El Fin

Describe the world you come from -- for example: your family, community, or school. -- and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

I come from a very small place, not very known by many. Honduras, a country of the size of the state of Tennessee is where i was born. In Honduras, my family extends from one corner of the country to the other corner. My family is composed of many people with different goals and different ways of seeing life.  I am one of the many who really like to succeed. A lot of people in my family extended family like to succeed but most of them do not like to do the necessary work to get that success.Me and my family; my mom,my dad,my brother and my sister like to work hard to get what we want. In my extended family, we are defined or seen as the most working people and the ones who put effort into everything.

One of my dreams as a member of this family, is to set an example to those in my family who are not as hard workers and help them succeed. I know that there are a lot of people in my family that have the potential of working hard, but they just do not have a reason to do it. I want to help them think about their future and what they need to do in order to succeed.

Another thing that i want to do in my family, my main family is to help my bother. My brother and i have not had a good relationship for years. I am older than him for two years, giving me the responsibility to be a leader. My dad always tells me how i need to be a leader for my brother. In the last years i have not behaved as a good leader. I think that leadership also refers to influence. I am one of my brother’s biggest influence. My aspiration is to be that leader for my brother one day. I do not want a brother i am ashamed of in the future. I want a brother i can be proud of. It is hard for me to have a nice relationship with my brother; we are constantly arguing and we do not often like to do things the same way. I am now, currently trying to work as a leader for him. Lead him into what i have been influenced to; success.

Seeing others help others withing my family has influenced me to act as a leader for others.

          I have always lived in a safe community. Around nice people, and nothing bad has really happened in my life that could have made big changes to it. At school, the environment is always the same even when i go to new places to learn. I think that the fact that learning is the same everywhere has helped my dreams and aspirations. I have learned that  you can achieve your dreams no matter where you are, and that the only thing you need is a brain that understands and a heart that wants to learn. 
          The lessons i learned from my family and in my community have made me a more thoughtful person about others. It has made me want to help others be successful. I think that i am the person i am because of the influence of important members of my family, and great leaders among ourselves such as my mom. She helped a lot of people including me and my siblings to think for others, ad not only for ourselves.

Second part: Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution, blah blah blah..that is important to you. What about this makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

One of my biggest talents is art. I discovered when i was just a little kid that i had an artistic talent. I was obsessed with drawing and making stuff up with my own imagination. My mom told me that i did not learn how to be so artistic, but that i was born being an artist. When i was a kid, i would spend hours drawing alone. Making up new stuff every time. I became addicted and there was a point in my life when all i wanted to do was draw, so i stopped concentrating in school and focused on my art talent. Then i learned that i wanted to be more than an artist; i wanted to become an architect.

I started pursuing my dream of becoming an architect when i was a little bit older. In the last few years though, i have really worked hard to get to where i am right now to continue pursuing my dream of one day becoming an architect.

I am very proud of wanting to be an architect. It is a really competitive field. It makes me feel smart and better about my self. Having such a good talent can help me not only to become an architect but many other things. Art is historically important in this world, and it is currently and will always be an important human talent. This personal talent has made me proud of myself. It has helped my aspirations as a leader as well. Other people like my brother now see me as an influence. Whenever my brother needs help with something that needs art, he asks me and i help him. That is how i can be a leader with others.

It has also made me a better student. Since i need a lot of math in order to become an architect, i have put much more effort into my classes. 

This is how art makes me who i am. It helps me prepare and think about my future and is one of the major factors that helps my dream of becoming an architect. Art in general inspires me to create new things in my life. It makes me happy and it has shaped who i am right now. 

Final Final Book review: TGIHL

People like writing about things they feel comfortable talking about. Either if it is because they know a lot about what they are talking about, or they understand it really well or if it is some other reason, they write really good things. This is  why Gabriel Garcia Marquez decided to write The General in His Labyrinth.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born in Colombia. As a kid, Gabriel Garcia Marquez went through many struggles. He had to deal with death, and also moving a lot from place to place.  After he was born, his father became a pharmacist and in order to make money to support his family he had to move to Sucre, Bolivia to work as a pharmacist, but he took his wife with him to work in Sucre because it would have been really hard for him to make enough money to support his family without his wife's help. They left Marquez with his grandparents. Marquez grew up with his grandparents and knew them more than he knew his own parents. His grandfather was the one who started teaching Marquez how to read and to write, which eventually became Marquez's favorite thing to do. He told Marquez stories which made Marquez think deeply shaping his mind as a thinker and as a writer. Marquez's biggest struggle as a kid (when he was nine) was the death of his grandfather. That changed his whole life permanently and he ended up moving with his parents to Sucre,  Bolivia where his father owned a pharmacy after having lived nine years with his grandparents.  In Sucre, Bolivia he continued with his writing and eventually he realized he wanted to be a journalist.

