The Road Final Discussion

Double Bubble

        McCarthy would likely say the meaning of life is to preserve goodness and the just, moral behavior of humans and to find love, and as a result, happiness.  Live life through faith, which you will find in the individuals around you that give you love.  This faith gives you hope that will guide you through all the endeavors of life.  This idea can be garnered by the book from the connection between the two protagonists, in which they mean everything to the other.  Happiness in the book comes from a commitment to carrying the fire, being the good guys, and being with each other.  This is why the characters still live in a world in which death beckons; therefore, this is the meaning of life.  To have something worth living for.

        This book should be in the curriculum because it has powerful ideas of symbolism and those at the center of all human relationships.  It also has great use of literary devices and style to convey meaning, and excellent prose to engage the reader in a connected yet confused sense, much in the way the protagonists go about the novel.  Furthermore, the conflicts in the post-apocalyptic world are also those in the world of today; the exemplary perseverance and moral resilience of the protagonists against these conflicts is the greatest human achievement.

        The tone of the final passage is very contemplative and solemn as evidenced by the short sentences of deep meaning.  This is directly related to the style of the final passage, which is a short yet flowing stream of consciousness, like the trout in the stream, an icon of Earth as it was.  McCarthy uses detailed words like vermiculate and torsional to convey the great unknown of our as it once was.  The trout in the stream, a beautiful picture of the continuity and almost, the piety of the Earth, is juxtaposed with the searing reality -- that Earth will never be the same.  One theme that this passage coveys is the beauty and continuity of our world, that which we must preserve.  The trout could also serve as a symbol for humanity -- swimming upstream, against the obstacles of the world, bearing the burden of the world's sanctity, and eventually nonexistent, in The Road.  McCarthy's final views of humanity are not hopeful because he speaks of the world as something that cannot be reversed.

The Road Memorable Passage

"They squatted in the road and and ate cold rice and cold beans that they'd cooked days ago.  Already beginning to ferment.  No place to make a fire that would not be seen.  They slept huddled together in the rank quilts in the dark and the cold.  He held the boy close to him.  So thin.  My heart, he said.  My heart.  But he knew that if he were a good father still it might well be as she had said.  That the boy was all that stood between him and death." (p. 29)

• This passage clearly shows us a significant idea in the book -- that the man lives for his child, who is the light in the face of darkness
• The tone is somber and contemplative
• Boy as a part of his father's heart -- he lives, loves, and does everything through him and for him -- the boy pumps vital blood through his veins
• The boy, and the solidarity he provides allows the father to keep faith
• They are "each other's world entire"
• His heart still longs for the oblivion of death, perhaps -- but his commitment to fatherhood helps him survive and carry the fire

This passage could be connected to multiple thematic ideas -- among these are love, loneliness, and hope.  The boy is the man's hope to live.  It is most related to this idea -- hope and solidarity interconnected.

        There is something about this passage by McCarthy that exemplifies the idea of solidarity and warmth against the darkness and cold.  As a reader, we can see how overpowering the gray loneliness and darkness is and this passage, with the two protagonists seeming tiny and insignificant.  It is a vast world of hopelessness.  But the father has a small source of hope, his son, the reason why he keeps faith.  The father said earlier, "If he is not the word of God God never spoke."  The juxtaposition of this passage, of light and hope and life, against darkness and desolation and death makes the light all the brighter.  McCarthy does this effectively throughout the novel.

        And the boy as his heart, that which pumps vital blood through the father's veins, is a powerful idea closely connected to love.  The man is determined to be a good father, and this determination keeps him alive.  As human beings in lonely worlds, we strive for solidarity and connection.  We need a role in any world.  The father's is to love and sacrifice for his son -- this is what he lives for, and the boy's is to preach goodness.

        This passage shows me love.  Love for kin and other human beings, which is more powerful than darkness and hate.  It makes me feel grateful for my siblings, my parents, and everyone in my life that gives me light.

I am Legend and The Road

        Both I Am Legend and The Road are heroic stories of survival and preservation of goodness against odds in desolate, apocalyptic worlds.  In The Road, the boy often affirms that he and his father are carrying the fire.  I perceive this idea to symbolize that they are upholding moral principles and surviving despite the temptation to devolve to the brutality of human nature.  In The Lord of the Flies, for instance, the fire is a beacon for light, hope, and civilization, that which brings the boys back to a state of logical reflection -- the idea of being rescued -- rather than the barbarity of their hunting games and killing each other out of desperation.  This is also present in I Am Legend, in Dr. Robert Neville's determination to find a cure, put an end to the epidemic, and restore moral society.  He is also committed to survival, like the protagonists in The Road.  There are many similarities evident between Neville and the father of The Road.  They are alike in their selflessness -- Neville staying in the city of greatest destruction, "Ground Zero," as he calls it, to save the world, and the man sacrificing everything for his boy.  They are different in that Neville sacrifices generally for societal welfare, although he also sacrifices for his equivalent of the son in The Road -- his dog, Sam, whereas the father has no hope of saving the world because it appears to be generally decimated (destroyed more externally than in the film), and therefore sacrifices for his son.  Both stories display ideas of isolation and loss of hope.  They demonstrate the idea that hope is closely connected to solidarity, to having people to wallow with, to love, to mope with, to cry for, and to die for.  Neville and the father similarly draw strength from their companions, giving them motivation to keep their fight for goodness alive.  Solidarity is therefore also closely connected to faith, as faith is a synonym to hope, and the presence of people therefore gives us the idea of a god.  God resembles hope, and when the world is decimated, with no people to love, the world is godless -- as Neville asserts to Anna, "There is no God."  This idea is evident in The Road, with McCarthy generally describing the world in which the father and son live to be dark, barren, and godless.  But the father does say, also, that his son could only be proof of God.  He is the world to him.  He is his hope, his motivation.  This is why Neville is in misery when Sam dies; he is his only source of hope and love -- his only proof of God, so to speak.

The Road Literary Devices

TWIST

• Tone/Mood (what words prove tone) -- connected w/ word choice
• tone: specifically, author's attitude towards subject
• mood: feeling evoked in the reader
• Word Choice (remember metaphor, symbolism, connotation, etc.) -- effect of words, as well
• Words that go beyond the literal to figurative language
• Simile
• Metaphor -- stronger than simile because of directness
• Hyperbole
• Symbolism -- something concrete which stands for something abstract
• Personification
• Imagery (five senses and any colors bringing story to life)
• Sound devices like onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance (repetition of middle vowel sounds), consonance
• Style (how does author display it?)
• Vague language
• Dialect
• Repetition
• Theme (overall theme supported by a specific paragraph)

In The Road:

• Papa and Boy are used to convey the unnecessary nature of naming in a ravaged world -- names are superfluous where survival only matters
• Everything is immediate -- lack of punctuation

The Road: Anticipation Guide

• Human beings will destroy the earth.

