author's note

racism hurts. no matter who its coming from. it makes you very self conscious about yourself and where you're from. even if you try not to show it, it hurts internally. even those little 'just kidding' or 'no offense' comments make you feel strange, different, an outsider. at least that is what it makes me feel.


racism is when you judge someone because of what they look like, where they are from, or even what religion they are.
the civil rights act of 1964 banned discrimination in all public places because of race, color, religion or national origin. But still, some places preferred to close down, instead of serving their white and black costumers equally, and also legally.
everyone knows thatparents have a big influence on their kids. the kids adopt the ways of the parents, their features, but also, their actions. if a parent is racist, it is most likely that their children will also be racist. for example, in australia they have an anonymous phone service that allows children to call anonymously and express themselves about racism. one in particular caught my attantion:

“Male caller (13) is constantly bullied about his Aboriginal background. His brother is also harassed. The students involved have been asked to stop, have been suspended and their parents consulted. However, the parents also harass Aboriginal people.” – www.racismnoway.com.au/library/understanding

i believe that parents should think about what they are going to do or say in front of their children because; if you don't like it when someone is racist against you, then you shouldn't be racist towards anybody else.

november reading challenge

this book shows the issue of poverty. it really made me think about what i have, and what i need. this book really touched me because it also made me think about all of those kids living in extreme poverty. this book made me think about that because of the main character. frank, and his dad and his brothers. it was so sad and i strongly recommend it to any one who hasn't read it yet.

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

this book is about how, a girl, Sun-Hee, and her brother Tae-Yul, and how they're stuck in a war because the Japanese took over Korea. Since They live in Korea, the Japanese are constantly going and taking their things such as; their rice, their warm coats in the winter, their jewelry, and their sons so that they can help japan in the war.

this book demonstrates many social action issues such as; racism, sexism and others too. but one that really caught my eye was sexism. there were problems in the house hold, and the men had to discuss matters privately. the women never got to know anything. and it also shows that there were a lot of people that think that men are the superior sex.

* * *  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **  * * -* * * ** * * * * * * *  ** *  


(fyi; ms galang, this was accidentally as a draft all this time

research project

animal cruelty


After reading this article, I automatically went to my shampoo bottle. It said "product not tested on animals". And I realized that this is a very big problem to our society. Not only because it means killing innocent aimals and it's just wrong but, it also defines us as humans. Our decisions are what define us. not how much money we have, or how much we've advanced in our techology, but our decision, those are the ones that really matter. It also got me asking myself, could our advance in technology really be good? I mean, it's certainly good for us now, but will it be in the future? Are we really thinking about everyone being affected with our rise in technology? What about the earth? The animals? Other species that are being affected by this. It also makes me think that us as humans the"superior race" and how selfish we are. We make products that help us, maybe they clean our hair, our houses our teeth our skin, our face etc. etc. (did you notice all of the ours in there? I did). But do we ever think about what it costs? To create products that do all of those things listed above, it costs thousands of animals days, weeks, months, even years of suffering or maybe even death so we can create products for ourselves. When you use one of the products that are 'tested for alergic reactions', do you think about how many innocent animals died with alergic reactions because some fancy shmancy company felt like selling a 'safe' product to you? It gives you something to think about every time you use a 'safe' product.

social awareness 2

i am using my passes for both of my social awareness projects.

social awareness day 5

#5:  Discrimination

dis·crim·i·na·tion

–noun

1.

an act or instance of discriminating.

2. treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit

 

 

discrimination has many meanings. but to me, it only has one. to judge someone unfairly, or to exclude someone also unfairly. there are many different types of descrimination. sexism, which is when you judge someone by their gender, racism, which is when you judge someone by the color of their skin. and i know that there are many more, your religion, etc etc. well discrimination can be bad. you could face problems just because someone judges you wrongly. the only thing that  counts is you youself as a whole. not you in little parts.

social awareness day 4

#4 : Abortion

a·bor·tion

–noun

1.

Also called voluntary abortion. the removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy.

2.

any of various surgical methods for terminating a pregnancy, esp. during the first six months.

3.

 Also called spontaneous abortion.

 

 

I once got this message that made me cry. it was about stopping abortion. abortion is just a fancy longish way of saying 'killing little innocent babies'. many people don't like to think of it that way. but its true. abortion is murder murder is to kill someone. and what does abortion do? kills babies. abortion  can be avoided. i don't want to explain but i amn assuming that you know what i am talking about. even though you may not think so, the fetus (fancy word for unborn baby) is still a person. it's alive and it deserves to live whether you want it or not. if maybe you honestly feel like you don't want it, put it up for adoption of something. it might even be happier with it's fake parents than with it's real parents.

social awareness day 3

#3:  Animal Abuse

a·buse

a·bused, a·bus·ing, noun –verb (used with object)

1.

to use wrongly or improperly; misuse: to abuse one's authority.