He went to the University of Cartagena where his career as a journalist began. Marquez really liked to write about historic events and stories based in real experiences or events. One of the people he really wanted to write about was about Simon Bolivar. He read an unfinished book by his friend who was a writer Alvaro Mutis, which was about Simon Bolivar's last voyage. The story took place in Magdalena River, Colombia. Marquez felt really interested about the book and the story for two reasons: because he wanted to write about Simon Bolivar and because as a kid, he grew up living by the Magdalena River. He knew a lot about the setting so he asked permission to Mutis to take his idea and to write about Simon Bolivar and his last voyage in the Magdalena River, Colombia. That is how he ended up writing the book The General in His Labyrinth. He felt connected to the story because he knew about some of the characters and he knew the place. That made his book even better because he actually knew what exactly he was talking about.

  Had Bolivar not existed, Mr. Garcia Marquez would have had to invent him. Seldom has there been a more fitting match between author and subject. Mr. Garcia Marquez wades into his flamboyant, often improbable and ultimately tragic material with enormous gusto, heaping detail upon sensuous detail, alternating grace with horror, perfume with the stench of corruption, the elegant language of public ceremony with the vulgarity of private moments, the rationalistic clarity of Bolivar's thought with the malarial intensity of his emotions, but tracing always the main compulsion that drives his protagonist: the longing for an independent and unified South America. This, according to Bolivar himself, is the clue to all his contradictions. -The New York Times:Book Review

 It is like Gracia makes up his own stories. Stories that are real he can make them seem like he wrote them. That is how good his writing is.

Garcia did not only write about him because he knows a lot about him, but because Bolivar is a really important figure in the lives of many.

 Simon Bolivar was an important figure in South America that changed the way people thought about independence. Bolivar was born in Venezuela in 1783 and died in 1830. He was known as "El Liberador" in Spanish, which translates to, The Liberator. He was one man who really made it possible for Latin America to become independent. It was mostly in South America though. He liberated Most of South America from the Spanish Empire. Then he became president of several countries in South America. He was one great leader who is always remembered, but when we really think about him, we are not sure what things he had to do or go through to give so much for his people. Some people may wonder what his life was like, or what it was like to set people free. What was it like to be him and to do the things he did?

Well, Colombian writer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez writes about Simon Bolivar's life in his book The General in His Labyrinth. Simon Bolivar is the main character in this book. At the beginning of the book, in the first chapter, Simon Bolivar is introduced as an unhealthy man. He is 46 years old and he is preparing to go on a journey to Europe, but his sickness does not leave him alone making things hard for him. During his voyage, which takes weeks, to Europe, he is really sick. One of the reasons he wanted to leave The Americas was because in his own land, people he, himself liberated started to turn against him. Some wanted to kill him because they did not like him as a leader after the Spanish left. So that is why he wanted to leave.

They accused him of wanting to be president for life so he could appoint an European prince as his successor. They accused him of pretending to travel abroad when in reality he was going to the Venezuelan border and planned to return at the head of the insurgent troops in order to seize power, (p.13).

This shows what the people in Colombia thought the reason he wanted to leave. In reality, he did not want any of that that the people thought.  Bolivar was hated by people, but loved when was setting them free. People betrayed him. Him being sick just made it easier for people not to recognize him as a hero. His sickness and illness just made him seem weak. That is how people saw him.

I don't think many people now know what this Latin American hero went through. All the hate, and the negativity. They only see him as an idol and i am sure that no one thinks that part of his life was a struggle. That is the untold story that is left out. He is so important that a country was named after him; the nation of Bolivia. Now that i know more about him, and his life, i start to think about all the sacrifices he made, and that thanks to him the world is now different.

My peer review comentarios!

These are the comments i left for my tablemates' rough drafts:

Peter:
Try introducing your character first because you are just talking about Kristina and it is kind of confusing. You made a good progress when talking about Kristina throughout your essay, and i also think that you had a good ending. I like the way you integrated your quotes; you made them flow with your essay.

Ianna:
You kind of jump from one topic to another. You don't do it much, but it is noticeable. Like, Vanessa said, you seem to not have transitions between your ideas, and then when you jump into another thing it juts leaves the reader kind of confused. Could you connect this book to anything else? or is the only connection you see between the book and something else is your life?

Wendy:
You should write down the questions you are answering because it is not until the end of the answer of the question that you (the audience) realize what the actual question was. I think you did a good job though, it is lengthy compared to the other ones i have read tonight but that is fine. What was the point of having several different short stories?

