Family History Connections

After reading numerous stories of my classmates, I found that the social and educational ways and conditions of different families were quite similar in the past, regardless of the country. From Carly's family history about many of her relatives, John's story about his great-grandparents, and Camal's history about his parents, I noticed that the neighborhoods of their elders did not have high education, were poor, and/or the children had to become responsible and take on jobs at a young age.

She gave herself the responsibility of raising her siblings, from when they were babies to adults..."Everyone was equally poor.” The entire country suffered from poverty...the children in the family mostly had elementary school education. (Carly)

Carly's grandma had to take the responsibility of raising her younger siblings at a young age, and as a result, became more like a motherly figure in her family. During the Mao period, everyone was poor, and the entire country suffered from poverty. They didn't have much to eat for meals, and the main meal everyday was always dinner. The children there also did not have a high education, with most children having an elementary school education.

My grandmother's grandparents...where two school teachers who had about a 12th grade education. At that time in Texas for African American people that was considered to be rather high. (John)

John's great-grandparents were different from others in their neighborhood, and had an education around twelfth grade, which was considered to be high. Many of the African Americans in Texas then did not have an education as high as their's.

Not a lot of money flowed in and out of this area so the income level was real low. As a kid, my dad was already given huge responsibilities. (Camal)

Camal's parents lived in poverty in Yemen, and his father had to take on large responsibilities as a child. He would take on many tasks on the family farm to make sure thieves didn't steal and that the farm and cattle were fine by watering and watching them.

Connections Between Revolution in Animal Farm and in Egypt Etc.

In Animal Farm, the animals spoke with each other beforehand and planned a rebellion before they actually acted.  They didn't have a set time for the rebellion, but they rebelled when they felt like it was the right time, when their oppressors went to far and crossed the line, angering them, so they all worked together to rebel, and to rid the farm of their human oppressors.  In the events in Egypt, Tunisia, Honduras, etc., they also communicated with one another beforehand, spreading words of contempt and unease about Mubarak being president, and oppressing them.  They used other forms of communication though, like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, so the Egyptian government shut down their internet and forms of communication with one another, including mobile phone access. (Shutdown of Internet Access) The humans of Manor Farm did not know they were planning a rebellion, so they were unable to do anything to prevent it.  The Egyptian government went to extremes to prevent the spread of word about rebellion against Mubarak throughout Egypt, but the rebellion still went on nonetheless, because of the communication they had prior with the internet communication, and the idea spread throughout Egypt that Mubarak should not be president.  Soon, many people were convinced, and a rebellion began.  When the people of Egypt were finally successful with their goal and Mubarak quited and surrendered power to the military, they chanted "Egypt is free!" as many people danced, wept and prayed in joyful pandemonium.  In the Animal Farm, after the humans left the farm, the animals sang "Beasts of England" and celebrated too, but in a different way, with their singing.

Rebuttal: Child Actor Role Models

Rebuttal to Kimchi's opening statement:
Child actors should be seen as role models to both people their age and to the younger audiences that look up to them.  People change, over time, but as actors, it is part of their job to play good role models to all of their audiences.  You can't just tell a child that someone they admire cannot be a role model, because they won't listen to you, if they admire someone, unless they find out something they dislike about them, they will continue to look up to them as role models.  If a child actor takes some inappropriate action, children are likely to do something similar, or consider what they are doing as fine, and may do something similar when they grow older.  If someone their age likes them a lot, then they might do the same to increase their self esteem, or to make themselves feel cooler.

Miley Cyrus's behavior and style drastically changed for a while, but for a while, it seems, she has gone back to the innocent(ish) Miley Cyrus that we all first knew.  True, there are many things out there that spark controversy about her, but since she is an actor, she should be considered a role model to all her audiences, and be required to watch her actions, to make sure that the actions she takes are proper and make her a good role model.  When people see the pictures Miley Cyrus with Avan Jogia on her birthday, she created a poor role model to her audiences, and gave them the message that it is perfectly fine to hook up with someone on a birthday, wearing a skimpy outfit at a club, and getting "hot and heavy."

What exactly is wrong with an actor playing a role that is younger than their actual age?  When people watch the show, they don't always compare how well the actor is playing the role in relation to how old they actually are.  People watch it to see how convincing their acting is, and for the drama and story line in the movie or TV show.