        We agree with this statement because we live in this very world.  If we build in the world, we can also destroy.  It is our house that we must preserve.  Global warming is evidence of this idea; carbon emission pollution issues are critical to address.

• A parent must always put his child's needs before his own.

        We disagree with this statement because of the sound advice of corporation's given to us on airplanes.  Every individual's life should be maintained and preserved.

• Hope comes from within a person, not from external sources.

        We believe that hope does come from ones inner beliefs and values and cannot be created by someone on the outside.

Auspiciousness

Benevolence

Children

Dogs

Empathy

Friends; Family

God

Hope

Ice Cream

Joy

Kit-Kats

Love

Money

Nostalgia

Optimism

Panda

Quest

Redemption

Salvation

Terrain

Uncles

Virginia

Water

Xylophones

Yurts

Zeal

Ryan T., Allison R., Zach Z.

Shaka Senghor and Redemption

        Good people can do bad things.  This statement is really true because all people can be good.  Good is developed by influences generally outside their control.  Our parents, or lack thereof, our financial situation, our friends, and our culture all influence the goodness that comes out of us.  A person can start out good, then have their life turned around, causing them to make bad choices.  Good can be brought out of us all.  For Shaka Senghor, a divorce and lack of parental influence, in addition to an unstable financial situation, brings him to the streets despite being an honors student in high school.  This leads him to deal drugs and eventually commit homicide.  He is still truly good, but his environment is one of terrible conflict, leading him to do a bad thing.  Everyone makes mistakes.  But reflection and mentoring can bring the good out of us again; for Senghor, it was a letter from his son first, and support from his fellow inmates, his father, and the woman he met.  Senghor realizes that the goodness is still there, and pulls it back out by forgiving himself.  The goodness of a person is not always connected to the deeds they have done; rather, it is connected to and revealed by their response.  Amir illustrates this idea as well, although his case is drastically different from Senghor's.  Amir is not negatively impacted by his mistake in wealth or opportunity, whereas Senghor is.  He therefore has less incentive to turn his life around, because it is more about helping others than helping himself.  Amir realizes later that altruism also leads to one's happiness more so than oblivion, and therefore acts towards redemption.

        Unintentionally bad acts are not evil.  Evil is connected with the idea of a mindset of knowingly inflicting terrible, profoundly immoral harm upon others to make oneself more superior and powerful.  People in the world that we categorize as evil, like Hitler, all acted with intention.  We see his in his book, Mein Kampf, that he had the ideas of an ethnically pure world in which all Jewish and other inferior peoples were disposed.  Assef is an embodiment of evil in the Kite Runner.  Unintentionally bad acts, like Senghor's murder, was not evil.  He had no deeper mindset or intention of being evil.  There was little thought, just the rising of his temper and a gunshot.  This is why I agree with him that the criminal justice system is far too harsh, and that instead we need to solve the root of the problem, which is exactly what Senghor is doing.

        Nobody can be truly redeemed or atoned.  It is impossible to truly lose anything that is connected to you; in this instance, the sin of which you are trying to absolve yourself.  True redemption should not be the idea that you are saved from a sin, but the idea that the sin has transformed you into a better person than you were before.  For both Amir and Senghor, their sins motivated them to transform into better people.  This is why coaches and teachers always emphasize that mistakes are good; we learn from them, and improve our beings.

       Amir was redeemed by the end of the novel.  He was not fully atoned of his terrible mistakes, but he was able to turn guilt into good and be at peace with himself.  He forgave himself, and became a faithful man, which is a testament to his belief in hope and happiness existing in world.  Before his redemption, Amir was cynical and burdened.  Amir changes into a more confident and altruistic being after pursuing redemption.  He fights to repay Hassan through his pursuit of Sohrab's love.  He feels no reason to fabricate, telling the truth to General Taheri, despite its bitterness.  Amir is at one with himself, and with the world.

Kite Runner: Final Discussion

Word-Association

Twilight:
Dark
Vampire
Love
Moon
Forest

The Passion Project:
Homeless
Service Project
Work
Research
Church

Sept. 11th, 2001:
Terrorism
World Trade Center
New York
Target
Airplanes

Afghanistan:
Taliban
Muslim
Mountains
Oil
Death

Taliban:
Jihad
Guns
Turban
Dark
Afraid

Certainty of Turmoil:
Cynical
Conflict
Sun
Moon
Sorrow

Turmoil of Uncertainty:
Dubiety
Fights
Factions
Bloodshed
Nothing

Hazara:
Doll
Harelip
Hut
Work
Dirt

Hassan:
Slingshot
Pomegranate
Loyal
Tree
Sohrab

"There is a way to be good again."
~ "And that, I believe, is what true redemption is, Amir jan, when guilt leads to good.  I know that in the end, God will forgive.  He will forgive your father, me, and you too." (p. 302)
        Good comes from guilt.  The pain, the burden of guilt goes away only once we attempt to correct our wrongdoings, to better society.  Therefore, most often, we eventually embark on the path to reach goodness once again after horrible sins.  The idea of God forgiving embodies the true idea of the goodness of people to forgive and forge a path for atonement for the sinning individual, to help themselves and those they wronged.  Optimism is great and contagious.

~ "How dark, almost black, Hassan's blood had looked on the snow, dropping from the seat of his pants.  Blood is a powerful thing, bachem." (p. 310)
        Amir and Hassan share blood, in this thought he connects that he and Sohrab also share blood, making it his duty to adopt him into his family.  Again, this is the will of the individual to reach good from the guilt present in their minds.

"There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood."
~ "'I miss Father, and Mother too,' he croaked.  'And I miss Sasa and Rahim Khan sahib...'  'I'm so dirty and full of sin.'" (p. 319)
        Sohrab is forced to do terrible, sinful things and is kidnapped by Taliban leaders.  He does not experience a normal childhood, of love, nurture, and parenting.  He, and the myriad other children in Afghanistan, are shaped by the violence and threat that is an aspect of their daily lives.  They move from innocence to experience at very young ages.  Many of them must live on their own, without parents at all.  It is sobering to hear this story.

