The Rez & my Rez?

The Rez is a place where opportunities are closed and unsettled. Alcoholism roams the streets as tribe members get into brawls. There is a large number of tribe members settled in one single area living together--bonding. Everyone knows each other. Traditional parties take place and are enjoyed. In my neighborhood down on the South side, opportunities are also blocked. You have to go through obstacles if you want to get out. You have gangsters running the streets, labeling what territory belongs to who. Poverty controls the neighbors as everyone would rather buy cheap fast foods than whole expensive foods, thus leading to health issues. Drugs getting sold at nearby corners secretly before the COPS come cruising by. Houses that are abandoned have broken windows and gang-related graffiti , marking the vandalism. Girls that are sixteen and younger being pregnant?--yeah, I know a couple. Fights starting up in the neighborhood's high school, blood. Everyone is isolated in their house. No one steps out in the streets. Fear throws a blanket on top of everyone. All you see through the streets are - strangers. You need to fight in order to break the cycle to get out of a neighborhood that's trash, seek your way out to open a door into your future, but maybe that's just my neighborhood. I guess that's my Rez.

Native sons

'Native Son' from the beginning was quite a surprising book. In Book one we get an introduction onto the main character's life- Bigger Thomas. Living in a small crowded apartment with rats and what not, being in pure poverty during the times of the The Great Depression. We see a common threat come out from poverty- gangs, and how Thomas is a part of one. We are then introduced to his hatred for white people- their superiority to that of Negroes. Then we see Bigger progress and get a job working for the Daltons taking the job of being a chauffeur for Mary Dalton. After the first day of work Bigger ends up killing Mary by accidentally suffocating her, then ends up burning her up in the furnace. Due to his actions Bigger has to face a lot of consequences. Bigger has been making himself seem suspicious with certain actions that he does. Like when he runs away from the scene where two men end up finding Mary's bones in the furnace. All evidence is against him during the trial that later decides that he will have the death penalty. I honestly believe that Bigger does deserve the end of having the Death Penalty due to the fact that he has not only taken away Mary and Bessie's life, but as stated I the book- others as well. I believe that even if he faced these hardships of being poor and black during the time, that shouldn't be reason enough to let him "off the hook". I believe that it was a strong decision for a strong event: indeed. The thing is that nothing gave him the right to take a human life away. When he was doing the actions he didn't quite think of Mercy, so it would be hypocritical of him to think of mercy for himself. Therefore I can say that the death penalty is a punishment well deserved by Bigger Thomas. It's just that I still don't believe that those two main factors should be enough to justify him as innocent, if he really wanted to live without the influences he could have done something for his life and wouldn't have been too radical about certain things that he did.

Green Light, Yellow car and a church steeple

What is there not to say in this blog in relation to "The Great Gatsby"?
All the three items listed on the Blog name are related to the one and only-- Jay Gatsby, aka James Gatz.
Green light refers to his one unreacheable dream, always looking forward to the day of tomorrow for a chance to gain it. A dream so forbidden to be grasped, but a symbol that gives out hope for another night to go by. In this case Gatsby's dream of being able to get Daisy to be his one and only. As he always tries to reach certain standards that will please her, like that of having money. He tries and tries always having a glance at the green light- figuring that he has some type of chance of winning her. Little does he know that his dream of reaching her is hollow-- hollow enough to send echoining sound waves at high frequencies.
The yellow car-- ah yes, a way to symbolize his wealth and ironically his death.
One of the latest models that he bought, and rode with his lover. "A clown car" as Tom refered to. A materialistic object that didn't give him a superiority, but made him a fool. After Daisy accidentally kills Myrtle using the car, Wilson shortly wants to find the owner of the yellow car-- and bamm, he finds Gatsby is the owner assuming that he must be killed in revenge for the killing of his wife- Myrtle. It was an object Fitzgerald surely fit into the novel so that Gatsby could be seen as a character who was a fool in love capable of so many things to only make himself suffer in the end.
She wasn't worth it; something he realized too late.
Last and most importantly the church steeple- the greatest symbolism for Gatsby's wealth.
Having Nick view the Church Steeple and figure out some of the pieces of the puzzle himself. An ironic way since Nick is very self-preserved. Nick notices that a lot of the times Gatsby uses his own wealth to cover for his real intentions. The real intention to gain Daisy for himself- due to the love he has for her. That's exactly when he starts realizing that there must have been a connection between Daisy and Gatsby from far back - a great connection. A connection strong enough to only be paid by death (as in Gatsby's).