Final Book Review: TGIHL

People like writing about things they feel comfortable talking about. Either if it is because they know a lot about what they are talking about, or they understand it really well or if it is some other reason, they write really good things. This is  why Gabriel Garcia Marquez decided to write The General in His Labyrinth.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born in Colombia. As a kid, Gabriel Garcia Marquez went through many struggles. He had to deal with death, and also moving a lot from place to place.  After he was born, his father became a pharmacist and in order to make money to support his family he had to move to Sucre, Bolivia to work as a pharmacist, but he took his wife with him to work in Sucre because it would have been really hard for him to make enough money to support his family. They left Marquez with his grandparents. Marquez grew up with his grandparents and knew them more than he knew his own parents. His grandfather was the one who started teaching Marquez how to read and to write, which eventually became Marquez's favorite thing to do. He told Marquez stories which made Marquez think deeply shaping his mind as a thinker and as a writer. Marquez's biggest struggle as a kid (when he was nine) was the death of his grandfather. That changed his whole life permanently and he ended up moving with his parents to Sucre,  Bolivia where his father owned a pharmacy after having lived nine years with his grandparents.  In Sucre, Bolivia he continued with his writing and eventually he realized he wanted to be a journalist.

He went to the University of Cartagena where his career as a journalist began. Marquez really liked to write about historic events and stories based in real experiences or events. One of the people he really wanted to write about was about Simon Bolivar. He read an unfinished book by his friend who was a writer Alvaro Mutis, which was about Simon Bolivar's last voyage. The story took place in Magdalena River, Colombia. Marquez felt really interested about the book and the story for two reasons: because he wanted to write about Simon Bolivar and because as a kid, he grew up living by the Magdalena River. He knew a lot about the setting so he asked permission to Mutis to take his idea and to write about Simon Bolivar and his last voyage in the Magdalena River, Colombia. That is how he ended up writing the book The General in His Labyrinth. He felt connected to the story because he knew about some of the characters and he knew the place. That made his book even better because he actually knew what exactly he was talking about.

  Had Bolivar not existed, Mr. Garcia Marquez would have had to invent him. Seldom has there been a more fitting match between author and subject. Mr. Garcia Marquez wades into his flamboyant, often improbable and ultimately tragic material with enormous gusto, heaping detail upon sensuous detail, alternating grace with horror, perfume with the stench of corruption, the elegant language of public ceremony with the vulgarity of private moments, the rationalistic clarity of Bolivar's thought with the malarial intensity of his emotions, but tracing always the main compulsion that drives his protagonist: the longing for an independent and unified South America. This, according to Bolivar himself, is the clue to all his contradictions. -The New York Times:Book Review

 It is like Gracia makes up his own stories. Stories that are real he can make them seem like he wrote them. That is how good his writing is. 

Garcia did not only write about him because he knows a lot about him, but because Bolivar is a really important figure in the lives of many.

 Simon Bolivar was an important figure in South America that changed the way people thought about independence. Bolivar was born in Venezuela in 1783 and died in 1830. He was known as "El Liberador" in Spanish, which translates to, The Liberator. He was one man who really made it possible for Latin America to become independent. It was mostly in South America though. He liberated Most of South America from the Spanish Empire. Then he became president of several countries in South America. He was one great leader who is always remembered, but when we really think about him, we are not sure what things he had to do or go through to give so much for his people. Some people may wonder what his life was like, or what it was like to set people free. What was it like to be him and to do the things he did?

Well, Colombian writer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez writes about Simon Bolivar's life in his book The General in His Labyrinth. Simon Bolivar is the main character in this book. At the beginning of the book, in the first chapter, Simon Bolivar is introduced as an unhealthy man. He is 46 years old and he is preparing to go on a journey to Europe, but his sickness does not leave him alone making things hard for him. During his voyage, which takes weeks, to Europe, he is really sick. One of the reasons he wanted to leave The Americas was because in his own land, people he, himself liberated started to turn against him. Some wanted to kill him because they did not like him as a leader after the Spanish left. So that is why he wanted to leave.

They accused him of wanting to be president for life so he could appoint an European prince as his successor. They accused him of pretending to travel abroad when in reality he was going to the Venezuelan border and planned to return at the head of the insurgent troops in order to seize power, (p.13).

This shows what the people in Colombia thought the reason he wanted to leave. In reality, he did not want any of that that the people thought.  Bolivar was hated by people, but loved when was setting them free. People betrayed him. Him being sick just made it easier for people not to recognize him as a hero. His sickness and illness just made him seem weak. That is how people saw him.

I don't think many people now know what this Latin American hero went through. All the hate, and the negativity. They only see him as an idol and i am sure that no one thinks that part of his life was a struggle. That is the untold story that is left out. He is so important that a country was named after him; the nation of Bolivia. Now that i know more about him, and his life, i start to think about all the sacrifices he made, and that thanks to him the world is now different.

