born. That was pretty much one of the first times I was sure I knew love's definition. I have always felt distant from everything, so it is hard decipher my emotions sometimes- more now than ever. Right now, sometimes I could be crying in frustration and I would be laughing. I have no idea what my face tells people, but I know they probably have a better idea of what I am feelings from the looks I give than I know myself at times. Anyway, I knew for a fact I loved my "little sunshine" and I know I never want someone take her away from me.

Letting Go and Forgetting

http://www.internal.org/Robert_Frost/Ghost_House

Everyone feels haunted when someone dies. They see the deceased in dreams and in their thoughts. Many can never seem to let go. Their loved ones are dead; they need to move on. It is the most heartbreaking action to do sometimes: letting go. In Ghost House by Robert Frost, the tone is filled with beauty, yet longing, loneliness, and sorrow as it describes a lonely house with two ghosts haunting it. His poems are usually hard to understand at first, but even when the reader cannot understand the words, it's the fluency and the beautiful imagery that draws them in. Usually, ghosts are supposed to be scary, but somehow, the reader cannot help feeling for them as well as the speaker. Robert Frost shows in his poem the pain of living without someone.

How can anyone live without a loved one? This question comes up much of the time in today's books. The Hunger Games, the Twilight series.... The one piece of literature anyone's mind goes immediately to is William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Both Romeo and Juliet believe they cannot live without one another and because of their families have been enemies since who knows when, they kill themselves. Most people do not realize the idea of being rational. Many would agree with Lady Capulet in saying "Therefore have done. Some grief shows much of love;/ But much of grief shows still some want of wit," (3.5 73-74) In other words, although grieving shows a great amount of love, it also shows some need to see reason : There is no way tears can bring a loved one back. The whole poem gives a sense of how the speaker's world has fallen apart. "And left no trace but the cellar walls,/ And a cellar in which the daylight falls...." The poem is pretty much made up of symbols. The speaker makes it sound like he has no life beyond this house of ruins, making the house reflect his world.

One of the pains is when people forget while others remember. When people do not remember, how can they support others? Everyone needs to remember what pains the person to be able to help. "I dwell with a strangely aching heart/ In that vanished abode there far apart/ On that disused and forgotten road...." In these lines, it shows that the speaker's world is far from everyone else's, but also they have forgotten the pain. Their worlds have not fallen apart as his has. Everyone forgets so easily because they do not feel the pain as much. If anyone ever loved, they would feel broken. This is why it is so easy for them to forget and move on with their lives.

Robert Frost shows in his poem the pain of living without someone. Any person's world can fall apart at the loss of a loved one. Many people today are never the same after someone's death. The person may have not have been of much importance in their life before, but everyone is affected. The only difference between someone truly broken and just anyone is that the person who is broken will remember and the just anyone can forget. With all this, I have to go back to my experience with suicide on my mind. I have no doubt everyone does not wish to hear about it, but I told my mom about my suicidal thoughts. Anyone have any clue what she said? She said she would never be the same if I died. I know for a fact that this is true. My mother has always tried to protect me (from the Board of Ed., my dad, false friends taking advantage of me) and whenever her children are unhappy, so is she. My mother would not easily forget, but I have no doubt almost everyone else will mourn my loss for awhile(Maybe not even.) and then forget me.

Speak For What You Believe In

http://www.good.is/post/a-13-year-old-s-slavery-analogy-raises-some-uncomfortable-truths-in-school/?fb_ref=rightrail

This article is called A 13-Year-Old's Slavery Analogy Raises Some Uncomfortable Truths in School by Liz Dwyer. It is about a thirteen-year-old (eighth grade) girl named Jada Williams- who wrote an essay of The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass. Jada wrote about how Douglass heard his slave owner (Mr. Auld) tell his wife, "'If you teach that nigger how to read, there will be no keeping him. It will forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master."' This was after Mr. Auld found his wife teaching Douglass to write. After that- supposedly- Jada connected this to today by saying that "overcrowded, poorly managed classrooms prevent real learning from happening and thus produces the same results as Mr. Auld's outright ban." She wrote how most of the students at her school were Black and Hispanic while very few teachers are of color, allowing them to be in a "position of power to dictate what I can, cannot, and will learn, only desiring that I may get bored because of the inconsistency and the mismanagement of the classroom." As a result, both teachers and administrators became offended and started harrassing her.

Just like with my science current events, I expected the article to be very dull and hold no interest for me. It reminds me how everyone at school always jokes about people being racist and just about races in general. Most people don't take it seriously. People's nationalities are nothing to joke about. In history, there were many issues involving people of color and all people do now is make a joke out of people's struggle for rights. Not just politically, but also just rights of being a human. I can assure none of it is a joke. It gives the sense people neither understand nor say what they believe anymore. They don't stand up for what they believe in.

