A City of Ashes

When I first read about the Valley of Ashes, the first thing that popped into my head was Detroit. To me, these two communities are the same thing. The Valley of Ashes is a dystopia where poverty is rampant and hopelessness is absolute and Detroit mirrors this valley.

The apartments from the picture above give a desolate aura and the undernourished land gives a feeling of stagnation. Nothing can grow in the brown land like how nothing grows in the Valley of Ashes' not so glamorous "gray land"(Fitzgerald 23). Just like how no vegetation can grow on the land, none of the people in the valley can grow. George Wilson of the ashes, works at a dead-end job and is a "spiritless man"(Fitzgerald 25). Also, Tom and Daisy's relationship cannot develop. Tom is this scoundrel who is having an affair with Myrtle and Daisy is ok with it. This relationship is going no where. In Detroit, the graduation rate of high school is very low and so many kids aren't able to even get their GED and will have to be stuck in dead-end job like George. They can't grow either. “About half way between West Egg and New York"(Fitzgerald 23). Just like the Valley of Ashes, Detroit is sandwiched by two nice areas, Bloomfield Hills and Grosse Point.

!!

this week on Friday we had a debate ( I kind of wished for a questioning period and more aggression) about the value of punctuation in the ever changing world in my honest opinion i think both strict and loose punctuation rules are important first if you do not use proper punctuation then your message might become misinterpreted and you can confuse the reader for example let's say you want grandpa to eat with you you would say " let's eat, grandpa" but if you didn't put the comma you would say "lets eat grandpa" implying that you want to eat grandpa rather then eating with him on the other hand all the struture from strict punctuation can make a writing piece feel dull, stiff and makes it feel like a snoresfest at your local retirement home also you can not express hidden meanings as well such as in the beginning of the bluest eye where toni morrison used zero punctuation to convey some mind blowing meanings. Strict and loose punctuation rules are important we need both them in everyday life and based on the writers needs he/she need to write accordingly.

Just another example of why punctuation is important in a real life scenario.

Beauty in The Bluest Eye

Page 135


I think this is the most beautiful passage of the book. Morrison creates this moment of bliss within the black communit. During the church picnic, the little children are scrambling for melon and the women are helping picking the seeds for the young. The small kids are captured with this essence of innonence. They aren't fighting for the bit and pieces of watermelon. The women are loving and very motherly. They make sure the little ones have melon to eat while being safe from choking in the seeds before they have any. All is swell. Then something even more beautiful happens. Blue invites Cholly to share a heart of a watermelon with him. Blue didn't need to invite Cholly, but because of the kindness in his heart, he did. Now you might think a man sharing some fruit with a kid is just a trival thing, but for Cholly it isn't. Cholly's father ditched him before he has born and he had never had a father figure or an experience with his dad. From this moment Blue and Cholly shared, he gets a taste of how it is to actually have a father figure, no matter if it was just sharing a melon.

We need to talk about SEX

         The most well known double standard is the sexual double standard; men can have sex as much as he wants, but women can't. Men will be called "studs" and be high fived for "tapping that" yet females would be called "hoes" and be slut shamed. I pondered why this is so for a few minutes and have figured why this is so. The product of sex is not just sexual satisfaction but also babies. This doesn't seem like bad thing to ready and able parents, but what about the hormonal, rash teenagers? According to the CDC, in 2012, a total of 305,388 babies were born from women aged 15-19. Damn.
While it takes two (at least) to have be involved in fornication, the women, in the end, "suffers" the consequences. I mean if the guy doesn't ditch the chick and sticks around to father and raise the kid sure he is "suffering" the consequence too. The one who really displays the affects of having sex is the women. Society looks at the young teen girl who is pregnant and immediately judges her. No one actually looks at a pregnant young girl and says, "Damn that boy who got her pregnant!" Everyone says, " What the f***?!?! What a hoe!!!" Bruh...

                                                         

Irrelevant but relevant

Happy Holidays

           I believe that Holidays these days are misinterpreted and have even less meaning than they ever had before. Holidays these days are just excuses to get off work or school and also a way for people to justify buying things and receiving things for others. In addition to this, I bet many people don't even know the real meanings of many holidays we celebrate. Such as, Christmas, Halloween and The 4th of July. Heck, I didn't even know the meaning of Halloween until I googled it. Apparently, Halloween was originally called All Saints Day and was a feast day when Catholics would celebrate all the Saints, especially the ones who suffered martyrdom for Christ. Whoa. I thought it was for kids to get candy and stay high on sugar for the next three months. We don't actually celebrate the holidays like how we should be. Like instead of celebrating and reflecting on the birth of Christ for Christmas, we focus on spending money buying useless gifts and paying attention to just what receive. Or how we all gather for a BBQ and watch fireworks for the 4th of July. Rather than using their day off work for this celebration for contemplation, for most people this day is more about barbecues, picnics, fireworks and relaxation. Those things aren't even related to The Declaration of Independence! Don't get me wrong, I'm not that guy, I love all of these things as much as the next person. I just think we should be celebrating in a more relevant way. 

