Summer Reading List

This summer, I have decided to dedicate a great deal of time to reading. I have never been a big reader, mostly because I just haven't had the time to be, but this summer is all about relaxing and enjoying my time. I want to read the books that have been on my list for years and never got around to, as well as a few newer additions to the list. My goal is to read books that will actually benefit me in ways other than just entertainment. For starters, I plan to read all of the Shakespeare plays that I have yet to read. I am going to school for acting so I figure not only will this be entertaining reading, but actually necessary. It is a great background to be able to relate to any other show I am in or any script that I read. Not to mention, I would absolutly love to be in another Shakespeare show, as I have only done one: Much Ado About Nothing freshman year. In addition to Shakespeare, I want to read a couple of other books that I think will be beneficial to anyone interested in film. The books like Atonement and Pride and Predjudice are classics that were turned into films. Not only are these supposed to be great pieces of litterature, but they are also highly acclaimed films and I think it is very interesting to see how books translate onto the screen and how the actors take the characters from a well known novel and make them their own, while still staying true to the characters. Then there are biographies I want to read of actors who talk about their life and how they got to the place they are today. Bossypants is my first autobiography that I plan to read this summer because Tina Fey has becaome a very successful and talented comedian and her book is supposed to be focused on her career more than her personal life. Then there are plenty of plays that I plan to read from more modern playwrites such as Neil Simon, Mary Zimmerman, Tennesse Williams, and Arthur Miller. These are well known plays that any actor should be familiar with. My hope is that by reading these plays, which are all fairly quick reads, I will be able to understand more of what my acting teachers and directors are talking about in college. Finally, I plan to read a couple of books that are going to be made into movies in the near future such as the second and third in the Hunger Games series, in the wishful thinking that maybe one day I will be fortunate enough to be auditioning for these films. And finally, I will be finishing off all of the many books I have started during junior and senior year but never got around to finishing. These include, Love Is A Mixtape, He's Just Not That Into You, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The Carrie Diaries, and Sugar and Spice. Now, I'll be honest, I don't expect to get all of these books that I have mentioned in this post read this summer, but I will do my best to get as many read as possible!!

The Help, Post # 5: How Important Is a Toilet?

If someone had told me a year ago that I would be reading a book where one of the main conflicts revolves around a toilet, I would have said you were absolutely crazy. In Kathryn Stockett's novel, The Help, the toilets actually play a major role in the central storyline because they are actually used as a way of showing supperiority. The colored workers are no longer allowed to use the bathrooms in their white employers home. Their employers begin building them toilets for outside so that the colored workers don't share their supposed diseases with their employer's family. This idea still continues to baffle me. I can not even try to wrap my mind around how insulting and dehumanizing this would be to the black community. The biggest insult of all occurred when Hilly, the cruelest of all the white women in the town and the one who came up with this "colored bathroom" idea, forced one of the maids to actually thank her for the bathroom. That would be like someone punching you straight in the gut and then having to thank them for it. The conversation was painful even just to read because of how awful it must have felt for Aibileen. 

The conversation went like this: "Aibileen," Hilly continued, "how do you like your new bathroom out there? It's nice to have a place of your own, now isn't it." Aibileen stared at the crack in the dining table. "Yes ma'am." "you know, Mister Holbrook arranged for that bathroom, Aibileen. Sent the boys over and the equipment, too." Hilly smiled. Aibileen just stood there and wished I wasn't in the room. Please, I thought, please don't say thank you. "Yes ma'am." Aibileen opened a drawer and reached inside, but Hilly kept looking at her. It was so obvious what she wanted. Another Second Passed with no one moving. Hilly cleared her throat and finally Aibileen lowered her head. "Thank you, ma'am," she whispered."

This is such cruel and demeaning behavior and the fact of the matter is that these colored workers could not do a thing about it. If they stood up for themselves and spoke their minds about how they were mistreated, they would be fired, black listed from every place of employment around, and there is a good chance that they would be physically assaulted. This was the straw that broke the camel's back for Aibileen, however. After this incident, she finally agreed to help Skeeter with her novel and to give her interviews on what it was really like to work for a white family in Jacksonville. So it turns out, there is something people can do when mistreated to this degree. They can work together for change just as Aibileen and Skeeter decide to do.

The Help, Post # 4: A Daughter's Worst Nightmare

Although it is one of the less prominent themes of the novel, I definitely think body image is a part of Kathryn Stockett's novel, The Help, that can not go unnoticed. It is certainly not the central issue for the character of Skeeter in the novel, but there is an obvious reoccurring theme of Skeeter beating up on herself for not being the most attractive girl out of her friends. And the spark that ignites this insecurity in her is her own mother. Skeeter's mom is constantly pushing the ideas that she needs to fit the stereotypical expectations of the girls in their town. Her mom tells her that she is too tall and awkward looking. Her mom pours chemicals onto her hair that even start to make her scalp burn in an attempt to flatten out her curly locks. She is constantly nagging her daughter about not being married while the rest of her friends are. She discourages her daughter from writing for the local newspaper and focuses more on her daughter's lack of a love life than her true interests in life. The problem that is presented in this aspect of the book is one that is very prevalent in our modern society, even more than in that day and age. I think this issue is one that many girls around Skeeter's age and younger face. The pressures put on them by parents, friends, peers, the media, and their own minds, tell them that it is not acceptable to have any appearance that falls outside of the parameters of perfection. It is this pressure to look perfect that causes girls to develop eating disorders, self destructive behavior, depression, or to even bully other girls for not fitting the stereotypical look that is expected of them. Skeeter's mom was the force pushing her to "perfect" her looks and "fix" her flaws because she didn't believe that her daughter would ever find a husband if she looked so out of the ordinary. Skeeter was tall and gangly with immensely frizzy and curly hair and she was not what would be considered a beauty queen, but she was still a lovely young lady. More importantly, she was one of the most intelligent, kind hearted, and determined women in her town, yet that detail always seemed to get ignored by the other girls around her. This unhealthy obsession about looks outweighed the importance of brains or heart. This is a flaw that our society still faces. Unfortunately, the way to combat this issue is to convince people to believe in themselves and to not take the judgments of others to heart. This is obviously easier said than done, but it starts with each individual telling themselves that it is the inside that counts and that they ARE enough; that they don't have to change anything about themselves in order to find happiness in life. I hope that one day our society can learn to think in those terms, though I question if it can every truely be a reality as long as it continues to come from girls own mothers. Skeeter's mom was the one telling her she was never enough and had to alter her looks to find love. That is the most damaging thing a mother can tell her daughter and perhaps the most flawed part of mother-daughter relationships in our society today.