Book Review 2: The General in His Labyrinth

People like writing about things they feel comfortable talking about. Either if it is because they know a lot about what they are talking about, or they understand it really well or if it is some other reason, they write really good things. This is  why Gabriel Garcia Marquez decided to write The General in His Labyrinth.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born in Colombia. As a kid, Gabriel Garcia Marquez went through many struggles. He had to deal with death, and also moving a lot from place to place.  After he was born, his father became a pharmacist and in order to make money to support his family he had to move to Sucre, Bolivia to work as a pharmacist, but he took his wife with him to work in Sucre because it would have been really hard for him to make enough money to support his family. They left Marquez with his grandparents. Marquez grew up with his grandparents and knew them more than he knew his own parents. His grandfather was the one who started teaching Marquez how to read and to write, which eventually became Marquez's favorite thing to do. He told Marquez stories which made Marquez think deeply shaping his mind as a thinker and as a writer. Marquez's biggest struggle as a kid (when he was nine) was the death of his grandfather. That changed his whole life permanently and he ended up moving with his parents to Sucre,  Bolivia where his father owned a pharmacy after having lived nine years with his grandparents.  In Sucre, Bolivia he continued with his writing and eventually he realized he wanted to be a journalist.

He went to the University of Cartagena where his career as a journalist began. Marquez really liked to write about historic events and stories based in real experiences or events. One of the people he really wanted to write about was about Simon Bolivar. He read an unfinished book by his friend who was a writer Alvaro Mutis, which was about Simon Bolivar's last voyage. The story took place in Magdalena River, Colombia. Marquez felt really interested about the book and the story for two reasons: because he wanted to write about Simon Bolivar and because as a kid, he grew up living by the Magdalena River. He knew a lot about the setting so he asked permission to Mutis to take his idea and to write about Simon Bolivar and his last voyage in the Magdalena River, Colombia. That is how he ended up writing the book The General in His Labyrinth. He felt connected to the story because he knew about some of the characters and he knew the place. That made his book even better because he actually knew what exactly he was talking about.

  Had Bolivar not existed, Mr. Garcia Marquez would have had to invent him. Seldom has there been a more fitting match between author and subject. Mr. Garcia Marquez wades into his flamboyant, often improbable and ultimately tragic material with enormous gusto, heaping detail upon sensuous detail, alternating grace with horror, perfume with the stench of corruption, the elegant language of public ceremony with the vulgarity of private moments, the rationalistic clarity of Bolivar's thought with the malarial intensity of his emotions, but tracing always the main compulsion that drives his protagonist: the longing for an independent and unified South America. This, according to Bolivar himself, is the clue to all his contradictions. -The New York Times:Book Review

It is like Gracia makes up his own stories. Stories that are real he can make them seem like he wrote them. That is how good his writing is. 

Book Review: The General in His Labyrinth

Simon Bolivar was an important figure in South America that changed the way people thought about independence. Bolivar was born in Venezuela in 1783 and died in 1830. He was known as "El Liberador" in Spanish, which translates to, The Liberator. He was one man who really made it possible for Latin America to become independent. It was mostly in South America though. He liberated Most of South America from the Spanish Empire. Then he became president of several countries in South America. He was one great leader who is always remembered, but when we really think about him, we are not sure what things he had to do or go through to give so much for his people. Some people may wonder what his life was like, or what it was like to set people free. What was it like to be him and to do the things he did?

Well, Colombian writer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez writes about Simon Bolivar's life in his book The General in His Labyrinth. Simon Bolivar is the main character in this book. At the beginning of the book, in the first chapter, Simon Bolivar is introduced as an unhealthy man. He is 46 years old and he is preparing to go on a journey to Europe, but his sickness does not leave him alone making things hard for him. During his voyage, which takes weeks, to Europe, he is really sick. One of the reasons he wanted to leave The Americas was because in his own land, people he, himself liberated started to turn against him. Some wanted to kill him because they did not like him as a leader after the Spanish left. So that is why he wanted to leave.

They accused him of wanting to be president for life so he could appoint an European prince as his successor. They accused him of pretending to travel abroad when in reality he was going to the Venezuelan border and planned to return at the head of the insurgent troops in order to seize power, (p.13).

This shows what the people in Colombia thought the reason he wanted to leave. In reality, he did not want any of that that the people thought.  Bolivar was hated by people, but loved when was setting them free. People betrayed him. Him being sick just made it easier for people not to recognize him as a hero. His sickness and illness just made him seem weak. That is how people saw him.

I don't think many people now know what this Latin American hero went through. All the hate, and the negativity. They only see him as an idol and i am sure that no one thinks that part of his life was a struggle. That is the untold story that is left out. He is so important that a country was named after him; the nation of Bolivia. Now that i know more about him, and his life, i start to think about all the sacrifices he made, and that thanks to him the world is now different.

Connections in Family Stories

Some of the stories my classmates wrote were about tragedies. In fact, mine was about a tragedy,  but sometimes the events and tragedies that happen can change people's lives. In my story, my grandfather was mistreated during the Honduras-El Salvador war in 1969. He was mistreated for being from El Salvador and living in Honduras. The soldiers from Honduras came to his house and took him to prison, where they tortured him and treated him bad. When he was let free, his life changed and he was not the same person. He became a sad person and his personality changed a lot.
I found other stories written by my classmates that were similar, or that had the same ideas that mine had.. I think that the stories that involve tragedies are the ones that connect to mine.