When child actors are role models to their audience, their audiences are younger, and have much more energy to make a change if they want to.  Disney channel had all their major stars of their shows and movies participate in Friends for Change (info here).  Friends for Change has done a lot to help the planet with the help of their fans, who view them as role models.  Because they are role models, and people follow their actions, when they see actors tell them to do something, like take a particular action to help make a change for the better health of the planet, they are more likely to do it, and it makes it possible for "hundreds of Disney VoluntEARS [to] Team Up to Scour the shorelines and Clean Up" county beaches.

Child actors should be role models to all audiences, because if they are good role models, in encourages their fans to do better things, that have more positive results, than if they weren't role models, and they would not be as likely to have positive results.

Strategical Speaking.

In The Animal Farm, by George Orwell, he writes about a farm over-running the humans working at the farm, and surviving on their own.  They set up their own government, and the pigs are supposedly the most intelligent, so they run the farm for the most part.  Napoleon and Snowball both had an equal amount of power at the beginning of the book, but both had two very different approaches to different things.  Snowball’s approach to convincing the animals if his point is most interesting, especially considering what happened to him later in the book.  Squealer is the younger pig that plays a role as the messenger between Napoleon’s ideas and actions, and he explains to the other “lower” farm animals why the things Napoleon does and choices he makes is all for the better, and although they doubt him at first, after he finishes talking, they are convinced.

Snowball is constantly in disagreement with Napoleon, and they are constantly arguing about different matters, from what to plant in a field, to what to do with their organization system with the food and other matters.  Orwell describes Snowball as “a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech, and more inventive, but was not considered to have the same depth of character” (p.35).  Snowball is much more energetic than Napoleon, and speaks clearly and to the point, and is more creative and invents things, but his personality is not as difficult to undermine and understand; it’s pretty simple and clear, and easy to understand.  One of Napoleon and Snowball’s biggest arguments was over the windmill, and whether they should build it or not.  Napoleon claimed the point that it was nonsense, while Snowball is much more dramatic in response.  He immediately sprang to his feet, and “broke into a passionate appeal in favour of the windmill...Snowball’s eloquence had carried them away.  In glowing sentences he painted a picture of Animal Farm as it might be when sordid labour was lifted from the animals’ backs” (p.64).  Snowball’s way of convincing the animals to support him by voting in favor of making the windmill, was to describe in detail the things that could happen, and the kind of life they would live if the windmill was built.  He was very emotional about the windmill, and grabbed the farm animal’s attention, and made them want a the life that he was describing.  

Squealer sees everything in ways very similar to Napoleon.  He supports all of Napoleon’s ideas, and has his own unique way of communicating with the “lower” animals and to convince them that what Napoleon is doing is right.  Squealer is “a small fat pig...with very round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements, and a shrill voice.  He was a brilliant , and when he was arguing some difficult point he had a way of skipping from side to side and whisking his tail which was somehow very persuasive” (p.36).  Squealer is one of the smaller pigs, full of energy, and very good at convincing the “lower” animals.  Squealer, being younger, gives a seemingly innocent appearance to the other animals on the farm, and has an odd way of convincing the animals of anything, and they claim that Squealer could argue and turn black into white.  Whenever Squealer argues a point, he skips from side to side, and whisks his tail, which somehow convinces the animals to support whatever Squealer is arguing for.  Many times, the animals become doubtful, and start to believe that the things the pigs are doing is not for their benefit, but because they are trying to take advantage of them, since the pigs are smarter.  When settling the issue of the milk disappearing, Squealer was sent out to talk to the other animals.  After telling them what happened and the reason why the pigs took the milk, the animals were still not fully convinced, so he emphasized the purpose of why they took the milk by saying, “Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty?  Jones would come back!  yes, Jones would come back!  Surely, comrades, surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back?” (p.52).  He knows that the animals don’t want Jones to come back, so as an excuse for why the pigs took the milk for themselves, he says that their main goal to just keep Jones away from the farm.  Whenever he tries to convince the “lower” animals that the pig’s main and true purpose at heart is to keep Jones and his men away from the farm, and to keep the animals free from human hands and unfair power.  