The meaning of life

The meaning of life has been a controversial topic for years. People question about their existence and ask themselves what is their purpose in this world. Of course the meaning of life can be interpreted differently for each person because it is relative. Chillingworth's purpose was to expose Dimmesdale's sins. While Dimmesdale's life was revolved around obeying God and spreading The Gospel. Also, you could argue that Hester's life purpose was to raise Pearl and be an excellent mother and citizen. Some people dedicate their lives to religion and some devote themselves to just simply enjoy life. Whether it is something as small as spreading happiness or saving lives, what ever your purpose is, your purpose is yours. A person's definition of life is unique and defines who they are.

Like many others, I have yet to figure out what my own purpose of life is. All I know right now is that I want to make others around me happy, love life and above all, be a good Christian. If I die accomplishing these tasks then I would consider my life to be a success and I will be fine with leaving the Earth just like how Dimmesdale did.

Woman against Feminism.

The very idea that woman are against feminism sounds pretty crazy to me. However, this idea is not foreign to many because many females have started to follow this trend. From tagging #WomanAgainstFeminism in Tumblr, to joining the already 25,000 liked facebook page. This is ridiculous. Women against feminism are against equality between males and females and therefore want to be treated like a lesser being. I feel like this is skewed and the women are misinterpreting what feminism really is. Feminism is the perfectly even treatment betwixt men and women.

This example of #WomanAgainstFeminism is ridiculous and really makes me steamed. She is not advocating against feminism, in fact, she is in favor for feminism. 

OH MY LORD!! Now this has gotten me livid. What has admitting that you need help from men even prove that you don't need feminism? "Yeah I need help from men so that means I shouldn't be treated as an equal to them."

Cue the horrible grimaces. She says, " I love my boyfriend, and we both respect each other." Yeah that is what people for feminism do. A boy and a girl treating each other with respect.

People need to be educated about what feminism truly is before they side against equal treatment.

Sin and Forgiveness

Sin /sin/: an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.

         In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne commits adultery, a sin according to the bible. She is forced to wear a letter "A" forever as punishment for her crime as for her offense is unforgivable. Hester is branded as a sinner and has to deal with the eternal damnation that comes with the "scarlet letter." 

       During church, I thought about how unfairly and unjustly Hester is treated. She is forever stigmatized as this horrible person just because of one thing she has done in the past. This really grinded my gears because the very people who condemned her were Puritans*. If they were actually believers of the bible then they should know the story of The Adulterous Woman**. In John 8, the people wanted to stone this adultery committing woman to death but first they ask Jesus to tell them what to do. Jesus says to the woman, " I do not condemn you." He forgave the woman for her wrong-doing whereas, the Puritans who follow Jesus do not forgive Hester for her sin. The Puritans as devotees of the bible, should have forgiven Hester just as how Jesus pardoned the woman.

*Puritans believed that The Bible was their sole authority (Ironically).

**The Adulterous Woman

1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them.3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 “Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” 6 They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. 7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. 10 Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”] 

The Bible. Print. New American Standard Bible.

A for Asian.

Asians are smart. Mexicans love tacos. Caucasian girls love Starbucks. African American males are all criminals and athletes. 

You have all heard of these stereotypes before, am I right? Are they all true? No. Are some partially true? Yes. They are generalizations born from billions of observations and experiences from people.  Stereotypes are here because they have some truth in them. If they were not true, they would not be able to survive long. For example, "One in every three black males born today can expect to go to prison at some point in their life, compared with one in every six Latino males, and one in every 17 white males"(Huffingtonpost.com). This just reinforces the stigma that most African American males are  criminals. But wait a second, isn't generalizing a person based on their race immoral or even dehumanizing? Yes and no. If you act on these stereotypes and treat people based on their stereotypes then yes, it is immoral. For instance, when Betty Towle, Sherman Alexie's second grade teacher, makes him cut off his hair. However, if you use stereotypes as observations on how certain groups of people act or are then no, it isn't mean to do so.

Hungry

    Hunger. What is Hunger? Wikipedia defines it as a sensation experienced when one feels the physiological need to eat food.

Many of us know hunger like this. But that isn't what everything it stand for. Jeanette Walls exposes us to different hungers. She talks about longing for better life and stability."In less than three months, I'm leaving for New York City" (Walls 238). Her father is an hopeless drunk and her mother is too naive to do anything about it. Jeanette wants to go to New York leaving her parents behind to improve her living conditions. We all can relate to her because we all have yearned for improvements over our lives. Also, Jeanette dated this man named Eric. He is the stability she needs because "he was decent and responsible, never gambled or lost his temper, and always paid his bills on time" (Walls 268). Her dating Eric symbolizes her need for security in life that her alcoholic father could never give her. Just like Jeannette, we all want something. These desires could be from being President, or getting that very sought after A. Ultimately, our hunger is not just in a form of the need to eat food but it is everything that we lust for.