The Help, Post # 3: The Social Status of Women

Throughout this novel, there are several examples of the poor social status and negative stereotypes that existed for women at the time. Unfortunately, many of these unflattering ideas about women still exist in some people's minds. In The Help, however, this theme is far more prevalent than in our modern and liberal town of Deerfield. The fact that women are looked down upon in their society is made clear at multiple points in the book, whether it be Celia Foote trying desperately to make her home as beautiful as possible and fill her husband's stomach with delicious and flawlessly cooked meals with the help of her maid Minny, or whether it be the judgmental reaction people have to the fact that Skeeter is more interested in working and becoming a journalist than she is in getting married. One moment that particularly captures that attitude of women being inferior to men and not belonging in the workplace, occurred when Skeeter was on a double date with Hilly, Hilly's husband William, and a young, arrogant man named Stuart. Skeeter is the kind of girl that works hard and doesn't let others intimidate or discourage her in the many ambitious endeavors she sets out on. She is working at a newspaper, writing the domestic maintenance column in an effort to work her way up to the role of a news journalist. When she tells her date about her college degree and current place of employment, however, he is less than supportive of her ambition. He makes one snide and insulting comment after another, staring with, "Domestic maintenance. You mean… housekeeping? Jesus. I can't think of anything worse than reading a column on how to clean house, except maybe writing one," (118). He goes on to say, "Sounds like a ploy to me, to find a husband. Becoming an expert on keeping house," (118) and then further insults her by discrediting her college education in journalism by asking, "Isn't that what you women from Ole Miss major in? Professional husband hunting?" (118). Luckily, Skeeter is a quick witted young woman and didn't let him bring her down, simply spitting an insult back at him by saying, "I'm sorry, but were you dropped on your head as an infant?" (119). The most troubling part of this whole conversation is that it is so easy for Stuart to insult a woman and feel as if he can easily tare down her self-esteem when it comes to her right to have a career and be a self sufficient woman without needing a man to lean on and to tell her what to do. Although we have made immense strides in our modern society in America in terms of the status and rights of women and their equality to men, there are many parts of the world where the situation is far worse than even in this novel. Fortunately, Americans have paved the way for women to be taken seriously and to hold even higher places in society than men sometimes. After all, Hilary Clinton was nearly elected for President of the United States of America. So hopefully any women that are spoken to like this in our modern day society have the confidence and self-assurance to spit an insult at the man who doubted her rights and abilities just as Skeeter does.

A Few Good Men

In class, we've been watching the film A Few Good Men. It has been a very interesting story so far and not quite what I expected. I had anticipated a very clear hero and a very clear enemy in the movie. Unfortunately, I think that's more accurate to how real life works. It is not cut and dry. It is not always clear who is guilty or to what degree they are guilty. In this movie, for example, the two men accused of murdering another soldier are debatably good or debatably bad. They did kill Santiago, that I'm not denying. However, they were ordered to do so by their marine officer. At first this did not seem too significant of an excuse. How could a man just kill another man because he was "ordered" to do so. Anyone could say, "hey, Lauren, go kill that guy over there," but why would I ever actually listen to them and commit such a crime? After the lawyers presented their arguments, however, I began to wrap my mind around what these soldiers are trained to do and trained to believe. An order is an order. Following orders are what these men are trained to live for once they become soldiers. To understand who is guilty and who is innocent in a court case is not always going to be black and white. I wasn't sure how Tom Cruise and Demi Moore's characters could possibly be representing the good guys if they were representing the murderers. But sure enough, these men were good men. These killers were not killers at heart, just soldiers. I am not saying that they should be forgiven and let off the hook completely, but they clearly were not the most malicious of the characters in this situation. This film has allowed me to gain a new perspective into the court system and to better understand why not to judge at the first impression. A lawyer, or really anyone in this world, must try to fully understand where another is coming from before we can assess their character and pass judgment on them. Life is far from black and white. In fact, it's mostly gray. That is what this film has pointed out to me. These lawyers had to make clear the difference between how regular men understand an order and how soldiers understand in order for me to comprehend who these men were inside. And when I finally did begin to understand the difference, it was clear that these two men were not murderers, they were just taken advantage of by their superior officer. He was the true murderer in the case.

The Help, Post # 2: Standing Up, No Matter the Challenge

Standing up for oneself is not an easy task in any situation. But a black woman standing up for herself in the racist atmosphere of the south just a few decades ago, that takes more courage than almost any situation I could imagine. In Kathryn Sockett's novel, The Help, Skeeter is trying to write a book that will tell the first hand accounts of the colored women working as maids for white families in the South. She is a young, white girl with a great ambition and honorable motives, as she explains that her reasoning for wanting to write the book is because "everyone knows how we white people feel, the glorified Mammy figure who dedicates her whole life to a white family, Margaret Mitchell covered that. But no one ever asked Mammy how she felt about it," (106). She feels horribly for the black women who are forced to work for these cruel and demoralizing white families. She sees the inequality and the cruelty of it as she explains their relationship with these maids. Skeeter says that "they raise a white child and then twenty years later the child becomes the employer. It's that irony, that we love them and they love us," (105-106), and still the white people "don't even allow them to use the toilet in the house," (106). She sees the injustice and even though it's not her that is being mistreated, she knows that it is her obligation as a decent human being to put an end to it.
Elaine Stein, the woman Skeeter is trying to pitch the idea of this book to, however, sees the nearly impossible challenge of finding women who are willing to take that chance and stand up for themselves against the white families by sharing their personal stories of being mistreated at work. Stein points out the unlikely-hood of finding a woman to share her story in this racist town when she says, "I read your outline. It's certainly… original, but it won't work. What maid in her right mind would ever tell you the truth?" (106). She further pointed out the rare chance of a colored maid standing up against the white families when she questions Skeeter by asking, "this Negro actually agreed to talk to you candidly? About working for a white family? Because that seems like a hell of a risk in a place like Jackosn, Mississippi," (106). Stein, like most people living as bystanders in an unjust society, believed that there was no way around this cruelty and no way to end it. She did not believe that anybody would take the risk of standing up against it.
Later on in the story, however, several maids do agree to actually take part in these interviews. The question is, what is the breaking point that makes someone who was always terrified to take a stand finally find the courage to do so? I believe it was when they felt circumstances simply couldn't get much worse than they already were. They became completely fed up with how the white citizens treated them and decided that they had finally run out of options. It was time to reveal the cruelty they endured from their employers. It was this desire to humiliate the men and women they worked for who treated them like garbage that drove these maids to take a stand. It was the need to unveil the racism that was surrounding them in hopes of finally making a change. Taking a stand is generally done with the intention of creating change. I suppose that's the answer to my question then. It is the desire to see improvement, to see equality, and to see a real change that drives a person to risk their own lives and everything they have in order to take a stand.

