Perspectives

Face to Face

           When watching the personal stories of people affected by 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, two of the stories stuck out the most. The first story is related to 9/11. I had previous knowledge about what people thought about muslims in our country after the crash, but I hadn't ever really sat down to think about how they felt about it, until now. The same goes for story number two which was related to Pearl Harbor. This time the Japanese in our country were the ones discriminated against.

            The first story is by Anjum Mir. A quote from Mir was, "Everything changed for everybody" this quote means everything. Anjum is right, America as a whole was forever changed after this event. There was a sense of paranoia that could be felt from everyone. If you were muslim you were afraid to leave your home because you feared for your safety or what rude remarks would be said. If you weren't muslim you still lived in fear of whether or not there would be another attack. Non-muslims thought that everyone muslim than ran into on the street was somehow related to the cause of the attack. It's funny how people who all claim to be American can be so quick to judge and discriminate against other Americans just because of their backgrounds. 

            Toru Saito's story was pretty closely related, except it was after the attack on pearl harbor. Toru remembers most vividly the first time he was called a Jap, "For the first time I was called a Jap". Toru had knowledge of what this word even meant. He had to ask his mother, she was ashamed that she had to explain that it was a rude name. After the event, Toru and his family no longer felt safe in public he said, "I feel like a foreigner" and "I still feel that way today". The fact that Toru was treated this way to begin with is so beyond wrong in my mind. If you're and american you should be treated like so. I am embarrassed for my country that Toru feels like a foreigner. The sad truth is that there is still bias and discrimination in the world today. Most of us just don't look for it, but it is all around us still today. Possibly one day it won't be, and I personally hope that day is soon. 

A Class Divided

          This was a very unique lesson taught to 3rd graders and adults. The third graders prove that it is so easy to sculp the minds of young children into thinking a certain way about others. When their superior, the teacher, told them that one eye color was better than another, they believed it and were nasty towards each other. In the end when the students had had a chance to be on both sides of the negativity, it was then that they realized that no one should be treated differently than another. The adults, although they knew it was already not right to discriminate by eye color had a harder time putting the pieces together. The ones who were told they were dominant were just as gullible as the 3rd graders. When they finally got the point, they seemed to have a deeper understanding that no one is different and that they should give everyone equal treatment. 

          

Book Response #4: Siren's Storm

           
          This book, Siren's Storm, is not at all what I thought it would be. Honestly I judged this book by its cover; it looked eerie and intriguing, so I picked it up.  The book has 14 chapters, I am on chapter 6 and for the life of me cannot get into the story.

           So far all that has really happened hasn't been too exciting, in fact barely anything has happened at all. The main character is Will and he is what is considered a local at the beach he lives on. His friend Gretchen comes to visit each summer and became very close with his family. The only things that have really been talked about are the fact that Will's brother, Tim, died last year in a boat accident and his body was never recovered. It's almost the anniversary of Tim's death and Will is starting to act strange. He almost hits a girl with his truck, then later sees her walk straight into the ocean and never come back up. Will cant get the girl out of his head. 

        The description of the girl is very chilling and gives you an eerie feeling about her from the beginning. The author, Papademetriou does a really good job describing the girl, "Green cat eyes, long black hair, her skin was pale and smooth like the inside of a shell... her figure had long, delicate limbs that moved almost like a spider." The way the author compares her skin to the inside of the shell we unique in my mind. The picture above is what I imagined her green cat eyes would look like. Will thinks he had only imagined the strange girl, but he sees her again at a local diner, so he know's she is real.
           As you might be able to tell not much is going on, it is a very slow moving book and hard to follow. The author bounces between characters and feelings often and it can be hard to determine who is speaking at certain times. I plan to try and keep reading this book, I really hope that it starts to get interesting sometime soon. I don't like to only ready a few chapters, but this might be one of those books that I just won't be able to finish.

Reading Response #3: One Moment

        

         Talk about plot twists. Throughout the whole book you were lead to believe that Joey was the model boyfriend and that him and Maggie were beyond happy together. In the last post I mentioned that the night before Joey died, he and Adam were in a huge fight. The fight turned out to be about how Joey was cheating on Maggie, and had been for the past year of their relationship. Adam couldn't stand back any longer and watch as Joey not only got Maggie, the girl he so hopelessly wanted, but another one too. 

         The real shocker though was when Maggie finally regained her memory of Joey's death. Up until now she could just remember running towards the cliff and not jumping. Now, Maggie realizes that right before they were supposed to jump she saw a strand of beads on his wrist and everything clicked. She knew the beads belonged to her best friend Shannon. It was enough to stop her dead in her tracks, the force of her stop threw Joey off balance as he fell backwards over the cliff. His last words, "Mags, let me exp-" This quote means so much. The truth was finally out. Joey knew he was wrong, but the last look on his face, the look Maggie had to live with was fear. The fear wasn't because he was falling, it was because he knew they were through. 

         The song above is about how things are supposed to happen. No, Joey should not have died, but things do happen. Something beautiful happened,  Adam finally got his chance with his girl, Maggie. This book was a hopeless romance. The author did so good convincing us that Joey was good, but in all reality he wasn't at all who he was supposed to be. His death wasn't just one persons fault, but many.