This is from Carly's story:

His leg had been cut off of circulation for too long, it was already dead. On that day, the doctors amputated my Uncle’s left leg at the age of twenty.
The loosing of his leg depressed and hurt my Uncle so deeply; he tried to commit suicide multiple times.

In Carly's story,  she talks about the story of her uncle who was traveling to "the city" in a train. Something happened to the train that caused it to go out of control so the people in the train thought that the best way to survive before the train crashed was to jump off from it. Well, Carly's uncle (which is actually her great-uncle) decided that he, with the other passengers would jump off the train, but it was too late. By the time he jumped off the train, the train had already crashed into a house of boulders. His left leg was jammed by the boulders. He survived, thankfully, but his left leg had to be amputated when he was only 20 years old.

After the accident he became really depressed and always thought about suicide. This incident changed his life for ever. Eventually he changed though; he did not think about suicide anymore and looked more happy. This was because all the support his family gave him. The strength that his family gave him helped him feel better about his life. This is the kind of tragedy that can put someone down, make them feel like giving  up, like Carly's uncle.

In Rahni's story, she says:

So they left the baby and came to California. They got settled in and were doing their thing, when my great grandmother got word that her baby Charles and her mother died in a burning house. they said the KKK was responsible for it but they did not know, so she had to go back and confirm it to make sure.

 In this story, her great grandparents get married but struggled so they move around a lot. They have a kid and they leave it with her mother, and then move again, but one day the baby and her mother(great grandma's mother) are killed in a fire. This was a tragedy that changed the lives of that family. Rahni's grandparents were hurt a lot because their kid was killed probably by the KKK, and her mother was killed as well. That caused suffering to the family.

Tragedies change people's lives and make them suffer. Sometimes the effects are permanent but sometimes people learn to let go and continue their lives normally, not forgetting about the past but putting it aside. I have actually done this in my life.

These three stories have tragedies that caused struggles. I guess that's all what tragedies do...

The cycle of daughters and mothers

Mothers influence their daughters to become like them when their daughters grow up, but they don't always do it directly. Sometimes they kind of force their daughters to do whatever they think their daughters should do, in other words, they make the decisions for their daughters so that when they are older, they are shaped similar to them.

In the short stories from The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, The mothers in most of the stories treat their daughters in a very similar way. They make their daughters do things that they want them to do and not actually what the daughters want to do.

I think that this is a big part of the Chinese culture, and i also think that it could be part of other cultures around the world but the Chinese are the ones that show it the most.

In the story Rules of The Game, Waverly Jong is the daughter of a mother who tells her what to do, what is according to her what will make Waverly a successful person. Waverly learns by herself that she is good at something; playing chess. She slowly starts to show the people around her the big talent she has. Once her mother sees that her daughter is doing something with her life by herself, she interferes and starts pressuring her daughter to work harder on her chess skills, which just makes it hard for Waverly to be able to do good.

 As her men drew closer to my edge, i felt myself growing light. I rose up into the air and flew out the window. Higher and higher, above the alley, over the tops of tiled roofs, where i was gathered up by the wind and pushed up toward the night sky until everything below me disappeared and i was alone. (pg. 101)

Eventually, her mother caused Waverly to quit chess. Her mother was just trying to help her with her pushing, but Waverly could not take it. This mother was trying to make her daughter be what she wanted her to be and did not let her deal with her dream independently causing her to quit what she was so good at.

One of the main characters, Suyuan Woo who died from a brain aneurysm years after she moved from China and lived in the US. She created the Joy Luck Club, and she got a group of women to join her (They were Chinese too). After her death, the other women that formed part of the Joy Luck Club saw Jing-Mei Woo as the next leader of the group. They kind of expected her to continue what her mother had started.

'You are responsible', said my mother. (pg. 28)

This doesn't show how the women from the club wanted her to replace her m,other, but that does show how the mother, Suyuan, talked to Jing-Mei, telling her that she is responsible. This kind of shows that her mom considers her or could consider her responsible for whatever she leaves behind when she dies, in this case the club.

Mothers influence their daughters in life, they want them to turn out a certain way, but they pick the way they'll turn out and the daughters are dependent on doing things from their mothers.