What is to come after graduation?

For those of you who don’t already know, I’m a major television junkie. I watch all of your typical teen television shows like One Tree Hill, The O.C., Dawson’s Creek, 90210, Pretty Little Liars, and all of those other CW shows. What do all of these shows have in common, you might ask? The characters were all in high school. It’s not that I expected everything in real life to be exactly as it was on the screen, but I at least had a general idea of what to look for. We saw examples of how to have a romantic first date on the beach, how to cope with a break-up through ice cream and movie marathons, or how to fool your parents so you can sneak out to a rock concert. We saw all of these typical high school stereotypes time and time again on these shows, and they did somewhat prepare us for encountering these events in our own lives.

The problem is, none of these shows prepared me for what to expect in college. Seriously, why do they all skip the college years?! Can the writers really not make a storyline worth watching? One Tree Hill skipped over their college years and went straight from high school graduation to the characters returning after college graduation. The O.C. showed one season of college, but pretty much only showed their time spent at home on school breaks during that year. They only lasted one year of college in Buffy the Vampire Slayer before all of the characters dropped out. Shows like 90210 and Gossip Girl just got too unrealistic and out of touch when the characters went to college, that they weren’t even worth watching anymore.

Now, I am well aware of how ridiculous it must sound to say that I look to television for life advice and to set an example of what to expect in certain situations, but the truth is that we all do it. I looked to TV to know what to expect during my four years of high school, and I expected to be able to look to it for college. The truth is, nothing can prepare us for what is coming our way after graduation. At first that was a terrifying thought, but I finally saw the positive. College will be unpredictable. No tv show can accurately depict college life because it will be such different for each of us. We can study abroad, get internships, play on our college’s sports teams, perform on their stages, or write for their school’s paper. From here on out, nothing is as simple and predictable as it looks on tv. Our futures are in our own hands and we can write any script we want for them. Nobody can plot out what our experiences will be like, what kind of characters we will encounter, or what choices we will be faced with. Our futures are unscripted, and suddenly that’s not such a frightening idea. It’s thrilling. The future is ours to create.

These past four years have been amazing, but the next four will be all the more exciting. College will allow us to take our passions one step further. This is our chance to follow through on our passions and explore our minds more than ever before. These next four years will be unpredictable. There is nothing telling us what we should expect anymore. We can do whatever we want; go whatever we want; and be whomever we want. Our futures are ours to write. Don’t fear the unknown. Welcome the unexpected.

Obama officially supports same sex marriage!!

Today in class, we discussed President Barack Obama's newly announced support of same sex marriage. While it seemed like most students were glad he finally took a stand and declared his support for this equal rights issue that we have been fighting over in this nation for years, there were still mixed opinions about his timing and his motivation for announcing his support. Was it just an attempt to gain more support for the upcoming election by finally taking a side? Was it simply because his views had already been leaked and he had no choice but to clarify them himself? Or was it because he really did feel that this was actually the perfect time to announce his views to the country because his goals and the results he wanted from the unveiling of his beliefs? Obama claimed that his reason for finally revealing his true beliefs about same sex marriages was because his daughters were  beginning to ask questions that they were finally asking about his  beliefs and he realized that he could not deny them that truth. And if he couldn't deny his daughters the right to hear his opinions, he can't deny the citizens of the nation he represents the chance to hear their leader's view. The truth of the matter is, no matter what his motivation for sharing his views on same sex marriage was, the point to focus on is that the President of the United States of America is now a supporter. He may not be changing any laws yet, but he is saying that gay couple or lesbian couple's love is just as important and legitimate as any straight couple's love. This is one of the most influential events that could possibly have occurred in the debate over the right for same sex couples to marry. It may be even more important than another attempt at passing a piece of legislative. Obama's approval goes to show that if the nation elected a man who accepts same sex marriage, and especially if the nation re-elects him after this announcement, then it is almost as if saying that the nation as a whole accepts this life style as one equal to the life style of a straight style. This is an incredible step towards equality. I predict that if Obama is reelected this fall, he will push for legal equality as well.

