Martin Espada

The three poems by Martin Espada “The new bathroom policy”, “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson”, and “Two Mexicanos” all explore the theme of racism. In each poem something is taken away from Hispanics by Americans. All three poems express the hardships of being Hispanic through different experiences.

The first poem is called “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School”. It goes “The boys chatter Spanish...while the principal listens...the only word he recognizes is his own name...so he decides to ban Spanish. Now he can relax.” This poem explores the theme of racism in simple, everyday life-a non Hispanic principal believes that he is more entitled to comfort then the boys are to their language. This shows how white people believe that their own well being is more important than people of color’s. The principal knew that there was a chance that what they were saying was bad, so he completely took away their rights of expression. This was extremely unjust, and shows how white people believe they are more entitled to their rights then minorities.

The second poem is called “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson”. It goes “Whenever my name is mispronounced I want to hijack a bus of Republican tourists...and force them to chant anti American slogans in Spanish. The Americans are stripping him of his identity and importance by mispronouncing his name, and it makes him angry enough to want to threaten and punish them. He also wants to teach them how it feels to hear their culture being criticized, (wanting to teach them “anti-American slogans”). This shows how furious it makes him to hear his identity be dismissed by people who believe they are better than him. He presents the issue this way because it may seem like a trivial thing, but being stripped of his identity is a big deal for him.

The last poem is called “Two Mexicanos lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877.” It is about the lynching of two Mexicanos by Americans who then took a photograph of themselves behind the men. This poem shows how the Americans dismissed the lives of the two men very easily. It says that they “cheered the rope” that killed them. They did not care that they were taking the lives of the two men. It also says that they were “all crowding into the photograph”. They were not ashamed of the cruel act that they committed, and they even took a picture of it. This poem is about how the lives of people of color matter very little to white people, and they are not at all ashamed to kill them.

All three of these poems show racism. Some of it is seemingly small and unimportant, and some is life threatening. Martin Espada expressed the hardships of being Hispanic through all of these poems, and he showed all the things you can lose because of your identity. As a reader, I have learned to never diminish someones identity because I can’t understand it.

Speak Essay

In the book Speak, one of the most important symbols is the closet that Melinda, the protagonist, spends a lot of her time in. The closet represents Melinda's silence and fear of communication with others, which is why she shuts herself away. However, when Melinda starts to overcome her silence, she clears out the closet and stops hiding. The closet is Melinda's silence and trauma, and it is overcome by her bravery.

When Melinda first starts using the closet as an escape, she is in a very bad place. As a result of the trauma of being raped she has trouble speaking or interacting with other people. She attempts to use it as a place she can go to avoid interaction with others-she tries to go there to escape going to a pep rally, for example. She also becomes very comfortable in the closet-she decorates it and becomes very familiar with it. This shows how she had become used to shutting herself away. She is comfortable with her lack of interaction with others, and she finds it a relief to be alone.

However, things start to change for Melinda. Towards the end of the year, she starts to talk a little more-to her art teacher and lab partner mostly. As she does this, she becomes more comfortable with communication and she starts to spend less and less time in her closet. At the end of the year, she starts to clean it out "in case another kid needs it next year". This shows that she found it to be a helpful escape, and she was glad to have it and she hopes to pass it on to someone else. It also shows that she is done hiding and is ready to speak again. Melinda also confronts her past in there. At the end, Andy catches her in the closet. He attempts to attack her, but she fights back, something she has been unable to do throughout the book. She tells him "I said no" which proves that her strength has grown since the beginning of the year.

The closet shows Melinda's journey throughout the book. At first, she is silent and shuts herself away from the world but when she starts to communicate with people, she does not need to hide anymore. Melinda leaves behind the closet when she leaves behind the part of her life that caused her so much difficulty.

The Scarlet Letter

In The Scarlet Letter, one of the most important symbols is Pearl, Hester and Dimmesdale’s child. Pearl is complicated-she is a physical symbol of Hester’s sin, so she often seems evil or unnatural, but she is also a symbol of love and positive things in Hester’s life, despite how she was created. Pearl is a reminder of something terrible for Hester, but she is also a source of joy.