2.

to treat in a harmful, injurious, or offensive way: to abuse a horse; to abuse one's eyesight.

3.

to speak insultingly, harshly, and unjustly to or about; revile; malign.

 

 

animal abuse is just plain wrong. there is no other side to that story. i's just wrong. how would you feel if someone just started abusing you for no logical reason. if humans are considered the smart/better species, it is our job to care for those under us. evolution, or god (whatever you believe in) chose us to be the smart ones. chose us to be in charge. but being in charge doesn't mean that we have the right to just abuse someone. yes, animals are considered someone, because if humans are just different types of animals. so if humans are someones, all the other animals are too.

 

when i first searched abused animals on google, i got tons of articles on how to stop it. when i read some of the stories, i began to cry. and i was going to put an image up but, i was too horrified to even look at them. if you feel that you've got the guts to look at them, click on this link and you will see what i saw.

day 2 in social awareness

#2:   Sexism

sex·ism

1.

attitudes or behavior based on traditional stereotypes of sexual roles.

2.

discrimination or devaluation based on a person's sex, as in restricted job opportunities; esp., such discrimination directed against women.

 

 

sexism used to play a big role in people's lives. especially on womens'. a long time ago, women couldn't work, own property/land or vote. that has changed. a bit. there is still alot of sexism going on against women.some get paid less at their jobs because they're female, and some don't get the job at all. i don't think this is right.

day 1 in social awareness

Social awareness #1: Gay Teen Suicides 



Peace is what there should be. We are all people.
No matter who we decide to marry or love.



gay

adjective, -er, -est, noun, adverb

–adjective

1.

having or showing a merry, lively mood: gay spirits; gay music.

2.

bright or showy: gay colors; gay ornaments.

3.

given to or abounding in social or other pleasures: a gay social season.

su·i·cide

  noun, verb, -cid·ed, -cid·ing.

–noun

1.

the intentional taking of one's own life.

2.

destruction of one's own interests or prospects: Buying that house was financial suicide.

3.

a person who intentionally takes his or her own life.

In the last month, there have been many teen suicides. why? because there are some people who are against that, and they feel that the only way to 'fix' these people is by bullying them til they can't take it anymore. This bullying leads the victims to commit suicide. i'm not saying that these people should stop believung what they want to believe. all i'm saying is that maybe, there could be different ways to express this. violence is never the answer

entry #8

in class, we read the poem mother to son, we were to read it 3 times, and annotate it. we were also supposed to rate our understanding. this poem by Langston Hughes appears to be about a mother talking to her son about the hardships of life. she gives many examples of how life is hard. one thing was that, she talkes about some stairs. and how carpeting is a luxury for them not a neccesity. and that it's so rough and splintery. i think that times were hard for a certain gruop of people and he was trying to give examples of the hardships of life. another thing that i was thinking about when i read the poem for the third time was that, it also shows the innocence that children contain. they are to young an inexperienced to understand what life is really about. how hard life can really be. it can be VERY SPLINTERY.

bridge to terabithia appreciation

            The first time I read Bridge to Terabithia, I already knew the story.  I made the mistake of watching the Movie first and not reading and thinking through the ideas, and connections that the book offers. This mistake spoiled the experiences of reading a book for the first time, and taking in all of the characters, their problems, solutions and the themes that they give with their adventures.  You don’t see that if you’re just watching a movie. All of the visualizing and other stuff is right there for you.

            One of the main ideas I experienced as I read the book were the different social norms that affect people and who they are. All of these social norms that are placed on people affect who they are and what their most hidden secrets are. And the author shows many examples of this throughout the whole book. An example of this is Jess. He is very passionate about drawing, but he is afraid to tell anyone because he knows that they will judge him and make fun of him. The only person that knows is his teacher and now Leslie knows too. He is too afraid to tell his dad because of all the social norms put on him. Once he told his dad that he liked to draw, and his dad kind of got mad about it. This is the affect that social norms can have on people. Social norms affect people by affectingwh o they are, who they want to be, and it also affects the different relationships between people. It surely affects the relationship Jess has with his dad and Leslie. He is, like many people, afraid to show the world who he really is. He lives in fear of  but all of that changes with Leslie...