Market Place of Ideas: Sex Slavery In America

For our market place of ideas project, I chose to research the topic of sex slavery in America. I was appalled to learn how prevalent it is in our society, but I was even more shocked to hear how oblivious people are about it. It appears on the news every once in a while, but it remains an ignored subject most of the time. In this day and age, sex trafficking in America has become a bigger problem than ever before. With unlimited access to the internet, and the ability for people to put whatever they please on the internet thanks to the many freedoms they abuse from the constitution. In America, there are an estimated 200,000 women and children in jeopardy of sex trafficking each year. It is horrifying to hear the stories of abuse that these innocent women endure and they feelings of hopelessness they have to endure until they finally escape their lot in life, either through running away or through death. These girls are sometimes kidnapped, sometimes runaways that get pulled into the prostitution ring, sometimes children that are sold by their own family members out of desperation for drug money, and some that are simply so lost and desperate in the world that they have nothing left to hope for. These victims of sex slavery are sometimes as young as ten or eleven years old. They are victims of tragedy. Some are held in basements or attics; some forced to work in brothel; some are sexually assaulted by up to twenty or thirty men in a single day; some are sewn up, raped, sewn up again, and raped again; and some are forced the streets or truck stops until they can earn enough money to bring back to their pimps and avoid too severe of abuse. These women are dehumanized beyond belief. They are physically, sexually, and mentally abused. They are forced to use drugs until they become hooked on them. Then the pimps use the drugs as collateral against them. These women and children are not only sold on street corners or at brothels, but they are now sold on the internet. Underage girls have nude photos posted of them on sites like Craigslist and Backpage. The adult sections of these websites are used to sell these girls as prostitutes. What my goal is, and the goal of many others protesting backpage.com is, is to take down the adult section of the website so that this increasingly popular tool for sex trafficking can be eliminated. These women and children need to be looked after and protected like they never have been before. Sex trafficking can not go unnoticed any longer in this nation.

The Help, Post # 1: Turning On Those Who Raised Them

Kathryn Stockett's novel, The Help,  shows racism from an interesting point of view. The story is about a circle of irony that creates the habits of how the white people treated the colored people in their towns. These black maids devote themselves fully to the white families they work for. They raise these white men and women’s children and come to love and cherish them as if they were their own children. These white children, in return, come to love their colored maids and start seeing them as family. The children love and idolize these black women who spend more time raising them than their own parents do, yet as they grow up, they begin to look down upon the maids. They begin to develop the same prejudice beliefs that their parents harbor and look down on these women as if suddenly being white makes them superior. It’s a disgusting cycle of racism. In The Help, the character of Aibaline is a colored maid who works for a white family. She is the one who cares for Mae Mobley because the sweet little girl’s parents want nothing to do with her. They neglect her, yell at her, and spank her, leaving her beating herself up for believing that she is not being good enough before she even fully understands what it means to be “not good enough.” It's heartbreaking to believe that these women can dedicate eighteen years of their lives to raising these girls but the day they become women themselves, they hold their role in society higher than their maids' suddenly. A clear example of how these maids cared more for these children then their parents did sometimes was in the relationship between Miss Leefolt and her daughter, Mae Mobley, compared to the relationship between Mae Mobley and their maid, Aibaline. When Miss Leefolt refused to change her daughter's diapers, she blamed the little girl and yelled at her for crying through the night. It wasn't until Aibaline got there in the morning and changed the girl's diaper that Mae Mobley stopped crying. And the little girl was so disapointed with herself because her mother was mad at her that she sadly looked up to her nanny and said "Mae Mo been bad," (15). Aibaline had to try to sooth the girl by rubbing her hair and giving her the constant love she needs with such neglectful parents as hers, telling her "No, baby, you ain't been bad," and goes on to say , "You been good. Real good," (15). It is clear that this little girl is needs love and the only one who's giving it to her is her colored maid. And throughout it all, her maid knows that no matter how much love she gives this little girl, when she grows up and doesn't need a nanny anymore, she will most likely join her parents' way of thinking and see herself as supperior. She will neglect her children just as her mother did and treat the nanny awfully just as her mother did. It's a cruel cycle or racism that is  brought to the surface in this amazing, heartbreaking, and moving novel.

Hunger Games… Too Much Like Reality?

Hunger Games has become a worldwide hit. The books, the movie, the soundtrack, it has all become an international sensation. Being the major movie fan that I am, it always excites me to try to figure out what it is that makes a movie such a success. Is it the actors? The directing? The wardrobe? The storyline? The character development? The special effects? For the Hunger Games, it is a combination of them all. But what really makes it a hit, I believe, is how much it actually resembles reality. The movie is completely fictional and is a horrifying tale of what happens to a society when their government needs to prove their power over the people. The Capital in the story, takes one girl and one boy between the ages of 12 and 18 from each of the 12 districts. The 24 tributes, as they're called, are forced to fight to the death on reality television for all of the districts and the Capital to watch. Obviously, we do not force minors into fighting to the death on reality television here in America, but we do have our own guilty pleasures that seem to relate far too close for comfort to the storyline of the movie. The parallels between Hunger Games and our reality, here in America, are countless. We, as a nation, are obsessed with reality television. We turn to desperate people fighting to win some sort of contest for a significant monetary prize. We turn to the citizens who are craving their 15 minutes of fame and are tricked into making complete mockeries of themselves in order to do so. They are willing to sacrifice their reputations and make complete fools of themselves for the opportunities of winning these competitions. In shows such as Survivor or Fear Factor, we watch people push themselves far beyond what the average citizen would be willing to do. They put themselves in physical, emotional, and psychological danger for our own entertainment. The game makers in the story throw in extra obstacles for the kids competing to keep the people entertained, just as they do on reality tv. The game makers create dramatic story lines or romances for their teenagers, just as the paparazzi do for celebrities and those who have achieved their 15 minutes of fame.  The people watching the competition in Hunger Games see it as entertainment, and are rooting for a certain girl and boy, usually which ever are from the district they live in, just as people in our society do when they watch sports teams compete or watch the Olympics. When our team wins, we cheer. When our team loses, we fret for a while, but move on and wait until the next season to see if they do any better, exactly as they do in Hunger Games. The point of the story, is that we watch people suffer or make fools of themselves for our own entertainment, and watch as they fight until only one is left standing. They may not be fighting to the death, but they are fighting until everyone's chances of winning and everyone's reputations are destroyed, with the exception of one. The Hunger Games are an extreme case of this, but are undeniably similar to our own nation and how we entertain our own people.