Introduction to the Kite Runner

Notes on The Kite Runner

Characterization:

Father/Son Bubble Map ~

Ali ~

Hassan ~

The Kite Runner: Final Exam Themes

"Sometimes in the early evening, I parked the car and walked up a freeway overpass. My face pressed against the fence, I'd try to count the blinking red taillights inching along, stretching as far as my eyestould see. BMWs. Saabs. Porsches. Cars I'd never seen in Kabul, where most people drove Russian Volgas, old Opels, or Iranian Paikans.

Almost two years had passed since we had arrived in the U.S., and I was still marveling at the size of this country, its vastness. Beyond every freeway lay another freeway, beyond every city another city hills beyond mountains and mountains beyond hills, and, beyond those, more cities and more people.

Long before the Roussi army marched into Afghanistan, long before villages were burned and schools destroyed, long before mines were planted like seeds of death and children buried in rock-piled graves, Kabul had become a city of ghosts for me. A city of harelipped ghosts.

America was different. America was a river, roaring along, unmindful of the past. I could wade into this river, let my sins drown to the bottom, let the waters carry me someplace far. Someplace with no ghosts, no memories, and no sins.

If for nothing else, for that, I embraced America." (p. 136)


        This passage develops the idea of hope in the novel.  Hosseini uses imagery, metaphor, and contrast to illustrate this idea.  In the first two paragraphs of this passage, the description of the country's vastness gives us an idea of the interminable nature of the hope that the protagonist, Amir, feels.  When Hosseini says, "Beyond every freeway lay another freeway, beyond every city another city hills beyond mountains and mountains beyond hills..." an image of the boundlessness of hope that America presents is given to the reader.  The author contrasts this in the following paragraph with metaphor, calling Kabul "A city of harelipped ghosts."  The tone of this paragraph is dark and ominous, representing Amir's past of regret, loss, and sorrow in Afghanistan.  The idea of ghosts illustrates the happiness that Amir once felt about Afghanistan, and that the joy perished with his loss in friendship with Hassan, a harelipped boy.  It portrays Afghanistan as a hopeless place.  The last paragraph serves to unify the preceding paragraphs, culminating the contrast to give us a complete idea of hope.  Hope is the future, blissful and oblivious, and it lies in America.  Afghanistan is a place of darkness.

The Kite Runner: themes

Taxonomy of Themes

A tonement
B etrayal
C ourage
D iscrimination
E quality
F abrication; Faith
G uilt
H armony; Hope
I nnocence; Isolation
J ustice
K indness
L oyalty; Love
M isery
N ostalgia
O blivion
P erseverance
Q uest
R edemption; Reconciliation; Resilience
S orrow; Separation
T olerance; Trust; Tenacity
U nity
V anity
W ar
X enocracy
Y outh
Z eal


Redemption: Redemption is bittersweet.

"I will do this and I will think of Him every day from from this day on if He only grants me this one wish: My hands are stained with Hassan's blood; I pray God doesn't let them get stained with the blood of his boy too." (p. 346)

Hosseini illustrates this nature of redemption by using hyperbole.  The staining of Hassan's blood exaggerates the impact of Amir's brother's death on his guilt; it is truly permanent, indicated by the stain.  Amir realizes that he must redeem himself and save his brother's son Sohrab, to not let his brother die in vain, and to add sweet to the bitterness of his guilt.  He cannot change his mistakes, but he can try to recover.

Oblivion: While blissful in the temporary, oblivion is pernicious in the long term.

"I was afraid the appeal of my life in America would draw me back, that I would wade back into that great, big river and let myself forget, let the things I had learned these last few days sink to the bottom.  I was afraid that I'd let the waters carry me away from what I had to do.  From Hassan.  From the past that had come calling." (p. 231)

The metaphor of America as a great, big river appears throughout the book and is analogous with the idea of oblivion.  Amir realizes the appeal of this oblivion from addressing his past of regret, but also understands that he must escape it to better himself.  It is pernicious.

Buzkashi Boys Response

        Rafi is the protagonist in the film Buzkashi Boys because he is the central character in all conflict throughout the book, which serves to influence his perception of the world and identity.  In other words, he is a dynamic, round character, qualities synonymous with a protagonist and not a secondary character.  Ahmed played the crucial role of changing Rafi's views on the world, leading him to become more courageous, daring, and independent.  We see this change evident in the film.

        Amir and Hassan are able to have a much closer relationship than Rafi and Ahmed because of Baba's approval of their friendship and his fondness for Amir.  Unlike Rafi and Ahmed, Amir and Hassan were raised together, sharing the brotherhood of being nursed by the same woman, as well.  Also, the leader-follower dynamic was different between the two, Amir leading and Hassan following in the Kite Runner and Ahmed leading in the film.  Yet the relationships were also strikingly similar.  Both involved friends of different societal classes, which was clearly against societal norms.  When wealthy Pashtun friends came over to Baba's house, Amir did not play with Hassan, and Rafi's father disapproved of his son's friendship for this reason.  Class relationships are clearly a significant aspect of Afghan life that is less evident in America, though it is certainly present.  The friends learn from each other, playing together but gaining deeper meaning as well.  In both friendships the friends of the lower class, Ahmed and Hassan, change their wealthier friends' views on the world, simply in their personalities.  Hassan's genuine, non-violent nature shows Amir goodness, and he encourages his friend to pursue a writing career, unlike his father.  As stated above, Ahmed changes Rafi by encouraging him to be bolder, more audacious, and to pursue his loves.  He makes him tougher.

        Both are coming of age stories, exemplifying rather abrupt transitions from innocence to experience.  This probably happens quite often in a country so full of harm, since 1980.  In Kite Runner, we see the rape of Hassan changing the lives of both boys.  Amir is filled with abundant guilt and sorrow.  Hassan is  traumatized.  This single event polarizes the boys, and changes the courses of their lives.  They are transformed.  The rape forces upon them the development of thicker skin, response to emotions that most adultis don't experience.  This may have been part of the reason for Amir's disappointing reactions.  He is not meant to experience something so traumatizing at such a young age.  The death of Ahmed has a similar effect on Rafi.  This leads him to grow, to become tougher and stronger.  He decides to live in Ahmed's image, to carry out his will in light of his death.  Rafi forms more of an identity for himself after, a critical step in maturity and adulthood.