Pearl is a very complicated character-although she is Hester’s child, Hester does not always think of her that way. There are many scenes where Hester thinks of her as a “demon child”, or is frightened by her. For example, when Hester tries to teach Pearl about God she proclaims “I have no heavenly father!”, horrifying Hester and making her believe that her daughter may really be a demon. Because of how she was conceived, it is hard for Hester to think of Pearl as a real child. Pearl is also the personification of Hester’s sin-she was created through the adultery, and serves as a constant reminder of the sin. Throughout the book, Pearl is constantly with Hester, reminding her and everyone around them of her sin. When they are walking throughout town, a child calls out “There is the likeness of the scarlet letter!” referring to Pearl. Also, Pearl always focuses on the letter-it says that as a baby, she chose to grab at it constantly, and when they are in the forest with Dimmesdale, she is afraid of Hester and does not recognize her when she takes it off. Pearl is the physical representation of Hester’s adultery, which makes it hard for Hester to think of her as a pure child.

Although she represents many negative things, Pearl is also a symbol for many good things in Hester’s life-love, passion, and beauty. She is described as having “rich and luxuriant beauty; a beauty that shone with deep and vivid tints; a bright complexion, eyes possessing intensity both of depth and glow, and hair already of a deep, glossy brown and which, in after years, would be nearly akin to black.” For her personality, she is described as intelligent, brave, imaginative, and passionate. Clearly she is shown as a beautiful, desirable creature and not necessarily a realistic portrayal of a child. Hester loves Pearl deeply, and it is shown through her care and treatment of her daughter. She says at one point “My daughter is my happiness,” and she is also terrified when she thinks she might lose custody of Hester. Another part of her symbolism is her name, Pearl. A pearl is created when sand, dirt, and grit combine together under extreme pressure to create something beautiful. Pearl, who is a talented and beautiful child, came out of the sin that Hester and Dimmesdale committed. Pearl represents brightness and love as well as the sin.

Pearl is extremely complicated character and symbol. She is the physical representation of Hester’s sin and adultery, but she is also a symbol of brightness and love that came out of something terrible.

Banned Books Essay

Addie Lovell

808

Dear Ms. Berner,

I am aware that one of the biggest controversies between schools and parents is the fight over whether or not books should be banned for mature or disturbing content that could be harmful for a child to see.  I know that some people, mostly parents, believe that kids should not be exposed to some of the things in books and therefore want the school board to remove them from school libraries. However, many others believe these books teach kids important messages about the world, and that they can be good for kids to relate to. I believe that students should have access to all books, no matter how controversial or disturbing they may be.

The first reason that all books should be able to be read by students is because the books with the dark issues are the ones that teach young people about serious issues in the world. For example, a book that was banned in many schools was Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, because it featured rape. I think that banning this book does not help shelter kids from the issues, but rather avoid the issues completely. Students need to be educated about the topics that books show, because in their life their life, they may someday face them, or see them in the world. In "Nerd Alert: banning books is stupid... And still happening in the US" it says "banning books will not make the problems go away". The dark issues books still exist, and sheltering kids from them is just pretending they don’t happen. All it does is give kids the false idea that there are no problems like violence, abuse, and mental illness in the world. Also, in "Has young adult fiction become too dark?" by Mary Elizabeth Williams, it quotes "Darkness isn't the enemy of the truth, but ignorance always is." Ignoring dark issues and pretending they don't exist is much more problematic than teaching kids about serious topics. If kids are not taught about the dark issues in the world, all it will do is keep them in the dark about worldwide problems that affect many people, and that need to be solved.

Another reason books shouldn't be banned is because they are easy for teens to relate to and they make them understand that they are not alone. Many banned books deal with issues like abuse, self harm, bullying and other issues that teenagers have to face. If they can see that other people have gone through these things they will feel better about themselves and their situation. In books, teenagers can see that whatever hard things they are facing are widespread issues, and other people have had to deal with the same problems, which will help them out a lot. In “Yes, Teen fiction can be dark, but it shows teenagers they are not alone”, by Maureen Johnson, she quotes “If subjects like these are in YA books, it’s to show they are real, they have happened to others, and they can be survived. For teenagers, there is sometimes no more critical message then: You are not alone.” Teenagers who have had to deal with hard experiences often need validation that it is normal to feel the way they do, and they can find that in books. Books show teens that things that they have had to go through (like self harm, depression, or traumatic experiences like rape or abuse), are things other people have experienced, and things that they will be able to recover from.