Gun Control In America

I have to admit that I waver back and forth on this subject, no matter how much I think about it. The trouble is, I see both the positive and negative sides to Americans owning their own, private guns. It is written in the American Constitution that all citizens have the right to bare arms. But does that mean that ever single man or woman with citizenship to this nation can be trusted with this deadly weapon? Does that mean it is a simple matter of paying a few bucks and signing a document claiming you are not a psychopath and that you are not a criminal. Should it really be this simple to get your hands on a gun? And that's only the legal way of doing things. If someone were to want to illegally obtain a gun, it would be even simpler. There are thousands of guns floating around on the street, being sold to teenagers or gang members. Hunters have no trouble buying guns. Once a person is of the age of 18, he or she has the right to a gun of his or her own. It is very simple. What is not so simple, is why this is necessary? Why do I need a gun? Why do my parents need guns? Why would my grandparents, who live in a sweet, little, sheltered community in Buffalo, New York need guns? Why do my theatre director or piano teacher need guns? We don't. We simply have no true need for them. The average American does not need a gun of his or her own. Those who could argue strong reasons for needing guns of their own, are those who need them for protection… but protection against who? Most likely, it's protection against those with guns of their own who pose a threat. But that begs the question, why do these threatening people have guns, which only require others to have guns of their own? If none of these citizens had guns in the first place, none of the others would need them as protection. That is why I am convinced it is only people of police authority or people working in security who need guns. Hunters could use guns of their own, but maybe they should only be allowed to rent, for hunting purposes and only for a few days at a time. This way, the guns would stay in responsible hands and would be tracked. Teenagers, gang members, and lunatics with bad tempers and short fuses would have no access to guns. The problem with this change that I propose, is that too many people who can not be trusted with guns, already have them in their possession. The government has already allowed them to have the right to guns. Is there any way that people can be forced to hand over their guns for public safety? Never. It would be unconstitutional. It would same millions of lives, there is no doubt about that, but it would be a violation of their rights. Therefore, it could never be a reality. The accessibility is too easy for any average Joe in society, and it seems that it may be too late for this to ever be reversed. Now it seems that the average Joe does need protection. We all need protection now. We need to know how to use guns to fight off attackers with their own guns. We are stuck in a revolving door of gun use now. And it seems too late to do anything. But then again, I'm an 18 year old senior in high school. I only know as much about gun control as I learn in school. There are plenty of people who should have the knowledge and authority to change the rules on gun control, to save these millions of lives that are being jeopardized by gun use in America. So I suggest that for once, they take a stand and make a change in the accessibility to these deadly weapons all across America.

To Buy Or Not To Buy, That Is the Question

With spring just around the corner, and the sun already shining down on our pale skins, it seems that the girls at Deerfield High School is growing more and more anxious for summer fashions. The media is filled with fashionable celebrities, flaunting the latest trends and the magazines are full of lengthy spreads telling us waht the fashion must haves are for the season. All around us are advertisments for the hot new must-have piece for Spring/Summer 2012. Spring break tells us that it is finally time to update our summer wardrobes, not to mention updating your closet for college in the fall! It is all very exciting and juicy information to chat about during lunch with your girlfriends, and it seems like harmless fun... But then you open your wallet. You remember that you promised your parents you would save up to pay for parking next year at college. You rember the music festival you told all of your friends you would go to with them during the summer. You remember how gas prices are shooting through the roof once again. And you are forced to question where your financial priorities should go. So here is my trick that I have decided to share with any other girls looking to update their wardrobe, without emptying their bank accounts completely or infuriating their parents by the waste of money. Yes this may seem silly and unneccessary, but trust me, these tips could come in hand this year, especially if you are a senior preparing for college.

1. Figure out how much money you have in your own personal bank account and how much you make on a regular basis from working or allowances.
2. Deduct mandatory spending charges such as parking at college or flights to visit friends attending different universities far away and deduct.
3. Decide what events would be the most memorable and special for the summer after graduation to go to with friends (Lollapoluza, Door County, etc) and deduct.
4. Figure out what technology, furnature, and decrative pieces you would enjoy at college. Then elimnate the pieces that truely are unneccessary. Deduct the prices of the neccessary pieces.
5. Create a shopping wish list.
6. Finally, try to only shop at stores that are having sales or at vintage stores, as you will get a much better price, and only buy things that feel like stapes and were on your wish list.
7. Stop shopping and save your darn money for college!

If I Were A Poor Black Kid

I STRONGLY disagree with Gene Marks' article, "If I Were A Poor Black Kid". He puts himself in the place of a young, African American, and impoverished boy. He explains all of the "simple" steps he would take to advance himseslf in society and to become a huge success in life. But it is absolutly unreasonable! He sets incredibly high goals about what will be neccessary steps in order for them to gain success, which requires far more time, effort, and resorces than students in middle class have to put into their education. Even if stuents took all of the steps he suggests to improve their chances of getting into a good college and becomeing a success in any career they desire, them taking these steps and using these resources he talks about such as the computers at the public library, they are taking them away from other students. This means that it would be first come, first serve and if a student lives further away from these public resources than others, they would lose their opportunity to use them and would remain lower in their class. If the student had to work after school and at night because his or her family was struggling financially, as so many are in this time in America, they would not have the time to devote to their studies and to travel to these public resources like other students might. It is completely unreasonable to assume that all impoverished African Americans could just follow his step-by-step plan and end racial inequality in America. It is infuriating to think that someone could be so naive as to think that if an impoverished minority in this country could have just as many opportunities for success as an upper-class white citizen and that any opportunities that they are not qualified for is their own fault. The reason his article caused such an uproar is because most people understand that his ideas are unreasonable and unrealistic. He assumes that all poor students have these resources available to them, that they have the time to spend traveling to and from them, and that they can all achieve this kind of success and end racism and inequality across the nation.