My story: Once upon a time during The Football War

I remember my aunt told me this story years ago, when I was a little kid. I think I was seven when she told me. So to refresh my mind, I had to call my other aunt in Honduras to tell me more about the story, so she explained it to me and she told me some things  I do not remember my other aunt telling me, but that is probably because I was a kid. But anyways, this is the story:

Years ago, in 1969, Honduras and El Salvador had a war. It was called “The Football War”. The war started because El Salvadorian people were migrating north to Honduras illegally. The population in Honduras was growing and there were way too many people. Those were political conflicts between the two nations. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Salvadorans had begun migrating to Honduras in large numbers. By 1969, more than 300,000 Salvadorans were living in Honduras. These Salvadorans made up twenty percent of the peasant population of Honduras. Many illegal Salvadorians were taking the jobs of Honduran citizens and the government of Honduras did not like that. It is called The Football War because soccer was one of the things that contributed to it. Even though "Football War" implies that the conflict was due to a soccer game, the causes of the war go deeper.

The World Cup was going to happen the following year in Mexico, in 1970. Honduras and El Salvador met in the second North American qualifying round for the 1970 FIFA World Cup. There were three games for the qualification of the 1970 FIFA World Cup played between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969. One game was played in the capital city of Honduras, in Tegucigalpa and Honduras won that game. That game was controversial because after the game, an eight-year old Salvadorian little girl killed herself by shooting herself in the heart. The second game played in the capital city of El Salvador, San Salvador, was won by El Salvador and that created a lot of violence on both sides.  The last and most important game, which was played in Mexico, was also won by El Salvador by one goal with extra time. On the same day, 26 June 1969, El Salvador dissolved all ties with Honduras, stating that "the government of Honduras has not taken any effective measures to punish these crimes which constitute genocide, nor has it given assurances of indemnification or reparations for the damages caused to Salvadorans". This led to border clashes between the two nations.

More issues were territorial issues. El Salvador debated that part of what Hondurans said was their territory was actually Salvadorian territory, which was not true.

In the afternoon of July 14^th, 1969, military action began. El Salvador’s Air Force attacked targets inside Honduras, killing civilians. War was never declared, and El Salvador surprise attacked Honduras. Salvadorian troops entered Honduras, destroying towns and killing civilians. To defend itself, Honduras sent troops to face the Salvadorians and the Honduran Air Force to stop the Salvadorian Air Force.

My grandfather was from El Salvador. He was born there and lived there until he was five years old. At the age of five, he moved to Honduras, to a small town close to the border with El Salvador. I am not sure if my grandfather or “abuelito”, as I called him came to Honduras legally. Well, He lived most of his life in Honduras and I think that the only time he was in El Salvador was when he was a baby and maybe he visited once or twice as an adult but he was technically Honduran. I know that he was a citizen of Honduras because my aunt told me, but I am still not sure about him going legally to Honduras.

In 1969, when the war began, the Honduran government ordered the people of El Salvador to leave Honduran land. If not they would be taken by the Honduran troops and taken to prison.  What my grandfather did was hide.

My aunt says (she was a little kid during the war) that they could not sleep during the war because in the town they lived was really close to El Salvador. Every hour, they would hear planes flying over, dropping bombs close by. The Salvadorians were bombing every town they could. My grandmother, grandfather and my uncles and aunts would hide under their beds, afraid of the bombs, even though that was not the best place for protection, but that was the only thing they could do because they could not escape because there were Salvadorian soldiers everywhere.

A few days after the war began, Honduran troops pushed back the Salvadorian taking control over their towns and most of their territory again. Salvadorians still bombed the towns but not as before. Once the Soldiers from El Salvador were kicked out of the town where my grandfather lived, the Honduran soldiers went around the towns looking for Salvadorian people. My grandpa was in danger. The government had already told the Salvadorians to get out of Honduras.

The Honduran soldiers captured my grandfather, and put him in prison where they tortured him and many other Salvadorians found. They were hung on trees but not killed. They were not given food, and they were constantly hit by soldiers. We do not really know what my grandfather’s experience in prison was because he kept quiet when he came back. He did not say much about his experience. But I am sure it was not a good experience.

After the war ended, he was still in prison for two more months. He was freed after the two months and he was allowed to stay in Honduras since he was a citizen. In Honduras, things changed after the war. Salvadorian people were mistreated. My grandfather was mistreated by other men. He was insulted for being Salvadorian. Years after the war, Hondurans and El Salvador signed a peace treaty and after that, things started to get better for Salvadorians in Honduras.  

I learned that there were conflicts within my roots. This connects to me because when I was younger, I grew up with this mentality of having negative thoughts against Salvadorian people, but when I grew older, I started to understand that we are a family. I did not see that when I was little. I did not even know my grandfather was from El Salvador, and I found out years after of his death. I never got to spend much time with him. I have only one memory of him with me. I was too young to remember more about him. He died when I was three years old.  

I think that this story has survived in my family because that had never happened to anyone in my family before and has not happened to anyone since. My grandfather was also someone really important in my family, he was a role model.  It has been passed from generation to generations because we, in our family need to know what our struggles have been and to remember what happened. What makes this significant is that my grandfather survived, if he hadn’t been lucky, he would have been killed like many other Salvadorians did. And yeah, that is my story.

