Hungry for Attention

This week's question is about Richard Wright, author of the book I'm currently reading in lit class title Black Boy. Is Richard hungry for attention? Is he alone in this hunger?

I would say that the answer is no. Everyone always wants attention to be given to them. Some people would have younger siblings that would get more attention than them and they would try to do things to get attention.

In the story one reason Wright set the curtains on fire was to see what it would look like, but another reason was to get attention, since he was not getting a lot of attention when his grandmother is sick. He also took his father's words of killing the kitten literally to get attention as well. He would sometimes loiter outside a saloon near their flat all day to watch the drunks inside the bar. One day a man carried him in to the saloon and then everyone in the saloon started to order in drinks to get him drunk. When he is in a drunken state, they would have him recite vulgar words for a penny or a nickel. I would also consider this as him being hungry for attention since no one is at home to watch him. He would go to the saloon everyday hoping someone would take him in and buy him some drinks. He goes to the saloon all the time not for the alcohol but for the attention of the men and women in the saloon.

Richard's mother was also trying to get attention. After she got a job as a cook, when she got home she would talk to Richard and his brother for hours about how they now have no father and that they have to learn to take care of themselves.

Response to On Being an American Journalist.

This blog is about a response to On Being an American Journalists by Steve Bell.

Before reading this essay by Steve Bell, I didn't realize how dangerous sometimes it is to obtain information on something such as war. I always thought that the journalists would just go around asking soldiers or other people for information on the war. But as Steve Bell mention in his essay, this isn't the case. In Afghanistan journalists have to travel by themselves, at great risk, to obtain information about the war.

Journalists aren't allow to report any information that may embarrass the leaders. Steve Bell is trying to say to be a good American journalist is to have a accurate reporting for the public to read, so they would know what's happening. He say American journalists serve their country by providing accurate information, which is the fuel that powers the "democratic engine". However, reporting things accurately can come with risks. It may offend leaders and even cause morale problems. People need to know things such as why people around the world consider us "the insensitive bully in the global village". The government hides facts from us to protect us but we deserve to know all the facts.

King Still King?

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15,1929. He was a prominent leader in the civil rights movement. He's important for helping to bring justice in the world. He's best known for achieving civil rights through nonviolent means, using the methods of Gandhi. One of his most famous speech is his "I Have A Dream" speech, which was a seventeen minutes public speech by him in August 28, 1963, on the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

His main goals was to get equal rights for all races, which has been done except economically. He wanted to get rid of segregation. He wanted everyone no matter of color to get along and live among one another without having to be segregated, which has also been completed, since now people from all race can be in the same bus,washrooms,restaurants,schools,  etc. with one another. He wanted people not to judge each other by the color of their skin, but by their character, this is somewhat accomplished but their are still people who judge other people by their skin color.

His ideas are still present even today. Achieving justice should be part of every individual's life, because there are still injustices in the world. It maybe present anywhere, even close to you without you realizing it. So it's our job to fix all the injustices, so that it can lead to a better world.
                                              
"I have a dream ... one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,but by the content of their character."

Response to Children of the Sea

Children of the Sea was written by Edwidge Danticat. This story is a collection of letters that a boy and a girl have been writing to each other. They are both in their teens. I find this to be an interesting story about life in Haiti, because people don't really talk much about Haiti or other poor countries. Only when there's a catastrophe or tragedy then people would start talking about them. I like how the author wrote the story as a collection of letters because then we will know about people's experiences first hand.

In the letters the readers discover the bad conditions that Haiti is in. The boy is part of a group of people call the Youth Federation who opposes the government. They have a radio station that talks about how bad the government is. Well the government doesn't like to be opposed so they sent in soldiers to kill anyone that opposes them because they see them as a threat. So, they are hunting for anyone that is part of the Youth Federation and so the boy had fled and has taken a boat to go to the U.S. The girl that he writes to doesn't go on with him, she stays at her house in Haiti with her family. One person that was in the Youth Federation was "run over by a car" and when the soldiers gave the body of the people they killed back to their families only the person's head remained.