Affirmative Action

After all of the reading and talking that we have done in class about affirmative action, I understand why some universities feel that minorities are so important to the diversity of their student population, but I don't necessarily think that race should be such a major factor in the decision. We looked at two different university's ways of judging how important race was in admissions and while they each used pretty different tactics to determine the importance of skin color in an applicant, I still believe that both tactics were unnecessary and unfair. Yes, it is important the the student body of a school is made up of people from different backgrounds because it allows them to provide different prospectives on issues and give others new insight. A university full of upper middle class, white, catholics from sheltered, suburban neighborhoods will not make for the most influential graduating class simply because there is a major lack of diversity. When looking at this fact, it is clear that students with different backgrounds will be influential to everyone. However, the way that universities go about achieving this is unfair. Michigan University has a very unique point system for rating their applicants, and while this means that all students applying as incoming freshman are rated from the same standards, the details that they are rated on are actually not reasonable at all. I believe that the opportunities that a person is able to receive and the education that they can afford prior to college should be a considered in giving them a certain little boost in admissions or at least allow the admissions board to cut them some slack, but it shouldn't automatically make them higher on the university's list then non-minority or more privileged teens. I think that students who can not afford as extravagant of education systems might still be a wonderful addition to the University, but that does not mean that all underprivileged students are better than privileged students, just as not all privileged students would make better students than underprivileged students. Michigan gives far more points to a student for growing up on a farm or being of Hispanic descent than having an outstanding essay. While I think hard working students that are underprivileged should be cut some slack in admissions, I do not believe it should surpass the importance of grades, GPA, or the essay. I am equally disturbed by Harvard University's method of rating students who apply for freshman addmissions. Instead of using a point system to give minority students a boost over non-minorities, they simply to it in their head. There is no amount put specifically on the importance of a color of a student's skin, but this gives the admissions counselor individual power to decide the importance or race, religion, or ethnicity for each student. This means that they have complete power to say which they simply prefer and who they want instead of really who is more qualified. While I believe it is incredibly important to give a boost to students who come from underprivileged backgrounds, I think it must also be taken into consideration how dedicated and determined this student is compared to others. The work ethic of each individual I believe is still more important than the background that a person comes from.

Wrongful Convictions

When Terrill Swift came to our school this week to speak with our Issues classes about wrongful convictions, I was blown away by the story he shared. He had been completely tricked and manipulated by the police into signing a confession to a rape and murder he never committed. His rights were violated and he lost fifteen years of his life to the jail sentence and another two due to parole, seventeen years in total were taken from him. His life will never be the same all because the police officers were too lazy and corrupt to find the real rapist and murderer and instead pinned it on an innocent seventeen year old boy. He was taken to the police station without even knowing what he was being arrested for. He was interrogated for hours, being medically and emotionally abused by the authorities until he was completely exhausted. To make matters worse, he was completely lied to by the police when he was told to sign a document that would prove he was innocent of the crime and would be released. The document he signed, however, was saying that he had, in fact, committed the rape and the murder. He suffered for seventeen years, losing his place in the world, losing his ability to communicate with others, and losing his understanding of what it means to be a member of a community. What I found most disturbing from the story that Terrill Swift told us was that the police officers, the people in our community that we are supposed to be able to trust more than anyone, the people that we are supposed to trust with our safety and our lives, might not be looking out for our best interest at all. They put an innocent boy in prison instead of looking for the real criminal. It became clear to me that nobody can be trusted. You always must look at the people around you with some level of speculation. You must always read the fine print and examine the details of a situation. The lessen he said he wanted us to remember most was that we must always be cautious and watch our own backs because putting our trust in the hands of others could cost us everything.

College Decisions

This last weekend has been non-stop college talk for me. I flew out last Wednesday to Los Angeles to visit some of the colleges I had applied to. Two of them I had already been admitted to, and the other two I still had to audition and interview for. The trip did much more than allow me to audition for the Universities that are potentially in my future; it allowed me to determine which was right for me. Everyone says whatever college you end up at is the one you are meant to be at, but I think that might not be true after all, at least not for all of us. At every school I visited I found positives and negatives. I saw what size was too large for me; what campus was too spread out for me; what faculty was too stuffy for me. I saw what schools provided the most opportunities to their students; what schools had faculties that made you feel warm and welcome the moment students walk on campus; and what schools would allow a student to graduate with the most connections and experience in the field of their choice. Some schools had incredibly spacious dorm rooms or exquisite food in the student cafeteria. These weren't the things that mattered though. There was only one theatre school that felt the most promising for me. There was only one with a student body that seemed honest and friendly enough for me to make my future best friends at. After every school I researched, applied to, and/or visited (and trust me there were a lot of them) there was only one that was the perfect school for me. I won't spoil the surprise yet and announce which school I have decided on as being the perfect fit for me just yet, but I can tell you that I am positive that saying certainly does not apply to me. I have, without a doubt, found my dream school.

"White Like Me"-- White Denial

I think this book, White Like Me, shows some very interesting insight into the hidden and covered up racism that still exists in this nation. I was never oblivious enough to believe that all people in our country were treated equally and that people were no longer prejudice or racist against those who were different than them, but it is frightening to realize how previlent racist behavior still is in the United States of America and how strong that racism is. This chapter is all about the denial of the white citizens of this country which really explains why I have been so oblivious to the problem for all these years. Tim Wise writes about the issue of racism in our country and how the white citizens seem to constantly be undermining the problem. Whites deny that racism still exists within our borders, saying that black citizens need to lighten up and not take everything so personally. One of the points Wise made that really stood out to me, was about an incident with racism that Oprah experienced. I would never think that someone as powerful, influencial, and highly praised world wide as Oprah is, would ever be faced with racial discrimination. However, when she was in Paris a few years ago, she called a store ahead of time to tell them she was on her way and was going to purchase a gift for her friend Gail. She arrived at the store just after closing and they refused to let her inside to make the purchase. On one hand, this sounds perfectly normal. The store has already closed so no matter who you are, how famous you might be, they might not give you special treatment and open it up to let you in to make a purchase. On the other hand, could it have been an act of racism? Although the store denied that this action was made because of the color of Oprah's skin, it was still a concern and made her feel as though she were being discriminated against for being African American in a predominantly white area. The fact of the matter is, I will probably never have to endure this kind of humiliation and rejection for my race. Wise pointed out that although the store might not have been acting in a racist way, they might have just had to close up and not have been able to make an exception just because Oprah was there, she still knew that it was possible that the reason she wasn't being let in was becasue of her skin color and whites will never expereince that same feeling of concern and feel so self-conscious becasue of the color of their skin. If we are not the ones being discrimnated against and constatnly facing situations that make us question whether or not people are treating us diffrently because of the color of our skin, we can not truly understand the pain they expereince and the harm this does to their self-image. As whites living in a predominantly white society, we do not experience racism on a regular basis and we do not have to have it always in the back of our minds. We do not see people painting their faces and throwing parties that mock our race and stereotype us for the color of our skin. We do not have to constantly question if people are judging us and finding reasons not to trust us or respect us because of our skin. We do not live in fear of being discriminated against or even attacked because we were born with a different pigment than other citizens. Tim Wise used his own personal experiences and revelations to make this point clear to the reader. He talked about racism he witnessed first hand and how blind whites were to it. He did not need to resort to statistics to try to make his point because the truth was in human behavior and actions. I have never expereinced or witnessed this kind of racism first hand, or at least never consciously realized that it was going on. But I have read stories like this before. Wise talked about an article he read where a white man requested that no black doctors, nurses, or observers be present in the operating room during his wife's surgery. He claimed it was because he did not want any blacks to see his wife naked. Two hospitals rejected his request but one caved and allowed his wife to be operated on by only white doctors. I have heard these kind of stories before and it makes me sick to think that people are still holding these racist values. Still, I have never had to worry about people holding my race agaisnt me, so the issue of racism in this country has not been a very previlent part of my life. Like most white Americans, this makes we live in denial of the problem. Being unaware and unexposed to the issue prevents progress from being made. I think that was Tim Wise's main point in this chapter. If we do not face the issue head on but only cotinue to live our lives peacefully without regard to racism, we will never bring change to this nation and its issue with race.