Mothers and their daughters

The story, "Rules of the game" from the book The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan relates to the article written by Amy Chua: "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior". In Chua's piece, she focuses on telling the audience about what the lives of many Chinese children look like in comparison of those of, for example, western kids (Americans).
In Rules of the game, Waverly is a Chinese girl who has two brothers who are treated similarly to what Chua said kids in China are treated like. Chua focuses a lot on how the parents want their children to be successful in school in specific. In The Rules of the Game, Waverly's mother does not focus on her daughter's education though. One Christmas, Vincent, Waverly's brother  received a chess set from the church. Waverly became addicted to the idea of playing chess and when she learned how to play, she went started going out with people she didn't know and playing chess and as she did that, her sills improved.
One day, her mother realized that her daughter had a real talent; playing chess. So she signed her up for a tournament first and after she won that, she signed her up for more. She started as a local champion and ended up being a national champion. Her mother then became a real proud mother and this idea came to her, to only make her daughter practice chess and to forget about everything else. Her mother kind of forced her to improve, as she wanted her to because she wanted her daughter to keep winning so she could be proud and to kind of show off her daughter to others.

I went to school, then directly home to learn new chess secrets... But i found it difficult to concentrate at home. My mother had a habit of standing over me while i plotted out my games. I think she thought of herself as a protective ally. Her lips would be sealed tight, and after each move i made, a soft 'Hmmmmph' would scape from her mouth. 

Chua talks about a similar idea. The idea of education. Instead of education, Waverly's mother forces her to learn more chess than her studies. Its also like playing the piano and violin only.  This can be seen as one of those instruments.
I do think that Amy Tan's novel endorses Chua's arguments about motherhood.

Independent children

In The joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, she writes an introductory paragrah or paragraphs before each section of her book, which is more than one chapter each. The paragraphs do not necessarily have anything in especific to do with the stories in the section, but there are connections that can be made and there is a purpose to all of that.
I think that the introductory piece's purpose is to give the reader the idea that children like to be independent when they benefit from the independence.
As I read the chapter, Rules of the Game I realized that the girl, Waverly Jong gets to the point in her life where she starts doing something that gives her life progress which makes her be more independent from others.
Waverly Jong discovers that she has a talent; she is an amazing chess player. She became well known and was one of the best. I think that she likes to be independent after her successes.
One way that she becomes independent is by not being a part of the family. She is a part of the family, but it does not seem like she is a part of the family since she is always busy.
When se wants to practice or think about chess in her room, she can't concentrate when her siblings are making noises so she tells them to be quiet. Being good at chess and actually playing outside of home with other, professional I guess I could say, players makes her change. She does not seem like a little girl anymore. She likes to be alone and independent.
One day, Waverly and her mother went out, not because Waverly wanted to but because her mother made her. They kept seeing people and her mother would proudly tell everyone that she was her daughter. Then Waverly said,

"I wish you wouldn't do that, telling everyone I'm your daughter." My mother stopped walking. ..."Aiii-ya. So shame to be with mother?" She grasped my hand even tighter as she glared at me.

This does not necessarily shows "independence", but I think that the fact that she is embarrased of her mother and she does not want to accept it makes me think that she would like to be independent from her mother. I think that almost all kids go through that point in their lives when they don't like their parents being with them. In this case, chess has changed the life of Waverly and now she doesn't like being with the family. She prefers being alone and independent. But when she realizes that she really depends on herself at the end, she does not want to be independent anymore. What happened at the end was that her mother told the family to leave her alone because Waverly didn't care about them. When she knows she is alone, then she wants it all back.

The ever-cahnging story...

In this first story, Suyuan Woo always changes the ending of the stories of the dream because i think she is trying to send her daughters a message.
The message i think she Suyuan Woo is trying to send her daughters is that their lives are not going to be like their dreams. That they have to make their own lives and live them by what is real.
In her dream, everything was happy and peaceful and it was the perfect place for anyone, or at least for her. There were rivers in Kweilin. There were peaks that were white mists, and beds of soft moss and laugh. Nothing could ever go wrong in that place.
The endings of the stories always seem to be bad, as if they are not part of the dream. For example, Suyuan Woo says that since she was so rich, that money was not worth anything after she won it. I am not completely sure if money is one of the things that makes Suyuan Woo happy, but i bet it would be one. If money makes her happy, and now is not worth anything, not even more than toilet paper as she said, then her dream must be collapsing.
I do not think that she herself lived her life as a real situation, she lived it as if it was a dream. Maybe she is trying to tell her daughters to not have the same life that she had. That is what i meant by living life by what is real and not by their dreams.
I guess that is what she tried to do by telling them different stories. And that is what parents do usually. They learn from their mistakes and do not want their children to make the same they made. I think that Suyuan Woo was a different person in her dreams than in real life. This reminds me of inception, because its like there are dreams within a dream which is not exactly what happens here but in a way they are all different dreams that connect.