Night Blogs

        The memoir Night by Elie Wiesel illustrates the nature of the isolation created by the Holocaust.  First, the Jewish people are discriminated against, alienated by the antisemitic influence of the Nazis.  This isolates the Jews socially, in their plight.  They are also isolated physically, first put together in ghettos, in which they are essentially interned, and later, are isolated from the world in concentration camps.  We see this in Sighet, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Buna in Night.  Furthermore, people are separated from their families; the Wiesel family was split at Birkenau, resulting in sadness and diminished hope.  The book also demonstrated another, unique sort of isolation: the isolation of individuals that the Holocaust created, the "every man for himself" mantra.  The threat of death isolates us.  Generally, it makes us more selfish, more focused on our natural instinct of survival than altruism.  This passage sheds light on this idea: "... he slapped my father with such force that he fell down and then crawled back to his place on all fours.  I stood petrified.  What had happened to me?  My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked.  Only yesterday, I would have dug my nails into this criminal's flesh.  Had I changed that much?  So fast?" (p. 39)

        Yet solidarity must be found to maintain some sort of hope, to escape the threat of death.  God, Judaism, and prayer does this for many people at Buna.  It lets them know that there still is light.  Isolation is neither sustainable, nor permanent.  Night also demonstrates, through the experiences of Elie Wiesel during the Holocaust, the importance of faith and hope in preserving one's motivation to keep moving forward, to survive.  On page 41, A young barracks leader, a Pole, advises the Jews to keep faith, and to stay together: "Ahead of you lies a long road paved with suffering.  Don't lose hope.  You have already eluded the worst danger: the selection.  Therefore, muster your strength and keep your faith.  We shall all see the day of liberation.  Have faith in life, a thousand times faith.  By driving out despair, you will move away from death.  Hell does not last forever... And now, here is a prayer, or rather a piece of advice: let there be camaraderie among you.  We are all brothers and share the same fate... Help each other."  Prayer is commonplace at Auschwitz and Buna, as we see in the book.  Wiesel begins to lose faith in God, seeing no light in the mass graves of Birkenau but the fire of death.  He despairs, and this has a negative effect.  Wiesel must realize that He to whom he was faithful before was not a separate entity, but light inside of Wiesel.  Indeed, He, it, God, is a part of him.  Realizing this, and the solidarity of others facing the same plight, truly helps Wiesel survive.

************************************

        Night, in the book, serves as a symbol for the absence of God and despair.  Here, it is critical to recognize the Biblical role of night.  God first dispelled darkness, creating light, helping us understand that night can serve as a symbol for the absence of God.  In Night, nightfall corresponds with a terrible event, often.  On page 12, Wiesel establishes, "Night fell... Suddenly, the gate opened, and Stern, a former shopkeeper who now was a policeman, entered and took my father aside.  Despite the growing darkness, I could see my father turn pale."  The news that Wiesel's father receives is that of the deportation, news of hopelessness and grief.  It comes with the falling of night.  The symbol is also particularly evident upon Wiesel's arrival to Auschwitz-Birkenau.  He says, "In front of us, those flames.  In the air, the smell of burning flesh.  It must have been around midnight.  We had arrived.  In Birkenau." (p. 28)  It was in this darkness that Wiesel experienced the death of hundreds of innocents.  And it expelled his God, a source of eternal light, in the face of interminable darkness.

Barbie Doll and Literary Analysis

        Barbie Dolls are the toys of the little girl.  White beauty and skinniness.  What everyone wants to be.  Smiling and content, with a nice-looking boyfriend.  Muscular, strong.  Flawless.  Ken.  But this is not the real world.  It is pretend.

        In Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy, readers learn that societal pressure can cause people to alter their true identity, in favor of one that is more accepted.  We see this theme in the poem initially in the title, Barbie Doll, which exemplifies the norms of beauty for women -- this is generally being white and skinny.  We see a girl who played with dolls as a young girl, seeing their utopian qualities of beauty.  She hits the "magic of puberty," stated in a metaphor in the poem, and her body is changed, much like magic does.  She becomes more developed, and is called out for having "a great big nose and fat legs."  A girl who is intelligent and healthy, with good skills, is forced to apologize for herself.  For not fitting conventional beauty.  Just like with Rachel in the Girl Who Fell from the Sky, the girl's beauty is a single story: her body, and is objectified.  Advised by society to flirt -- play coy and wheedle -- and get skinny, the girl eventually has to take off her mask.  Her blue bottle of criticisms breaks.  She cuts her fatness, who she is to conform to societal norms.  The girl changes who she is.  But, as the poem ironically says, now, the girl is pretty.

Movie Response

        Just like Rachel in the Girl Who Fell from the Sky, Charlie experiences isolation because of his difference from most people.  He too experiences trauma, and it makes him reserved and shy.  But this allows him to listen.  It allows him to learn about the people around him, so that he is better able to make good decisions.  He is outwardly kind and polite, having no conflict with others.  These are the perks of being a wallflower.
        Yet his reticence also is detrimental to him.  His lack of expression, of feelings or attitudes, leads his emotions to be trapped inside of him, like Rachel's blue bottle.  They accumulate, and boil over, in the punches Charlie threw at the Patrick's bullies, and the punch Rachel threw at Tamika Washington.  They boil over in the Truth or Dare game at the party.  And they chronically oppress Charlie, keeping with him the repressed memory of his aunt's sexual abuse of him.  The same goes for Rachel; the incident on the roof is kept with her.  If Charlie had been more talkative and open, even after the trauma he experienced, he would have been better able to cope with his emotional struggles.
        But there are those people who bring out brightness.  Who allow you to reveal your dark secrets, and help you move past them.  Sam and Brick are these people.  Kind and fun, they are true friends and lovers.  True lovers do not only give sexual contact.  They talk with you, and help you move on.  Joy is beautiful.  Charlie's love was full of it, infinite, forever.
        For me, this movie was a great representation of a realistic struggle of coming of age.  Some parts of me, I think, are very much like Charlie.  I am cautious, sometimes.  But I also love to be with other people, and I love talking to them.  To listen, and share my ideas, and build a more complete perspective on life.

Pitch Paper Feedback

General Improvements ~

(1)  Make sure the paper is adhering to APA formatting rules throughout; format all information, even if it does not flow well; for instance, cite paraphrases in introductory paragraph.

(2)  My paper has too high of a similarity percentage due to too many direct quotations.  I need to limit them, and paraphrase more -- but make sure to cite it the same.

(3)  Make sure to include transitions between paragraphs to help the argument flow better and add to the persuasive factor.

(4)  Each piece of evidence should correspond to an appropriate explanation; this will better the organization of my paper and make my arguments easier to understand.

Basic Action Plan:
As stated in my paper, I plan to utilize both advocacy and direct service in bettering the lives of homeless youth.  My direct service will consist of helping serve at Third Sunday Meals, and listening to the problems the youth are facing, in addition to possibly tutoring homeless youth via the School on Wheels program.  My indirect action will be as a part of the homelessness advocacy team at my church, of which I am a member.