Hidden Bias: Accurate or Not?

Today in class we took a test online to discover if we have any conscious or unconscious bias towards one race or another, focusing specifically on African Americans and European Americans. My result said that I had a slight automatic preferance to whites over blacks because of the speed of my responses to the test. However, I do not neccessarily believe this test was all that accurate. I believe that it is more due to the order of the photos we were shown. We were told to first link photos to European American or Good, and then asked to link photos to African American or Good. My mind was used to linking the first two ideas by the time the second set came, so it took a moment longer to adjust to the change. I really think that it was the order that caused my delayed reactions to the African American part of the test, so I do not believe that this is an accurate method of testing bias towards one race or another. Although I do not believe this was a very reliable test, I do think my result was probably accurate. I do not think I am racist by any means, but becasue I live in a predominatly Caucasion society, I think I have a natural tendancy to lean towards whites. When I go away to summer programs, I generally make friends first with other white kids. I do not do this because of the color of their skin, it really is just who I click with first, but I understand that it also could have to do with who I am more familiar with or relate to on a surface level automatically. I have nothing against people of other races, and I have many friends who are African American, Hispanic, Asian, or another minority that I am not surrounded by as frequently. I do not think of them as being a certain race or from a certain culture. It is not a factor in my relationships with them at all. Still, I do notice that the first people I tend to associate myself with are people who look more like me. This might mean, white, or brunet, or just soemone who is short, but I think it is easy to make these unconscious conections between oneself and a stranger. While I do not believe I am racist or act differently towards one race than another, I do see why I might have an unconscious tendancy to link myself with my own race over others. Nonetheless, I think this test was inaccurate and unreliable because of the order the pairs were set in.

The Freedom Writers Diary: It's Never Too Late To Change Your Future

Wrapping up the book were entries from the students as they were preparing to graduate high school. The book covered their lives from the freshman year to senior year. The reader sees incredible growth in each and every one of the students. They were all originally assigned to Ms. Gruwell's class because they were considered the bottom of the barrol. They were a lost cause, according to the principal, and Ms. Gruwell would be lucky if she even got them to make the occasional appearance in her class. Nobody had any faith in these students. Not their teachers, not their parents, not their peers, and not even themselves. That is what makes this story such a miracle. Ms. Gruwell inspired them to change their own futures. Some of the students said they didn't believe they would even make it to graduation due to drugs and gang violence, but they did it. They graduated after four years with Ms. Gruwell. They went from being the worst, most troubled kids at the high school, to being some of the brightest, most passionate students with articles written about them in People magazine and becoming the talk of the school.
This entry, Diary Entry 131, shows the immense transformation that occurred in each of these students. This entry was written by a boy who had only transferred into the class his junior year. His mom worked tirelessly to get him into the class in the hope that some of these other students' hard work would rub off on him. When he was younger, he had dreamed of being a professional football player. He used to play on a team with other kids, but by the end of sixth grade, he became too addicted to pot and alcohol to care about football anymore. He dropped his friends and began smoking five times a day. When weed and alcohol wasn't enough for him anymore, he began doing harder drugs, such as shrooms, uppers, downers, acid (LSD), and nitrous. He couldn't go a day without getting high. It was all that mattered to him. When he was switched into Ms. Gruwell's class his junior year, he was failing out of most of his subjects in school. It simply didn't interest him as much as getting high did. With the help and support of his new classmates, he turned his life completely around. He went from earning Fs in his classes, to being the second highest A in his chemistry course. He tried out for the football team, after having abandoned it for years, and he made it. That wasn't even the most incredible part though. He was offered a full ride to college for his academic achievments as well as his talents on the field. He would be playing college football just like he had always dreamed he would do.
It was the closing lines of his entry that really speak wonders about this student, and all of Ms. Gruwell's other students for that matter. He said, "I know I have what it takes and I am going to do what it takes to make it to my next goal, a college degree and an NFL career!" This young mad had gone from being a drug addicted, alcoholic, troubled teenager who couldn't care less about his grades or his old dream of being a football player, to being an A student and being recruited for college football. In only two years, he completely re-wrote his future.
It's easy to give up and think that life will never turn around once you've hit the bottom. I know that isn't true though. Stories like this happen all the time. It takes hard work and dedication, but it is never too late. My sister got mixed up in the wrong group in high school. Her freshman year, she was hanging out with kids who smoked and drank and did drugs all the time. Although she never wanted to do these things, she still wanted to be friends with them. In addition to her low GPA, she had completely dropped ice-skating, a hobby she had loved since preschool. Finally, she dropped that group of friends when they started trying to pressure her into doing the drugs like they were. She realized that that wasn't who she was, and as hard as it was to start over, she said goodbye to those old friends and started over. She began hanging out with the same kids she was friends with in elementary school. It was a hard transition and scary at times to try to start over in high school, but she did what she felt she had to do. And she was right. Her GPA climbed way up, her relationship with our parents and with my improved immensely, and she dedicated all of here time to ice-skating again. She would practice before and after school and travel on the weekends for competitions with a synchronized skating team. She even became captain her senior year. Now she is graduating from Indiana University with high honors and from a sorority in which she held important positions throughout her years there. She's not the same girl she was at the beginning of high school and it was her own hard work and determination that turned her life around. I know that anyone can make this same kind of change in their life if they really try. Even when you think that you have already established yourself in one role in the community, no matter how horrible your reputation and your history might be, you can always turn it around. Students like the one who wrote Diary 131, and even like my sister, are proof of this. I just hope more people in these kind of tough situations can find the same inspiration and strength that these students did and turn their lives around as well.