Some people believe that books should be banned because the issues that the they teach about are too heavy for students to understand. However, the issues are real and cannot be ignored just because they may upset some people. In "The Bane of Banned Books" Bill Moyers quotes "Censorship is the enemy of the truth," which means for pretending issues don't exist destroy the truth that they are real, and hard for people to deal with. Also, you could put "trigger warnings” on books to make sure they aren't read by students who can’t handle the content. Certain kids may have a hard time handling the issues books, but they can choose not to read them for themselves in that is the case. Some people worry that if kids read about dark issues, they will get involved with them. Mary Elizabeth Williams said "You can read books without the coming what you read about." They aren’t going to start to get involved with issues in books just because they read about them, and most book teach kids not to get into the problems that the book focuses on. Kids who read about drugs won't get addicted, but it introduces them to the seriousness of the issue. Books should not be banned because they have dark issues.

In conclusion, books should never be censored or banned from schools. They teach kids about issues that are important in the world, and help them feel like they're not alone if they are going through a hard time. Parents may think that they should “protect” their children from heavy issues, but books are able to introduce those issues to kids and help them learn about and understand them. Issues in books can be hard to read about or handle, but eventually they will become very beneficial to learning about issues in the world, and will teach young people important lessons.

Social Justice

News Segment

A news segment that showed injustice was the reports on the protests in Ferguson over the not guilty verdict for Darren Wilson (New York 1, Monday night). I think that the protesters in that community must be in unbelievable pain and anger. I was very angry and upset when I heard about the verdict, but I think that if you lived there and knew him, or were part of the black community there, you would be so enraged and in an incredible amount of pain over the injustice that happened. I hope that the people there are able to stay safe, and I hope that they’re opinions are being recognized because they’ve worked so hard for something so unfair.

TV Shows

I watched three episodes of different shows-Glee, The Carrie Diaries, and How I met your Mother. I felt that The Carrie Diaries and How I Met Your Mother should have had a bit more diversity-almost the whole cast was white, and neither had any lgbtq+ characters, and for both of them, the cast had “perfect” bodies-the girls were skinny, the guys had abs. Glee showed more diversity in race, sexuality, and weight, but I felt that they also showed too many stereotypes-the gay guy was effeminate, the cheerleaders were perfect and were the “mean girls” and the popular guys were on the football team. I think all of these shows should show more diversity, and should try to defeat stereotypes by showing people with “unexpected” personalities for their identity.

Interview (With Olivia Foote)

What are some things that are good about the world?

There are things that are fun and make me happy-animals, holidays, travel, summer, Tyler Oakley and Troye Sivan, my favorite people.. Also, the fact that the world is getting slowly more tolerant-there is marriage equality in more states, and women are starting to have all of the same rights as men.

What are some things that are bad about the world?

All of the human rights that still don’t exist-like homophobia, and the fact that there isn’t marriage equality everywhere in the world, and the fact that you can get beat up, killed, or arrested for not being straight in some places. Also, there is a lot of sexism-women still make 77 cents to every dollar a man makes. There is also racism-a cop can shoot  black teenager for nothing and walk away with half a million more dollars. There is rape culture, and victims are blamed for what happened. People are letting the enviroment die by pretending global warming doesn’t exist. Lastly, people choose to ignore sexualities that aren’t gay or straight-like bisexual, pansexual, asexual, demisexual, heteroromantic, homoromantic, aromantic, and also genders that aren’t male or female-nonbinary, genderqueer, and genderfluid.

Observing Neighborhood

I saw a lot of good things when I observed my neighborhood, but I also saw a lot of things that displayed injustice. One thing I saw (and had happen to me once) was women getting “catcalled” by men (ex. “Hey gorgeous”, whistling, etc.). This is not flattering, and is a blatant display of sexism. Many women feel threatened by having this happen to them, because they worry the man may make an advance on them, which should not be a problem in 2014. I also heard many offensive slurs used people at school, such as “slut” “queer” “fag” “whore” and “nigger.” This shows that although many people claim to not be sexist, racist or homophobic, they still say and do things that can be very offensive to some people. I also heard a lot of people at school make rape jokes. They are completely inappropriate and offensive, as it is a traumatic and horrible thing that people have experienced, when they are treating it like something that is funny. That shows that even when people don’t realize what they are doing, they can still show intolerance.