Jada Williams was brave for writing such an essay when she knew everyone would see it since it was for a contest. If harrassment is a joke, go on a laugh! I see many people laugh away all the time. Do they ever wonder if it's more than just something to laugh at?! To push aside carelessly?! Does anyone take anything seriously anymore?! Many people, I know, care very much about everything, but they pretend not to. They focus on what they believe is worth their time. Often, whatever it is isn't. Think about what is worthwhile: having fun all the time or doing something that will be meaningful?

All the time people at school will do things like pretend to steal someone's pen or will lie to a teacher about honework. It just makes me wonder: Do they ever have any shame. Don't they ever feel terrible when lying to someone? For me, I lie and the second I say it, I feel bad. In general, whenever I do something I feel is wrong.... I know before I do it, it is wrong, but I do it anyway and feel sorry right away. Sometimes, I feel like I can never even bare to be seen by the person I'm so sure I did wrong to. I try to forget and years later, you know above all my happy memories I wanted to hold on to.... I remember my most embarrassing and humiliating moments. I'm not afraid to say them either. To be honest, I know no one will want my long list.

No one should be afraid for saying what they believe in. I have a huge gift in being able to write all my feelings out on paper. Most people would never want to voice their thoughts and problems or write them down where they can be seen by anyone. My opinion now is that I don't care! I want people to read my writing- even if it is personal. I mean, yeah, I'm not just going to lay out my diary for the whole world to see, but you know? Speak for what you believe in, because then not only are you not alone, but you are letting people understand.

Decisions, Decisions

****Do you mind a spoiler???****

Everyday, people make decisions for others. What should really happen is a person should choose what he wants himself. In Emma by Jane Austen, Emma Woodhouse is perfect in every way. She is beautiful, well-educated, has a good fortune and surrounded by good society. She is also good in the way she is very caring. The only problems are she was brought up with pride and having her own way. Her favorite pastime is match-making. She often puts her terrible skills to work to match the people of her acquaintance. It all seemed to work out very well pretty much until she decided to make her last match between her friend Harriet Smith and the town's vicar- Mr. Elton. Harriet Smith is quite pretty, but no one knows of her relations- her family. Back then, relations were very important in society and often meant each person was ranked by that. A brother of Ms. Smith's schoolmates- Mr. Martin- is madly in love with her and Emma convinced her friend she was above the love of a respectable farmer. Harriet never saw anything wrong with marrying Mr. Martin before. In fact, it seemed as if she liked him very much until Emma convinced her otherwise.

Harriet Smith could do no better than marrying a good farmer. No one would even wish to marry someone without the knowledge of whose family she belongs to. It would have brought shame on them. It was an advantage for Harriet, but Emma had to interfere. There is no chance of a better offer of marriage. Why did Emma have to interfere? Emma obviously does not know about the situation enough and shouldn't Harriet make her own decisions? It is her life- not Emma's.

To be honest, it is not all Emma's fault. Harriet was begging for advice. She is not a strong character and can easily be swayed from anything. One of the problems is how much Emma has the need to help. Many people do, but sometimes what they think if right isn't. It seems as if Emma made many errors, because later in the book, it turns out Ms. Smith was not the object of his interest. In fact, it was Emma. Throughout the book, she continues to misunderstand everything. Later on, she believes Harriet is in love with one man when she is quite attached to her friend Mr. Knightly.

That's what happens when people misunderstand though. They mess up and it can be a lot of damage. Everyday, people let others choose for them, but how do those people know everything?

Importance of Inner Thoughts

I have never read the Hunger Games series, but I wanted to write a response on the movie. The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) is about this game of survival in which two kids picked from each of the twelve districts compete- a matter of life or death. There is only one winner. Katniss' sister was actually picked, but being the sort of person she is, Katniss volunteered to represent District 12. Honestly, it was not that good. One of the aspects is the fact no one has any idea what Katniss is thinking.

You can probably figure it out, but you cannot tell her actual thoughts unless you read the book. Throughout the book, there is complication. Did she feel betrayed when Peeta- the other person from her district- was one of the people helping others to kill her? Was she actually willing to die so she and Peeta wouldn't have to choose- between them who would live and would die- or was it all part of her plan so they both have to live and be the two winners? A lot of this you have to really think hard about to even make a good guess.

The reason it isn't that good is mostly because you have to read the book to fully understand. I still don't understand. You could not see any real character development mostly because you did not know what was going on inside Katniss' head. Really, it has to be shown in some way, because Katniss is not the type of person to say everything on her mind. The whole time, she seemed almost emotionless and a little cold. It's more as if we're seeing what's going on from the other characters' perspectives. We see her as this somewhat cold and very silent person. There are only small moments where you can see how much she truly cares.