           This leads me to my second point on how social norms affect people, because,  when people do build up the courage to express themselves, they are ostracized. or Excluded from things such as society, Friendships, and other stuff. An example of that is Leslie Burk. It was bad enough the=at she was the 'new girl' and she is also very different from everyone at her new school. she wears pants, or jeans every day. Unlike all of the other girls that wear dresses and skirts. And she doesn't have a TV. So she is Ostracized because of all of these differences that she has. but at least she decides to show it and not hide it. that is one characteristic of hers that i have always loved. her courage of being able to step up and risk it all and not care if they teased her or not. I think that that is what Jess loved about her as well. Since he was afraid to show who he really is, he admired her because she wasn't afraid to do all of the things that he was afraid to do.

          The author was also able to do something with that rest of the characters as well. She used the other characters to act kind of as enforcers of all these social norms. for example, Jess's dad was kind of enforcing the rules and stuff around Jess's house. he didn't like the idea of Jess playing with Girls because he thought that Jess might want to act like a girl.

          There are also the other characters that are about the opposite. for example, Leslie's parents. they are all pretty laid back, and they don't really care if anyone else in the little town dislikes them or calls them 'weird' just because of the way they are. this kind of makes me think, is there actually a 'NORMAL' way to act? Is the word Weird even real? The characteristics of Leslie's parents lead me to think that.

          In conclusion, i think that the author was brilliant in being able to weave all of these examples together to form such a meaningful, yet simple children's book.

enrty #7 researching stuff

I have to be honest, when we first started researching in class, I was thinking "What is this for? Why are we doing it?" afterwards, when i was actually researching, I realized that it was all about understanding the text a little more. I mean, before (or after in my case, but i think it's better before) you read or reread a book, you should research it and find out what it's backround is like, where the author found inspiration, why or when the author began writing, and when did the author first write the book you are about to read. I did the research after, but i still learned a lot about the book and the author.

For example, I found out that E.B White first got inspiration to write Charlotte's Web because, he loved being in his barn, and he had a pig. It made him sad that the poor pig was destined to be killed so he decided to write a story about that pig and how it survives the few reasons why humans originally kill pigs. Because they are too small and we humans are too lazy or don't have enough time to care for such small pigs, and to eat them. He also observed a big grey spider in the corner of the barn. This is how Charlotte was created.

Another thing that I found was that, the author of Bridge to Terabithia, Kiristen Paterson, was very lonly when she was young, and the main reason for that was because she moved away from home many times and she wore hand me down clothes and had different hobbies for a girl. While most girls preffered to go home and watch tv and do the 'normal' things a girl does, Kristen preffered to go home and write. She wrote many plays that the kids in the class acted out. But even with this, she was still the one that didn't belong. Just like Leslie.

All these little connections between the author and the story itself are very meaningful and important to the story. And it is important that we do some research so we know what it is we are reading.

There is always a reason books are written. And the author has to get inspiration from somewhere right? That's why it's our job to find out what that inspiration is.

bridge to terabithia expanding on a note

Note: "both Leslie and jess are expected to be something they are not. could this be why they are friends and why they built Terabithia?"


Both leslie and jess are expected to be someone or something that they are not, like for example, jesse's dad wants him to be tough and 'act like a guy'. but jesse's very into drawing, but his dad has so many expectations for him that, jesse is afraid to tell him, or anyone for fear of humiliation.


leslie is expected to act like 'a girl'. which means to have nice, long hair and to play things like dolls and to play with other girls. but she prefers to race with the guys rather than go over to the girls side and play with the girls during recess.


i think that what the author is trying to say is that, there are so many sterotypes about who we are supposed to be, and how we are supposed to act, that everyone is afraid to actually show they really are. and when some of them build up the courage to do so, they are laughed at and made fun of for being 'different' or weird.


this really sort of bugs me because, i mean, all o those people that laugh at the 'outcasts' are probably hiding a big secret themselves. and since they are afraid to show their big secret, they find comfort in laughing at those who are way braver than they are because those 'outcasts' are at least brave enough in the first place to actually show their differences and what they think about all of these steryotypes.


leslie is a good example of the 'outcasts' that are being punished for being brave a nd showing their true selves. and jesse is like an example of those who are still hiding.


this book really kind of shows what is wrong with these steryotypes and how they are affecting us and our society. preventing us from being ourselves. i like the way the author shows nthat, through the characters rather than just stating it. that makes stick in your head longer, and you actually learn from it and relate to it.