Character Thinking Map: Rachel

Final Discussion: Microlabs

        Round 1: If I could use one word to describe what Rachel's survival looked like it would be independence.  This is because without her immediate family, Rachel is largely on her own throughout the book.  She has no one to empathize with in her struggles of mixed race, an lives a life with a parental void, for the most part, aside from what Drew did.  She realizes this independence, and embraces it as a part of herself.  I think this independence causes her to form a unique identity, which benefits her.

        Round 2: As Durrow said in her interview with Norris, she thought it would be interesting to write a book about the survival of a girl after the tragedy she experienced.  So I concur with this point, that the main topic of the book is not the incident on the roof.  However, I do believe that the characters involved are centered around the incident, and that the plot revolves around the incident, starting with it at the beginning, coming to it intermittently throughout, and ending with it.  Yet the gist of the story is about Rachel -- the girl who fell from the sky and survived -- and her coping with the struggles of being the only survivor in her mixed race family, as well as the other people's lives after the incident.  You cannot write a story exclusively about one event.

       Round 3: Nella is certainly one of the most polarizing characters in the book.  What she did, in giving up and jumping off the roof with her children, is selfish to me.  Her children deserved better.  Yet, at the same time, Rachel appears to understand why her mother did such a thing.  Their lives were a struggle -- coping with abuse, alcoholism, and the constant lack of a fatherly figure in the household, illustrated by Nella's agonized diary entries.  I have some empathy for Nella, because of this.  Rachel understood why Mor couldn't take it anymore, she realized that Mor did it to alleviate the pain of her children.  For me, this was not the way for Nella to love her children, to diminish their pain.  I cannot understand why she did it.  But I think, in her confusion, the only certain way to diminish the pain and stay with her family was to die with them.

        Round 4: Silence plays a prominent role in both the Girl Who Fell from the Sky and the Grace of Silence.  It shapes the identities of the characters by them growing up in oblivion, to their benefit and detriment.  They were not hindered by struggles of their family, but they were also not strengthened by being able to move on from the secrets that were kept.  The telling of stories about families makes individuals into more complete people.  The unknown is dangerous, and secrets separate people.  They perpetuate the single story.  Rachel not addressing the tragedy caused her to be burdened, until she finally did.  Racism, too is perpetuated by silence.  We cannot get over, nor address the problem in hushed whispers.  One example of this in when Aunt Loretta and her friend kept information from Rachel about her race.

        Round 5: This extended metaphor throughout the book of falling versus flying is profound.  The theme, I think, is does one plunge into despair, or is one resilient, and are they able to fly away from it?  Rachel jumps from the roof, as opposed to falling from it.  This shows me that she willingly acted to let go of the struggles of her past in an act of family solidarity.  Yet she survives, and the incident on the roof stays with her until she has the audacity to talk about it.  When she does, she begins to fly, as a swan.  She stops running, and takes to the air, away, away.  Brick listens, and she releases.

        Bonus Round: While the Girl Who Fell from the Sky was a fiction text, it provided very realistic insight into how people would react to and address a tragedy, and how a half Danish, half black girl would cope with the racism she faced.  These stories, reading the word, gives us multiple ideas, rather than a single story, to make the world better known.  In these ways Heidi Durrow helps me read the world.

Compare and Contrast Essay Work Day 1

Potential Topics ~

• Coping with racism -- How do Norris and Rachel deal with racism?  How does this impact their identity?
• Past affecting identity -- How do the pasts of the two protagonists affect their present identity?  Do they try to let it go, or do they embrace it?
• Parental influences -- How do parents or guardians shape the identities of Rachel and Norris?  Do they play an important role in shaping the identities of both characters?
• Beauty's influence -- How does the desire to look beautiful -- based on what the characters believe the definition of beauty is -- shape their identity?  What do they do to realize this?
• Silence -- How does the concept of keeping some things quiet -- and opening up about other issues -- affect the identities of the two main characters?

I am going to investigate the topic of silence in The Grace of Silence and The Girl Who Fell from the Sky.

        Silence, specifically the way we utilize it, is a quietly significant part of our identities.  The way we deal with conflict involves the question of either being silent and stoic, and moving on, or speaking back and fighting.  Also, in general, what we choose to say and what we don't choose to say has significant impact on our identities.  This is evident in both texts we read this year, The Grace of Silence and The Girl Who Fell from the Sky.  In the former, a large part of the book is about discovering truths, somewhat traumatic truths about Michele Norris' parents' pasts, that were kept secret from her.  Her parents were silent about her father getting shot in the leg as a young returning war vet in Birmingham, Alabama, and the job of her mother which subtly perpetuated racism -- an itinerant Aunt Jemima.  Michele Norris realizes that this silence had notable impact on her identity -- seeing that her parents had not told her so because they didn't want to weigh her ambitions down in regards to her race.  But at the same time, Norris is determined to push the silence back, and speak truths to the people, and listen to their truths.  This too, frames her identity.  In the latter book, Rachel experiences a tragic incident as a child in which almost everyone in her immediate family dies.  It changes her life forever -- and she decides not to talk about it.  This, I think, keeps the calamity with her and hinders her from moving on, yet at the same time helps her remember her family.  It affects her identity.  Another appearance of the concept of silence that we see throughout the novel is in Rachel utilizing the "blue bottle" to cope with racism, in which she puts all negative statements about herself and her race.  She does not address them, and this is corrosive to her identity until she finally does.  Certainly, this is one way she differs from Norris -- Rachel is much more willing to defer the problem to her "blue bottle" and to embrace silence, than to directly address the issue like Norris.  The same goes for facing the reality of their pasts.  Yet both are very open about their race and ethnicity.

Potential Thesis Statement ~

        The ways in which Michele and Rachel choose to address the issue of silence has profound impact on their identity.  They are both proud of their race and ethnicity and are not afraid to tell people; however, they differ in their ways of coping with racism, and that Rachel embraces silence about her past and Michele opens up to the world about it.