Should child actors be expected to be role models? I say YES.

Child actors in shows marketed for young audiences should be expected to serve as role models for their young audiences.  Some people claim that child actors should have the right to make mistakes and to do whatever they want and not be judged so harshly by society by it, but the mistakes that they make are still seen by their younger audiences, and oftentimes, they don't understand that they are making a mistake, but that they are doing it since they are "cool" or something.  When a Disney star like David Henrie for example goes out drinking when he is 19, even if it is in Puerto Rico, where the legal drinking age is 18, younger audiences don't understand that concept.  They don't look up the legal drinking age in Puerto Rico.  They just take it as a 19 year old American actor is drinking, and that it is perfectly fine to drink alcohol.  


Even though Lindsay Lohan isn't portrayed as a Disney actor as much anymore, she first launched her career in the Disney movie, the Parent Trap.  Lohan has been in many scandals recently, including multiple DUIs and drug charges.  She was sentenced to 90 days in jail in July, 2010, 30 days for her first DUI arrest, another 30 days for her second arrest, and 30 more days for reckless driving, but in the end, she only had to serve 13 days in jail before being released and sent directly to drug rehabilitation.  Teenagers or younger audiences may absorb these events in a different manner than people who understand the situation differently will.  Younger audiences might think that driving under the influence, using drugs (like cocaine, which Lohan uses), or reckless driving is perfectly fine, because even if they do it and get arrested for it, they won't get into much trouble, since they may think that they won't need to serve the full sentence like Lohan did.  


Child actors are often seen as role models to younger audiences, and if they are constantly exposed to the actors they look up to doing things that aren't viewed as "proper" to society, they won't understand that, since they are often too young to decipher between the wrong and the right.  Child actors should act as role models to their audiences, and act in a way that won't harm others if imitated or followed.


Resources:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/comments_blog/2010/07/free-lindsay-lohan-ordered-to-jail-but-for-how-long-.html
http://backseatcuddler.com/2009/03/05/latest-disney-star-scandal-booze-skanks/ (I read a lot of the comments for opinions and some ideas.)

Political Power --> Corruption?

In my opinion, political power often corrupts the people who attain it.  Even though Hitler may be an extreme example, Hitler became corrupted after he gained so much power and began to go kill many Jews and other races, because he was trying to find the people he finds most ideal: the people with blonde hair and blue eyes, or at least agreed with what he was trying to do.  I think that George Orwell would respond to this question similarly; I believe that he thinks that political power tends to corrupt the people who attain it too.  In the book, The Animal Farm, on page 37, he writes, "The animals hated Moses because he told tales and did no work, but some of them believed in Sugarcandy Mountain, and the pigs had to argue very hard to persuade them that there was no such place." Moses, the crow, has much power (in a way), since the humans favor him above the other animals, and he is well fed and gets special treatment.  He is somewhat corrupt, because he tells lies to the animals and makes it difficult for the pigs to convince the animals that there is an actual purpose in rebelling, and that they're rebellion won't be completely pointless, because their descendants will be able to live in a different world without the humans, and that the rebellion may come sooner than they think, and they will need to be prepared if that is the case.  On page 38, Orwell writes, "his men were idle and dishonest, the fields were full of weeds, the buildings wanted rooting, the hedges were neglected, and the animals were underfed...he and his four men were in the stone-shed with whips in their hands, lashing out in all directions."  The people had power, and became corrupt and careless, drinking, and not doing their duties and taking care of the animals and feeding them, and when the animals get and start to rebel, they punish they with whips.

The Hunger Games don't disappoint.

The Hunger Games were created to no only show the districts how much power they had over them, but to also cause the districts to start hating each other.  They create hate between the districts since they can easily become angry at the district that kills their tributes, or become angered that their tributes had to die for a person from another district to live and become rich.  In turn, causes the districts to dislike each other, and therefore, can not team up in cooperation and well to start a rebellion, and the Capitol will be safe from any large and successful rebellions occurring.

The Capitol is has more technology and power than the districts they keep in control.  Through the Hunger Games, they wanted to show them their power of dominance, and make it clear that if one of them were to step out of line and rebel or anything, they would have certain death.  The muttations that they made and that chased after Cato before beginning to try to attack Katniss and Peeta each closely resembled the other twenty-one dead tributes that had died to allow the three of them to still be in the games.  They were meant to remind them of who had died for them (unwillingly) and to scare them, since they were so deadly.