Lyrics

The lyrics I chose were from Macklemore’s song same love. The lyrics are “Gender to skin color, the complexion of your pigment, the same fight that led people to walk outs and sit ins, it's human rights for everybody, there is no difference”. These lyrics address many social issues-racism, homophobia, and sexism. What it is saying is that the things that people often fight over, like skin color, sexuality, or gender, shouldn’t be the cause of such hate in the world. It is saying that these things that we discriminate against each other for are causing horrible things in the world, and everyone is equal and deserves equal rights no matter what. This song deals with injustice and discrimination by saying how useless it really is.

Article

The article I chose was an opinion piece from the New York Times called “Gender Equality.” It was about the definition of feminism and gender equality, and why it was important. It talked about how women deserve all the same rights as men (and believing that is all that feminism is). It dealt with injustice because it said that this has been a fight that has been going on since the 1800’s. Men and women having equal rights should not be a privilege, or something we need to fight for-it should be a given that everyone gets the same rights. It also said in the article that everyone judge what feminism is based on how women dress, who they date, and how many people they date. This is completely untrue. Any woman can be a feminist, but people assume it means hating men. You can believe in equal rights and wear whatever you want, but people have an idea that women who fit certain criteria are the only ones who can be feminists. Gender equality needs to exist in our country

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/opinion/global/gender-equality.html?pagewanted=all&module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A17%22%7D

Inspirational Person

A person I find inspirational to me is my uncle, Matt Porterfield. I think he is inspirational because he works part time as a college teacher, and full time as a film writer and director, and manages to keep supporting himself even when he is in the middle of a film. For the interview, I asked him what made him decide to pursue filmmaking. His answer was “I love creating my own world and then watching it be created. It can be a really hard job sometimes, but it’s always worth it.” I also asked him what advice he had for teenagers. He answered “When you’re older, if there is something you really want to pursue, especially a job, do whatever you can to make it happen.” He is inspirational because he pursued what he wanted to do, and has succeeded by persevering.

Speak

When something has hurt you, it may be the hardest thing to do, but the most helpful thing to do is talk about it. This idea is demonstrated in Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. is about a girl, Melinda, who was raped at an end of summer party. She is deserted by her friends, who were angry at her for calling the police, although they did not know what really happened, She has trouble talking, but finds an escape through art. Melinda does not tell anyone about what happens to her but as she starts to speak up, she finds that it will help her greatly.

When the book first begins, Melinda is starting high school, and is ostracized by every person she was once friends with, too afraid to admit that she called the cops because she was raped. Staying silent is the easier option, although it does not help her. She is outcast by her former friends, family, and everyone around her. For example, at the beginning of the year, she saw her former best friend, and she would not forgive her for what happened at the party. (“I hate you” Rachel mouthed silently) Not only are her friends ignoring her, but her parents refuse to think that there may actually be a reason she has stopped talking (“Mom: she’s jerking us around to get attention). Because she has not been able to tell anyone close to her what happened, they all assume the worst about her. She lost all connections to anyone she once had a relationship, so along with having this dark secret, she has to deal with the rest of high school alone. If she had shared what had happened, they would have understood her problems and she would have had support throughout the year. Not only was Melinda ignored by everyone around her, but she had so much pain internally from this secret that she was hurting herself a lot. She stopped being able to focus on her grades, and she even cut herself once, saying “If a suicide attempt is a cry for help, what is this? A whimper, a peep?” She has to turn to hurting herself because she has no other way to show people what is happening. If she had been able to speak up, she would have found help and support in an easier way.

Although Melinda is too afraid and ashamed to say anything at the beginning of the year, she gradually begins to speak up about what happened, and is surprised by the results. The first thing that she does is write a list on the girls bathroom wall of “Guys to Stay Away from”, putting her rapist, Andy Evans number one. She soon finds many responses agreeing with her, such as “He’s a creep. He’s a bastard. Stay away!!!” and more. This shows that just by saying something about the guy who did it, she has found people who wouldn’t think she’s crazy, or wouldn’t think she’s a liar. The feeling of not being alone in this makes her so happy she says “I feel like I can fly.” She also eventually is able to tell Rachel what happened, only because she was dating Andy. Although Rachel didn’t believe her at first, she confronts Andy and when she realizes that he did it, immediately breaks up with him and lets people know who he is, then calls Melinda, and wants to talk to her (we don’t hear what she says, but can assume it is asking her forgiveness). By letting one person know what happened, Melinda is able to help show people what kind of person Andy is. She also is able to fix her relationship with Rachel, something that had bothered her all year. She was terrified to do it, but talking about her experience improved Melinda’s life a lot.