Key moments from both books that warrant discussion in the essay ~

• The roof incident that altered the circumstances in Rachel's life forever (GFFS)
• Michele's mother's stint as a traveling Aunt Jemima and her reaction that shapes her identity (GS)
• Finding out about the shooting of Michele's father and how Norris reacts to stereotypical, "traditional" perspectives from some interviewees (GS)
• Reflection on how not telling about these secrets affected Norris' identity (GS)
• "Blue bottle" and incidents with Tamika Washington in which Rachel initially embraces silence (GFFS)
• The fight with Tamika and talking back (GFFS)
• Talking to Brick about the incident -- coping with it effectively, moving on, and changing her identity into that of a mature person (GFFS)
• Reflections about silence in regards to the incident on the roof (GFFS)

Come Hell or High Water Response

        Derrick Evans is a committed individual who is passionate about the welfare of his home, Turkey Creek, Mississippi.  A historic black community with beautiful nature founded by his great-grandfather's grandfather during Reconstruction, it now lies in the middle of the economically expanding city of Gulfport, Mississippi.  Both Mississippi's governor and Gulfport's mayor are determined to bolster the city's economic potential by expanding into Gulfport, and Derrick is determined to preserve the close-knit community.  His passion is shown in the ardent pursuit of his goals-- attending numerous meetings, building, rebuilding after natural disaster, and his emotional ties to the issue.  But it is also shown in what he gives up to pursue the preservation of his small community-- a comfortable teaching job in Boston, apartment living, and even any sort of wages.  His mother says it all: her boy had been working hard for over five years without any wages.

What Are You?

        Generally, when I am asked the question "What are you?" it is in an almost sarcastic context, when someone is pretending that they are irritated with me.  Then, it is really a rhetorical question, of little significance.  But when I really ponder it, what comprises my identity, it is very significant.  My identity is made up of almost everything about me.  The question "Who are you?" fails to consider the identity aspect, I think.  But "What are You?" is more multi-dimensional, with the opportunity to tell the complete story of you, rather than the superficiality of a name.  It can be about a race, but it can also be about other aspects that you value more, like your likes and dislikes, your personality, or even the activities in which you participate.  So yes, I am white.  But so are most people I know.  I want to be different.  I come from diverse religious backgrounds; my mom's Catholic and my dad's Jewish.  I am a reader, a learner, and an athlete.  I value hard work and tolerance.

        More and more, as the New York Times article illustrates, mixed-race children are coming to be.  One of seven new marriages is between spouses of different races or ethnicities, according to data from 2008 to 2009 that was analyzed by the Pew Research Center.  These people, a growing population in America, have a more diverse and complex identity, something they don't want to be so definitive as a check in a single box on the census, but a fluid, complete story on the merging of multiple cultures.  I completely agree with Laura Wood from the article, believing that in a sense of race, society is trying to tear everyone apart and pick a side.  It has to be black or white.  It can't be gray.  And it really should be, if the individual wants this.  Every person should be able to determine their own identity.  Mixed race people are often oppressed by the choosing of their identity for them, and they should be able to do it themselves.  Rachel, in the Girl Who Fell From the Sky, is finding it difficult to embrace both parts of her identity, with people forcing her into one category: black.  She has no one, really, to empathize with in her struggle.  Wood said of her mixed identity, "If someone tries to call me black I say, 'yes- and white'" (Saulny, 2011).  I think Rachel will agree with this in the future, and will appreciate both her Danish and black identity.  She can be of different parts, although her grandmother might argue otherwise.  These diverse parts form a more complete whole.

        Heidi Durrow is part Danish and part black, like Rachel.  And just like Laura Wood, she believes black does not complete the question "What are You?" for her.  For this reason, she would definitely appreciate the work of the MBSA and the safe space and solidarity it gives the students to talk about their identity struggles.  She talks about incorporating all of her identity in the conversation, not just select parts (Durrow, 2013).  Durrow's answer to "What are You?" is that she is many stories.  This is related to the quote from the article because it refers to the single story of race versus the actual complexity of an individual's identity, many stories.  Stories are long, with twists and turns that race alone cannot tell.  This should be the nature of everyone's identity, and they should be able to determine it.

Beauty Synthesis

        The single story is ubiquitous in beauty.  The one image of a model, distributed by the media.  That they have to look white, or be white.  That black models need a distinct look, too.  A fashion show director says of Renee, a black model, "Black models, they tend to be, like, a little wider hips, and a little, like, more round."  He is referring to the single story that he believes black beauty must follow.  It is in this way that media and professionals have the gist of the power in deciding what beautiful is.  They determine who to send out onto the runway, who is featured in their commercials, and from this, we gain our image of beauty.  That it is generally white, just like most of the people who have power in the media.  But this must be the other way around.  For, as Cameron Russell says, "Image is superficial."

Ideas of Beauty ~ Girl Who Fell From the Sky

        Beauty is one of the most valued qualities in women in our society today, deserved or not.  Its definition is, roughly, a combination of qualities that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially sight.  These qualities generally vary from person to person, but there is often consensus, and this is shaped by our surroundings: what the media perceives to be beautiful and what your parents perceive as beautiful are probably the most significant.  It is undeniable that television and social media give us an idea of beauty as we are constantly surrounded by them.  Our perception of beauty from television is mostly in commercials and films, while shows also play a factor.  It is important to understand that media, especially earlier on, was controlled by primarily white folk.  Therefore, white people were featured as beautiful in the media, and this had a negative effect on people of color.  While this has begun to change, especially with affirmation from parents of children of color, that they too are beautiful, it still can have a hindering effect on their potentials.  Fortunately, today, there is more and more diversity: in commercials, and even in Disney.  Also, the influence of Lupita Nyong'o on the perception of beauty has been palpable.  A black woman, she has won numerous accolades for her beauty, and this has boosted the pride of black girls everywhere.

        It is important to also realize that beauty is not only about physical qualities, what anyone can see, but about the way people carry themselves.  Their personalities.  It is in this way that beauty should be valued.  But changing beauty to "hotness," something that many boys do today, is detrimental to the value.  Girls are becoming distressed over their looks, rather than the way they act, which should be more highly valued.  Rachel experiences this in the Girl Who Fell From the Sky.  Can she be beautiful as a black girl?  This is the constant struggle she faces throughout the book.  Michele Norris in the Grace of Silence experienced similar conflicts.  When she cut her hair, it became more distinctly African-American.  At first, this look disgusted her.  This was because of the way she perceived beauty, for it to be exclusively white.  Yet she realized that this look did good for her, as she was able to create her own perception of beauty.  Rachel gets a similar makeover, her hair losing its distinctly black feel.  She likes this.  It makes her feel more beautiful.  She needs to be more secure in regards to her beauty, and know looks aren't everything.