Katniss finally feels a sense of security when she lays on Peeta's arm and he lays his other arm protectively over her.  She has not felt so secure and safe around anyone, ever since her father's death, because after her father died, she no longer trusted her mom enough, because she stopped playing that motherly figure in her family.  Her father's death caused her mom to numbly sit next to the window, day after day, unworking, and helpless.  She had a very difficult time getting food for Katniss and Prim, so Katniss took over that motherly position and went out to hunt for meat and animals, and trade it in the Hob for other foods.  Her mom no longer gave her the sense of security she once had, because her mother has lost her identity and can no longer simply just support and feed her and Prim, so Katniss becomes much more independent, as her mother grows somewhat weaker.

Haymitch doesn't hate people, like some people who read the book might think.  He might despise them, but he doesn't hate people (just making that clear).  Before he left for the games, he had a family waiting for him at home, but two weeks after he was crowned victor of the Second Quarter Quell, hims mother, brother, and girlfriend were killed by President Snow, because of the way he used the force field to kill the last tribute to win the Games.  Because Haymitch has been successful by winning the Quarter Quell, he doesn't need to worry about getting food to feed his stomach, since as the winner, the Capitol provides him with a home and food.  Without anyone to share his happiness with though, and he can't find anyone else to replace his girlfriend, brother or mother, he cannot do much, and resorts to alcohol to wash away all his sadness and problems he's having because of his lost family.

I strongly recommend this book.  I first read it after buying the book for the class, and because I wanted to avoid doing homework, I started to read it, using the excuse that it was a school book to continue reading, and I was absolutely hooked!  I finished the book in less than two days, even with the busy weekend, and couldn't stop thinking about it and was tortured by the search for the second book to read.

Looking for deep connections in the Hunger Games

Part Two of the Hunger Games is where all the action happens.  The part where Katniss and Peeta get thrown into the games, and struggle to survive.  No winner has been declared yet, and when I finished Part Two, I was dying to finish the book, so I finished it. I've been attempting not to ruin the story for anyone, which is extremely difficult.  The story is so dramatic and its nearly impossible to not express my anger about some parts to somebody. (Sorry, Carlybear.)

The Hunger Games, a brutal fight to the death for twenty-four tributes, one boy, one girl from each district, has different meanings and people each view it differently.  Those in the twelve districts see it as a terrible cruelty to those forced to fight, and those who have died it the past.  Those in the capitol view it as mere entertainment, nothing more than something the watch and amuse, with much blood and drama in it.  They feel no pain for the tributes who die in the games every year.  Even though Peeta and Katniss have admitted to all the Capitol and Districts that they were a couple in love, the people in the Capitol don't care, they send them into the games nonetheless, but there's a turn of events at the end of Part Two, which changes their relationship forever.

The people who live in the Capitol don't understand what true love is, since they have never been able to experience themselves; most everything in their lives are temporary, at their big fancy parties, they have drinks especially made to make them vomit out the food they ate, so they are able to eat more and enjoy the party for a longer time.  They have never been able to travel outside of the Capitol to understand the harsh reality of life outside the Capitol, so are basically destined to enjoy the games, they don't know what it's like to see one of their peers die.  Those in the Capitol don't have any chance to experience love, but lust over many things in their lives.  Everything for them is about appearances and enjoying their life, with material goods and flaunting their most (to the districts,) absurd outfits and newest styles.  Love is seemingly meaningless to them, but they have some idea of what it is, and what it may represent, but because they live in the Capitol, they don't know how important it is, or how influential it is.

Hunger Games-The book I'm currently addicted to-book response

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins has been an amazing book that I cannot stop reading.  I got the book during the Black Friday weekend, and in between stores while my family and I were shopping, I would immediately pull out the book and start to read.  After reading it once, I realized that I was going to read it again, and this time, I would have to analyze it.  I thought it would be difficult, thinking that the story was more a book that was for enjoyment than to analyze, but there is so much more to the book than meets the eye.