The Freedom Writers Diary: The Freedom Riders

I have to admit, I am kind of embarrassed to say that I never made the connection as to where the title of the book came from until Diary Entry Number 75. The student who wrote this entry talked about how inspiring the lessons they learned about the Freedom Riders in the 1960s were. These riders risked their reputations, and even their lives, to fight for equality and show that race is not a factor any more. Whites and blacks were not allowed to sit together on public transportation, so to protest, these young men and women sat on the bus together. Whites sat next to blacks and they traveled the across the country showing the world that change was possible and that their were people willing to fight for it. The student who wrote this entry was the only white person in Ms. Gruwell's class when the class first began. He was scared of the other students because they were all minorities. His friends made fun of him associating himself with the non-white students. With time, however, he developed incredible relationships with the other students in the class. Inside that classroom, they didn't care about the race or religion, they only cared about the kind of people they were inside. They cared about each other's morals, their dedication to the group, and their passion for brining about a real change in this world. These were exactly the ideas behind the Freedom Riders. Most importantly though, the students, like the riders, wanted to teach these same ideals to others. They wanted to spread peace throughout the nation, just as these students strived to do through their writing. What inspired this student the most, was that there was a white man involved in the Freedom Riders who this boy related to very much. Jim Zwerg was a white man fighting for what man believed was a black man's cause. This student was in the same boat. Both were fighting for a cause that was more for the rights and treatment of others than of themselves. Both encouraged other whites to join with the minority. Jim got other whites to ride on the busses, and this student got his white friends to sign up to join Ms. Gruwell's class because he made them realize that they didn't have to be segregated in school based on race or status in the community! He made a change all on his own. He opened the eyes of those around him and was inspired to do so by Jim Zwerg. What this specific diary entry made me realize more than any of the others before it, is that these students found certain role models in history, from places all around the world, and used them to inspire their actions and inspire them to make change. People always say that we should learn from history so it doesn't repeat itself. But they never say we should learn from history so it CAN repeat itself. There have been so many remarkable people who sacrificed everything for the betterment of mankind and looking to them for inspiration will only continue to change the world for the better. I think we each need our own historical role model to inspire us to repeat the good parts of history. To remind us to fight for freedom and equality and to never give up until we have made the change we set out to make. I don't know who my historical role model is yet, but I do know that Ms. Gruwell is great modern role model. So for now, the example she has set of spreading peace through educating others will have to be enough.

The Freedom Writers Diary: Close Your Eyes and We're All the Same

It is absolutely remarkable to think of what a difference the color of a person's skin, or their geographic location on this giant rock we live on, can make in how we compare ourselves to one another. This concept really hit me in the diary entries from the students about a girl named Zlata. She was fifteen years old when she wrote a diary that eventually got published. She lived a life much like Anne Frank, hiding from those who wanted to kill her, not because of who she was, but because of the group that she represented. The students in Ms. Gruwell's class were so inspired by Zlata's bravery and strength, that they wrote her letters telling her how her story changed their lives and fundraised enough money to fly Zlata, her parents, and her best friend to America to meet the students and answer their questions about her incredible tale. When the students finally met their role model, they were shocked to discover how similar she was to them. One student wrote about how her and Zlata were wearing the exact same pair of shoes! She realized that they listened to the same music and that they actually had a lot in common. All of the students came to realize this rather quickly.
Zlata actually did an amazing job of putting this connection they had into words. In fact, she managed to put all of the human races's connection into words. This girl, who was only fifteen years old, was wise beyond her years. She had endured more pain and terror than anyone should ever have to, but she had come up on top. She let the hardships of her life help her grow into an incredibly insightful and motivational woman. In Diary Entry Number 47, one of the students was recalling the Question and Answer session Zlata held with these students and their parents. It's rather a long passage, but it really speaks wonders about her wisdom and the truth about the human race. She wrote that "a couple of adults asked her what ethnicity she was, Croatian? Muslim? Serbian? I was upset that instead of getting the message that she was trying to convey, they were too preoccupied with what nationality she was. Were these the same adults that preached how wrong racism and discrimination are? Were these the same people that a minute ago agreed that we shouldn't care about labels? Zlata looked around, stared at us, and simply said, ' I'm a human being.' "And there it is. There's the sad truth about the human race. Some people will never be able to see beyond race, religion, or origin to really see someone for who they are. As much as people like to tell the world that they hold no prejudices, that they could never discriminate and accept every person equally, most people still subconsciously fall to that default setting we have been taught of judging people based on their appearance or the stereotype they would fall into. Some people can't find it in themselves to really see all people equally. Some people, however, don't see those boundaries at all. Some people don't even notice a difference in appearance or a difference in backgrounds. These are the people that will someday make this world into a better place. I have faith that it is people like Zlata and the students whose lives she touched, that will transform the way people compare themselves to one another. I'm not saying that I expect every person on this planet to be able to respond the question of "what ethnicity are you" with the answer of "I'm a human being," but I do think with time, more will.
We are more similar than we let ourselves believe. Categorizing people into groups by their skin color is like categorizing them by their blood type or the length of their eyelashes. What does that have to do with who they are as a person? Where is the logic in separating people into groups by factors they have no control over? It makes no sense at all. There is only one logical group. We are human beings. Each and every one of us. We all belong in that group together. Why is this such a difficult concept? Why is it so hard for people to except this equality? What makes us feel the need to separate ourselves into a select group of individuals that are superior all others? Why can't people accept Zlata's message?
We are all human beings.