        Cameron Russell is a smart, beautiful model.  She illustrates to the world the above point, that looks aren't everything; at least, they shouldn't be everything.  Russell talks about how in some ways, looks do matter.  She was allowed to purchase a dress for free because of her physical beauty; her friend received no penalty for running a red because Cameron was in the car.  But this should not be.  We must look past physical beauty, and into personality, she says.  We must appreciate unique beauty, too, beauty that the media often doesn't show.  This is people of color.  Russell goes on to discuss how despite their low proportion, people of color, particularly black people, are stopped far more than any other race in New York City by the police.  This is because of negative perceptions based on the way they look, and the single story police carry of people of color: that they are trouble.

        One cannot rely on how they look to sustain themselves, they must focus instead on their compassion, how they are inside-- this is true beauty.  This is because beauty cannot be acquired; it is always there, you just have to have the confidence to realize it is.  When Nyong'o's mother says that you "cannot eat beauty," this what she means.  Everyone can be beautiful by controlling what is inside you, which, as Nyong'o says, "has no color."  Yet physical beauty undeniably plays a factor.  You just have to appreciate it, from confidence.  Nyong'o gained this from Alek Wek, a model "dark as night."  This gave her power to realize the truth.

Ferguson

The Shooting ~

• Michael Brown: 18 year-old black man who was shot and killed by Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson on August 9, 2014.  Brown was unarmed by the Canfield Green apartment complex
• Brown was scheduled to start at Vatterott College, a Missouri trade college, two days after the shooting
• Wilson initially stopped Brown for jaywalking, but realized later that he could be the person who stole cigars from a convenience store, spotting them in his hand
• Brown had no criminal record at the time
• At least one round was fired from inside Wilson's squad car -- Brown died about 35 feet away from the car
• Autopsies found that Wilson shot Brown at least six times from the front, and one of the bullets hit the top of Brown's head -- this could be leaning over in surrender or attack
• One side of Wilson's face was left swollen during the encounter
• Wilson has been put on leave following the shooting

Ambiguity ~

• Some eyewitnesses say Brown was surrendering to the police as he was killed, but local law enforcement argues that he was assaulting Officer Wilson
• Dorian Johnson, Brown's friend who was with him when he died, said Wilson told the men to step onto the sidewalk; the door of the car ricocheted into Wilson, aggravating him; he grabbed Brown by the neck, and Brown tried to get away; Wilson shot Brown; the two began to run away with their hands up; Wilson pursued and fired several more shots
• Tiffany Mitchell's account: struggle between Brown and Wilson in squad car; first gunshot came with Brown's hands outside the vehicle while the two were struggling; Brown's body jerked, as if he were hit, and surrendered; Wilson continued shooting
• Piaget Crenshaw's account: Wilson attempted to pull Brown into the squad car; Brown ran away, and with back facing officer, several shots were fired; Brown then faces the officer to surrender, and more shots were fired
• The police believe that Brown assaulted Wilson in the car, pushing him back into the vehicle, and attempting to get a hold of his weapon
• Then, shots were fired with Brown's back turned

Ferguson ~

• The police force, despite the town being almost 2/3 black, has three black officers
• Evidence of animosity towards blacks in the town earlier -- high racial tension
• Henry Davis, a black man in Ferguson, was unjustly beaten by police in 2013, scarring his face

The Concerns ~

• Racism in the American justice system, and deep-rooted racial disparities in local government and law enforcement
• Continued police brutality
• The single story about black men
• The number of S.W.A.T. raids have gone up by 1,400 percent since the 1980s -- 50,000 take place very year

Legality of the Shooting ~

• Tennessee v. Garner and Graham v. Connor, a pair of 1980s Supreme Court decisions, determined the framework for when utilizing deadly force by cops is reasonable
• May do it under two circumstances: to protect their life or another innocent person's life; or, to prevent a person from escaping whom they have probable cause to believe is a violent felon

Investigation ~

• Performed by the St. Louis County P.D.
• Deciding whether Darren Wilson was justified in shooting an unarmed man
• Little information has been released as of now about the findings of this investigation
• The FBI is also carrying out an independent civil rights investigation, that will look exclusively at constitutional rights violations

Protesting ~

• Ferguson residents almost immediately took to the streets; police responded with a highly-armed presence meant to contain demonstrators and prevent violence
• Media and protesters complained that media was moving in when the civil disobedience was peaceful
• Police had military-grade equipment; tanks, armored suits, etc.
• While highly tense and volatile, the protests were generally peaceful
• Police used tear gas, sound cannons, and smoke bombs to disperse protesters
• Ferguson police unleashed tear gas upon journalists, harassing them and even pointing assault rifles at them
• ACLU is attempting to remove these unnecessary, excessive weapons from the police

Pre-Seminar Brainstorm

        The central concept of the Girl Who Fell From the Sky is racism, and the experiences of society that are influenced by race.  Rachel, the protagonist, has difficulty identifying with one race, and experiences harassment from both sides.  She struggles to create her own, unique image when she has no parents to influence her values.  What is it that makes Rachel an outcast in society?  What prompted the incident that caused Rachel's family to fall apart?  And what does the concept of a single story have to do with this all?

"I learn that black people don't have blue eyes.  I learn that I am black.  I have blue eyes." (p. 10)

The Danger of a Single Story

        "The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity.  It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult.  It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar."
        --Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

        This quote is a summary of Adichie's talk, that stereotyping, the telling of one story about a people or a place, is incomplete and unfair, because it is unrepresentative of the entire truth.  Our dignity comes from our truths of which we are proud.  Thus, to stereotype, to deny one of these truths to a person is to rob them of their pride.  And, Adichie goes on to say, if we are only telling one theme about a people, it is difficult to focus on the equality between peoples because the single story emphasizes how people differ from each other.  If we want to become a truly unified people, where everyone is valued, we must hear the full stories of all people and places.  Because everyone should be valued.

        This is exactly why single stories are dangerous and pernicious-- they pass on incomplete truths of people that stick, serving to separate people in their supposed difference.  The single story makes us separate people into categories, which causes conflict between peoples.  The full story moves us towards friendship, unity, and peace.

        Rachel, the main character in the Girl Who Fell From the Sky, struggles to fit in the definitive category of white or black.  She does not fit into the single stories, the stereotypes, of either of these people.  She would benefit from less stereotyping of blacks and whites, and would fit with them all.