There was a slight connection to history between Panem and their original thirteen districts, and how America once started with thirteen colonies, and grew to fifty states, making up the United States of America.  In Panem though, the thirteenth colony was wiped out due to war and a nuclear explosion, so it is just a land of ruins.  Panen and the US (as the thirteen colonies) were controlled by a strong power, for Panem and the thirteen districts, it was the Captiol, a place where people lived extravagantly and never had a shortage of food or entertainment, and for the US, it was England, who tried to keep them in control, and if anyone broke their rules, they would have strict laws to punish them.  They stressed the idea that they had power over their people, and made sure that the people never crossed them without big consequences behind them.

The mockingjay pin that Madge gave to Katniss to wear to the games was a symbol of rebellion.  The Capitol originally created jabberjays, birds that could listen to an entire conversation and deliver it to the Capitol, in their labs, so they could monitor what the people were talking about in their Districts, to make sure that no talk of rebellion could come about.  The Capitol's plans backfired though, when the jabberjays began to mate with mockingbirds, creating mockingjays, birds that were able to hear a tune and repeat it.  Slowly, the jabberjays died off, and the mockingjays were left in their midst to remind the Capitol of their failure.

A question I have burning in the back of my mind to get answered, is what would have happened between Gale and Katniss if Katniss didn't have to leave for the Hunger Games? Would something have started between them?

I found many things about Peeta and Katniss strange and interesting especially their relationship.  I'm curious about what would've happened between Peeta and Katniss if they hadn't been chosen for the games.  Would Katniss ever have gotten the chance and taken it to thank Peeta for the sacrifice he made to help her years ago?  Katniss continously looses trust in Peeta and starts to believe that whatever kind actions he is taking to help her out are all a plan to make her trust him, then he would turn against her, although she is reminded constantly about that night years ago... eventually, at the end of the first part, Collins throws a curveball at the readers, completely changing the relationship between Peeta and Katniss, but I don't want to give that away.

Classmate Response

After looking through a few blogs, I decided to take a quote from a freshman that I honestly don't know very well, but I found Stan's blog interesting, and found good quotes that related to the ASTI Constitution a lot.

"When you are the one bullying you feel powerful and you feel very that you are in control of what ever it is that is going on. Sometimes you feel like you have to bully to fit in with a certain group of friends and in this situation your options are limited because if you bully them then you are friends with the new people but then you feel bad because you hurt the feelings of the kids who were being bullied, and then if you don’t bully them you feel good because you did the right thing but then you are the one who is bullied."

"When you are the one bullying you feel powerful and you feel very that you are in control of what ever it is that is going on. Sometimes you feel like you have to bully to fit in with a certain group of friends and in this situation your options are limited because if you bully them then you are friends with the new people but then you feel bad because you hurt the feelings of the kids who were being bullied, and then if you don’t bully them you feel good because you did the right thing but then you are the one who is bullied."

What Stan says connects to the ASTI Constitution in a few ways.  The ASTI Constitution reminds us to include, not exclude other students, and when Stan talks about how you feel like you need to bully others to fit in with some groups of people at times, you are not included in the group unless you decide to join the group and bully others.  To make the ASTI environment more friendly and inviting, we need to accept other for who they are, and like them for their perfection and their flaws.  We should learn to utilize each other’s differences to make friendships stronger, because that is also what brings us closer together, and makes us more diverse and unique. 

At ASTI, we also need to accept others for who they are, instead of trying to change them, so they aren’t themselves, or excluding them for being different.  We need to accept that everyone is different and can’t always be what you want them to be: nobody’s perfect.  We shouldn’t have to do things (especially mean things) to gain acceptance into a group.  We should be accepted for who we are and not who we try to be or act like we are.  Each and every one of our personalities are unique, and if one characteristic is changed so you can fit into a group, we are not being truthful to ourselves or others.

Another way that Stan’s blog post relates to the ASTI Constitution is that he talks about how others feel when people bully them, and he understands the view of where other people are coming from, and are empathetic to how they feel in situations where they are bullied by others or when someone is in the predicament where they have to choose between bulling others to impress a group of people, or to be nice to others and not bully them, but often times become a victim of bulling themselves.  

P.S. my internet crashed, so I'm posting this at Borders >.<