Janie

Janie, Oh Janie.
Throughout the novel 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' we see Janie as a character who seeks her own independence. She wants to achieve her goal of getting her true love. Although other factors tend to complicate her will to actually go toward her own goal. Take for example Granny, the lady that managed to take care of Janie for as long as she can remember, having a weak past in poverty she ALWAYS gives Janie the advice that she should look for someone to keep her at a stable balance with her needs maintained. Something that is evidently important, but not wanted by Janie. Janie just truly wants someone to make her feel as if the pear tree is to bloom, because of the love felt. The thing is that Janie decides to go on with the goals Granny made for her. She marries Logan who suits her properly, but ends up getting divorced because of the lack of feelings for him. Then she moves on to Joe who gave her sparks and allowed for her to feel loved, but after a while she tires of him always trying to achieve his proper goal of being someone important. After the death of Joe, also known as Jody, Janie feels free and relieved of all the things she had to put up with when Joe was alive. I can see where this falls because Joe never really gave Janie the freedom and confidence she deserved. He kept her under a shadow, prohibiting her from doing certain things. Take for example when the townspeople wanted Janie to make a speech, but Joe decided to lower her value by saying that she had no idea how to make a speech and that it was not a right placement for the mayor's wife. That deteriorated Janie's self confidence resulting in a flaw that she did not like coming from her husband. I can see where Janie was so annoyed and filled-up with the way Joe acted that it was too much for her to put up with, resulting in her faking that she was upset at the funeral when in reality she was not. Now I can see how Tea Cake plays  a major role, because he succeeds to go into her heart by allowing love to get in-between both of their souls. She feels for him what she hasn't felt for another and she manages to always want him back, for Tea Cake has not disrespected her or devalue her worth. It all relates back to her own ambition, of getting to be with someone who she truly loves and cares for, rather than having someone to maintain her but give her no feelings. I think she's a very big picture for this novel because of the fact that even through the bumps in her love life, she manages to go through and live on with her goal in mind: LOVE which is something that her heart is longing for. She is painted to be a strong woman who wants her own independence, but also wants a man to truly love her for her and not only maintain her. Since that is honestly not her full happiness. 

Thanks or Nah?

A classmate to be thankful for...
I have a couple of classmates to really be thankful for, therefore I shall list those certain persons and why I am thankful for them.
Someone I'm thankful for would have to be a certain boy whose name is Mario Macias. He's been there for me through a lot of my personal issues. He truly knows what to say at times and understands both perspectives of a situation. He's very reliable and trustworthy to the case and he certainly knows how to make sense of things. I'm grateful for him because he doesn't just hangout with me just because; it's more like a bond-- a brother to sister.
I would have to say, Isabel Bravo, yes from first period. She really knows how to party , not only that she's that type of person you want to be with and not be judged. She's really funny! And it's a blast with her all the time. It's like you can just be you with her and not try so hard.
Susan Huerta, is super realistically reliable. She understands all the struggles I go through. Not only that she really knows what advice to give when you're feeling down. Her laugh is so infectious that it makes you laugh. It's like she gets all this happiness from somewhere and I would want to have that happiness. She's very joyful and real.
Yvette Calvillo; man, she's that one girl you can hang with and play all your favorite sports. Like soccer and basketball and she knows how to teach you. She's always been there for me and hasn't done anything to make me lose trust in her. She knows how to keep her word.
Rosario Barrera; the philosopher. She's so straight up about things that it's so amazing. Out of anyone in honest opinion or manner you can go to her and she won't sugar coat things at all. She's also one of my main motivators, she always gives me her views on a topic and how I can overcome anything. She manages to give me strength when I'm feeling pretty weak. She's a realest.
I think these are the real main people I can always count on and be myself around; it's surprising the way we all managed to become so close and be in a single group. I have more people to list down but I'd rather not make this super long, it's after dinner and I feel 23 pounds heavier.
I hope you're enjoying your Thanksgiving.

One principle to keep?

If we had one single principle to keep...
It would be well spent on the basic principle to not lie. Through everything no matter what the consequences the truth should be told. One way or the other the truth will seek its way out into the reality, so why not just give off the reality in the first place? There's no reason to lie. It's a worthless sin that plenty of us commit. Whether it is to protect someone from any hurt or just for one's sake; lying should never be done. One lie leads to another and that is how the system for a simple lie occurs. It will always be way easier to give off the truth with anything than to keep living with guilt because of the knowledge that you know but never shared. Lying is basically like covering up a dead body. Although you will cover the dead corpse it will still remain there. And the guilt will be killing you slowly, but surely. It's better off if you decide not to kill anyone and allow them to live. Then you will not be accused of committing a crime. It's plain and simple; if an apocalyptic situation was to occur there would be no reason to lie. There's no one to protect now, it all just basically rebounds around the truth. You should be able to share the true reality of things with the other survivors, so there won't be a reason to hold anything against anyone.

Ernest Hemingway

Who? Ernest Hemingway. . .
Ernest Hemingway is known to be an amazing writer, receiving the Nobel Prize, which was what he always wanted through his writing career. So you can say he was an accomplished man. Whether you like his writing or not it's your personal opinion. His writing is based on the 'Ice Berg Theory' where he leaves a lot of the in depth analysis in the bottom of the iceberg where it is covered with water. This then makes readers think. He did a lot of his writings based on true events that happened during his lifetime but created a fictional character to interpret these events. When he was young he was dressed as a girl, a twin to his older sister, which later shows an effect to his harsh masculinity shown as he grows older. He participated in wars where he would be assigned to collect the corpses. His images of the war and the sadness it brought him, went to his grave. For he had experienced this first hand and no one would understand him and how he felt about remembering it. He had plenty of women in his life, but neither one or the other satisfied him completely. He would always feel pain after losing one love. And his writings would express some of his thoughts. Alcohol was always by his side, through thick and thin and he was for that a heavy drinker. Whether it was to forget the sights seen at war or to forget the pain of a broken heart he drank and didn't stop. Ironically his writings were always made when he was sober, and they all made sense. He lacked the support of his family but still managed to live his life and do what he desired, wrote his novels and short stories that gave him joy and mesmerized the public. Hemingway later died after his second airplane crash, because of his internal bleedings, he left the world and his writings didn't continue to be made, but those that are written are to be read for generations for his writing is one of a kind.