Throughout the book, Melinda finds courage to talk about what happened to her. At first, she is terrified to say anything and so she suffers without anyone noticing. Doing so makes high school and any interactions much harder for her, as she is hiding this huge secret. However, as she gradually begins to talk about what happened, she finds that sharing her experience not only helped her realize what happened needed to be talked about, but it also caused many other people to come forward and share things they knew. Having something traumatic happen to you can be extremely hard to talk about, but if you share what happened, most of the time you will be greeted with support and sympathy.

The Pact Essay

Everyone has gone to extreme lengths to protect someone they love, even if that means hurting others. In Jodi Picoult’s “The Pact”, two families, who were once very close friends, are torn apart when the daughter of the first family, the Golds, dies and the son of the second family, the Harts, is accused of murdering her. Emily Gold’s parents are determined to protect their daughter from anything that might be said or thought about her even after her death. Chris, however, is willing to do anything for Emily, no matter what the consequences were for him. Through the relationships between Emily and her parents, and Chris and Emily, Jodi Picoult shows that when you love someone, you are prepared to do anything for them, no matter what the outcome is.

Michael and Melanie Gold, the parents of Emily Gold refuse to believe their daughter committed suicide, although thats the story that Chris Hart, Emily’s boyfriend told to his parents. Despite having known Chris for years and not being able to believe that he killed her, Melanie Gold is insistent that her daughter would not have killed herself. She cuts ties with her best friend Gus Harte, because Gus was defending her son (“you know Chris would never hurt Emily,” Gus said… “What I know about Chris” Melanie said, “is that he’s alive.”) Melanie does not want to believe that her daughter could have been anything short of perfect and also does not want to believe that she may not have noticed her daughter’s problems. She wants to bring justice to Emily’s death, no matter what that means for anyone else she know. Also, she testifies for the prosecution, and is extremely harsh towards Chris. It quotes“ “Do you believe Chris could have been violent toward your daughter?”... “I think he killed her...you couldn’t keep her from bruising, you couldn’t control the angle of the bullet...you killed my baby!” ” Melanie wanted to present Chris in the worst possible light, and her daughter in the best. She loved Emily too much to consider any other possibilities for her death. Michael Gold also wants to do the right thing for his daughter. Although he first agreed to testify for the defense, because he didn’t think Chris could have shot Emily, while he is one the stand he says that he could not imagine Emily killing herself. (“Can you actually see you daughter picking up the gun, holding it to her head, and pulling the trigger?”... “No,” he whispered. “No.”) He loved his daughter too much to say anything against her, even though he might be hurting Chris. Michael and Melanie Gold had to turn against people very close to them to protect their daughter.

Although they were not related, Chris wanted to do anything he could to make Emily happy. For example, when he first told him she wanted to kill herself, he started by doing everything he could to prevent it. It says that he “He took her out to restaurants where dinner cost a hundred dollars; he drove her to watch the sun set over the jetties that glided into the Atlantic. He dug out old notes they’d passed back and forth on a pulley system.” Chris wanted to do everything in his power to stop Emily from killing herself, and he worked very hard to show her he loved her. However, he loved her so much that when she didn’t change her mind, he was going to support her. He tells her “When it happens...I want to be there.” You would have to be extremely selfless and in love with somebody to agree to help them commit suicide, if they wanted it. Chris loved Emily so much he was willing to put himself through unimaginable pain, not to mention risking life in jail, just so she was happy.

In the world, everyone has gone to great lengths to protect someone who they love. Jodi Picoult showed that many people will try to protect someone they love, no matter what. Throughout the book the Golds tried to protect their child, and Chris was willing to do anything for Emily, even though in the end the results were disastrous.  Despite the consequences, every character needed to protect the people they loved. In life, no matter what the relationship to someone is, if you love them, you will do something for them without first considering the results.