Girl Who Fell: First Impressions and Connections

       Similarly to the Grace of Silence, the Girl Who Fell From the Sky addresses the tension of racial dialogue in America.  The first chapter is from the perspective of a "light-skinned" black girl, Rachel, which is a paradox in itself.  She does not seem to fit in as either white or black, and is mistreated from both sides, likely as a result of her outlying nature.  Rachel is black with blue eyes, the eyes she received from her Danish mother, living with her grandmother she does not know.  She struggles through the same problems faced by Michele Norris as a child.  By trying to achieve and assert herself intellectually, she is said to be acting "white" and advised that she should not assert herself too much, because that is just not the way it is for black girls.  She is bullied because of her race, and bottles up her emotions to show that she is strong, an effective technique much like the one Jackie Robinson employed.  I predict this dialogue will continue throughout the book, and more perspectives will be added to make it more interesting.

Thesis

       In examining evidence and background information about the problem of homelessness among youth, and reviewing current actions being taken to address the issue, this essay will explore the need for these youth to have affordable housing and the same education as their peers; in order to establish this necessary change, I will continue work with advocacy, serve at meals to better understand the problems of youth, and attempt to tutor these youth.

Three Sources for Passion Project Pitch Essay

References

Holgersson-Shorter, H. (2010, November). Helping the homeless in school and out. Education Digest, 76(3), 30-33.

Kaczke, L. (2013, November 14). Homeless youth: A hidden population. Sun Current, Community.

Watson, B. (2013, December 20). The number of homeless youth is growing, but funding to help them is not. Retrieved from WashingtonPost.com

APA Formatting Example ~ Homeless Youth

According to Holgersson-Shorter (2010), homeless youth are distracted by numerous things that can hinder their learning, such as hunger, shabby clothing, lack of school supplies, or anxiety about their family's security.

Bilal Muhammad, director of Newark Public Schools Homeless Unit in Newark, NJ (2010), stated, "Parents instruct [the homeless youth] not to tell anyone they're in a shelter or a doubled-up situation because of their fear the child will be transferred out of the school," on the topic of reluctance of the homeless youth to share their situation with administrators.

Youth Bringing Change

        When people are oppressed, they find a way to better their lives by solidarity and the collective passion of a group.  Often, it is the youth, in their optimism and fervent spirit, that makes this change.  In Birmingham, Alabama, the very epicenter of segregation and southern prejudice, black children succeeded in diminishing the presence of segregation all across the U.S.  The will of the youth, guided by Dr. James Bevel and other experienced adults, managed to exhaust the Birmingham police force in their resilience and determination to gain freedom for their people.  The whole nation was struck that innocent youth would take it upon themselves to make change, regardless of the risks of injury and jail, and therefore acted to help them.  Similar to this was the action that the youth took in Harry Potter, to create an army to help to prepare them for the evil in the real world, when adults were failing to help them do this.  The children in the march of Birmingham also had to act because their elders were not.  Harry leads his peers in fighting for themselves, despite the danger around, to make change.

Passion Project Topic Brainstorming

Homelessness in Minnesota:  To be without a home is one of the most painfully demoralizing things that can happen to an individual.  It is from our homes that we garner stability and happiness in our lives, and to see people on the streets, many of whom are working, shows me that we need more affordable housing.  Moving towards solving this problem also helps to eradicate poverty and ensure education for children of all socioeconomic backgrounds.

http://www.twincities.com/ci_22732650/wilder-research-finds-homelessness-rising-minnesota-especially-among
http://www.startribune.com/local/north/271873871.html
http://www.wilder.org/Wilder-Research/Research-Areas/Homelessness/Pages/default.aspx

Social Mobility and Income Inequality in the U.S.:  The income gap is increasing, and this is crippling our nation.  Hardworking lower class individuals deserve the same chance as wealthy citizens to live the American dream.

http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21595437-america-no-less-socially-mobile-it-was-generation-ago-mobility-measured
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/us-social-mobility-problem
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/05/u-s-income-inequality-on-rise-for-decades-is-now-highest-since-1928/

The Struggle of Racism Today:  The perceptions of certain races' abilities to succeed today are still segregating our society, and crippling lower class minorities.

http://hnn.us/article/156481
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexandra-rosas/young-people-and-racism_b_5706851.html

Sexual Slavery:  There is still slavery around the world.  And much of it includes the terrible, misogynistic practice of selling teenage girls into prostitution.  It happens even in the United States, in which slavery of any kind is illegal.

http://www.businessinsider.com/a-portrait-of-human-sex-trafficking-in-america-2014-8
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2013/12/world/cambodia-child-sex-trade/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/15/human-trafficking-month_n_4590587.html

Child Obesity in the U.S.:  A substantial problem in the United States, severe child obesity is still on the rise, even after many efforts to stop this trend.  We must be on a mission to increase exercise and decrease the consumption of unhealthy, processed foods among children in the U.S.

http://www.freep.com/article/20140828/FEATURES08/308280166/kids-obesity-study
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/07/us-usa-health-obesity-idUSBREA361XT20140407
http://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/Facts_for_Families_Pages/Obesity_In_Children_And_Teens_79.aspx

A Date With Justice Presentation

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1GvzcdeowswLwt4GsF3t80W9HH5ESk6ypFzTNARZLtjU/edit?usp=sharing

The Power of Listening

        Grace of Silence is a subtle title for a book.  It makes the content inside somewhat of a mystery, much like tactiturnity does.  This, I believe is related to the gray areas, the unknown, that Michele Norris felt about her family before and while writing the book.  Much of the content was about uncovering the truth related to her family's race history.  Norris talks about the silence kept by her mother and father about the demoralizing events that they experienced as a result of their race, and how it frustrated her to learn that they were kept secret.  Your family's past is an important part of who you are, and while the silence perhaps left Norris more unburdened in achieving success in the world, it also left her without critical information concerning her racial past.

        The book is about the grace, the simple beauty in listening to stories left unsaid.  The Grace of Silence is a name for the happenings in Michele Norris' family and for the daring and respectful conversations about race that are critical in establishing a more unified society.  All perspectives must be acknowledged to have a truly complete conversation about race.  Indeed, The Grace of Silence is also the power of listening.

Driven to Succeed

        In my bubble map, an adjective I would like to elaborate upon is driven.  I am a very goal-oriented person, and the word driven describes this important aspect of my personality.  Of this I am proud, and I think my drive, and the determination and resilience coupled with it help me to have success-- in sports, academics, and in life.  My drive keeps me focused on the task at hand so that I will put my very best work into it, while also helping me consider the effects of my actions.  I am driven, and this makes me a hard worker.  I put everything that I have on the table, and I feel happiness and no regrets; this too, is as a result of me being driven.  The goals from my drive motivate me to press onward and never give up.  As a serious athlete, in basketball and soccer, this is critical.  But my drive also allows me to consolidate the importance of one goal versus another, and to value education and academics above all.