The letters describe the boy's daily life on the boat. There are many people on the boat, one of them was a pregnant women name Celianne. She's only fifteen and she said she got pregnant by a soldier. The boat have a few cracks in it and they have to fill it with tar, but soon they ran out of tar. Soon the boat starts to sink and people were asked to throw away things overboard. Celianne threw her baby overboard for it was dead already and then she jumped in the water to and they both sank. The boy had been keeping a notebook and writing everything down that happens on the boat. Now they ask him to throw away his notebook and so he did after writing down one last letter. He threw it overboard and jumped in the water as well. At the end of the story there's news that a boat have sank but it's not positive that it was the boat the boy was on.

 Life for the girl was much different. Her family and her hides all day in their house because they're afraid to come out. There's a gasoline ban so they couldn't get gas to move away, so they're waiting for the ban to be lifted then they were going to leave town. Soldiers in the town makes the children sleep with their parents and if they don't listen to their orders they'll be killed. Eventually they moved to a better place away from the violence. But the soldiers found them and was going to take the girl away but her father bribed them and so they just went away.

This was an interesting story and I'll recommend people to read it if they have not or has not finished yet.

Music Review

Dragonhunter - by Richard Meyer

This is a song that we've been practicing in beginning orchestra for two weeks. It's an awesome song. It's my favorite so far out of all the songs we've played. There are no words in this song. I don't think people listens to instrumental music much, they're more into the rock,country,hip hop, and all the others. People don't seem to be interested in orchestra these days. Last year, I've heard there were over 40 people in beginning  orchestra, but this year there are only 20 people including me. We will be playing this song and 2 other songs sometime in January 2011. This song basically uses only the notes on a D major scale. The dragon is basically the bass (we don't have any) and cellos and they're being hunted by the violin and violas.

Here's a video I found on youtube of a orchestra class playing it. Overall, I think they a pretty good job on it.




You guys should come to our concert in January. I'm not sure when and what time yet. But it'll be announced soon.

Nick & Jay

   

                                      
Here's a short comparison of Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby  up until Chapter 5 in The Great Gatsby book.

Similarities: Nick and Jay are both "new money" type of people meaning they had worked to get rich. Even though Gatsby did inherit lots o f money when his parents died, he lost most of them and then he made them back after doing some businesses. They both came from the Midwest. They both are single and they both are in love with someone. Nick with Jordan Baker and Gatsby with Daisy Buchanan. They were both in the same division during the war. They both live in the West Egg.

Differences: They do different kinds of business. Nick is in bond business, but I'm not that sure of what Gatsby does except that he did business with Meyer Wolfsheim who was the one responsible for rigging the 1919 World Series game. Gatsby attended Oxford. Nick attended New Haven (Yale). Gatsby holds lots of parties during the summer. He only hosts them hoping that Daisy would show up at one of his parties. It's convenient for Nick that he's in love with someone that's single like him, but it's not convenient of Gatsby because he's in love with someone that is already married.

Is Gatsby really Nick's friend or is Gatsby just using Nick to get to Daisy?

I think that Gatsby really is Nick's friend because he always invites Nick to places. They have some similarities. Also in the book Nick said that Gatsby represent everything that he scorns, but in the end Nick said is all right.

So what do you think, friend or no? Please leave a comment.

Winter Poem

Winter, the season of coldness.
The season of earlier and longer nights.
Can bring happiness to all.
Everywhere there are colorful lights,
that replaces the colors of fallen leaves,
from the previous season of fall.

People outside having fun,
some making snowmen/ snow angels,                            
others throwing snowballs,
or some just simply running with each other.
Some staying inside, happy being around one another.
Lay/sit by a warm fire in different angles.
Drinking,playing,reading/telling stories, or talking.

Listen to the bells ringing,
as Santa's sleigh comes flying.
Behold the presents under the lit tree.
Look how the kids are happily unwrapping.
T'is the season to be jolly.