The best parents

I think that in the article "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior" by Amy Chua, she makes too many assumptions about Chinese mothers in comparison with western parents. Amy Chua says:

First, I've noticed that Western parents are extremely anxious about their children's self-esteem. They worry about how their children will feel if they fail at something, and they constantly try to reassure their children about how good they are notwithstanding a mediocre performance on a test or at a recital. In other words, Western parents are concerned about their children's psyches. Chinese parents aren't. They assume strength, not fragility, and as a result they behave very differently.

She talks about how Chinese mothers kind of overreact with the actions of their children and western parents do not really mind. I do not completely agrree with that  because i think that not all parents are the same or act the same.
The parent's relationship with their children is strict in the Chinese side. The kid obeys the parents and the kid basically does not have an opinion over what happens, or cannot make important decisions about education or other important stuff. The life of a kid who has a Chinese mother seems much harder than the life of a kid who has a western parent. The Chinese kid has more obligations as described in the article. Kids with Chinese mothers have to really be good in general and seem to have much more pressure than other kids such as American.
American kids on the other hand, who have western parents they are less pressured in almost everything. They do not really have those high expectations that the Chinese kids have. When they get low grades, they are not really pushed by their parents to do better. I know that she is talking about her own family in comparison with the western families, but she kind of make it seem like a comparison of the two general groups.
She makes the point that the two groups are different in the way they teach their children and the relationship they have with their children. I thimk it all depends on culture. There are different views of supporting children in diffeent places and people usually do what they believe is best. If Chinese mothers want to force their children to be successful, i think that is fine, and if a western parent wants their children to try just as hard as they can and not relly support them, then that is fine too.
About the argument about what parents and children owe each other, i think that parents should not really put that much pressure on their children and that the response from the children shlould be respect and efffot.

Rebelling for a reason

Through out history, people have rebelled against their leaders for different reasons. In the last 5 years i have heard about some type of rebellion or revolution in different countries around the world. Right now, the revolution in Egypt is the one that has been most know to people around the world and The United States mainly.
The main connection that i see between what is happening in Egypt and what happened in George Orwell's Animal Farm is that here is only one kind of leader. In Egypt Mubarak has been the leader of the country more than anyone else ever has. He cheats to be the leader over and over and to never be removed out of power. That is not necessarily what happened in Animal Farm but i think that the same idea can be built. Animal Farm had different leaders, but the thing was that they were all pigs and it was never a horse or a donkey, or any other animal that formed part of the farm. I think that having one leader  for a really long time is almost the same as having different leaders that can or could be the same. Even though Major might not have been like Napoleon it was still unfair to have alike leaders having the control. I think that in Animal Farm it was an injustice just to let the pigs be leaders. It would be the same as if a man just like Mubarak became leader after Mubarak and after that man another one like him.
In other cases such as what happened in Honduras in the summer of 2009 also connect to Animal Farm. In Honduras, the ex-president Manuel Zelaya tried changing the constitution of the country so that he could do the same Mubarak did and be reelected  every time. He also took advantage of his power treating the people of the country unfairly. In animal farm, Napoleon and the pigs kept changing the constitution in their favor and also took advantage of their power by making all the animals work so they did not have to do anything.
Changing the rules is unfair, and when someone changes the rules against the people, the people respond by rebelling so that their voices are heard.

The Fianl Chapter

 NOTE: Clover is confused about her gender.

Napoleon went to back to the farm with the rest of the pigs, or the ones that were pigs at some point in their lives after the card game. Napoleon was still furious because Mr. Pilkington had cheated according to him. All the animals that were watching the game ran to back to the farm before Napoleon or one of the pigs came out of there and saw them. Clover could not keep it quiet though; he ran into a fence, broke it and made a lot of noise.

Clover was lying on the ground when Napoleon came out. He did not have any time to get up and run in the farm, but he also thought it would have not been right just to run away and leave the fence broken without taking responsibility for breaking it. Clover had never seen Napoleon looking so angry before. Napoleon screamed, “Clover! Why were you outside?”

“I was watching the game…” said Clover scared.

The rest of the animals made it to the farm without getting caught. They were looking at Clover and Napoleon talking through the holes in the wooden walls of the barn. They thought Napoleon was going to send Clover away from the farm and never come back.

“Well, go back inside and tomorrow you will fix this fence and you will not get any food and water for breaking it!” were Napoleon’s last words that day. He walked around the farm and then into the house. The pigs followed him in and closed the door.

The next morning the pigs came out of the house, except for Napoleon. They called all the animals of the farm and told them they needed to tell them something important. Once all the animals were gathered together in the barn, the pigs asked them to be quiet. Squealer started talking and said, “We have something important to tell you. Napoleon has decided that we will not continue having human connections. He recently had problems with them and he thinks we should just keep our distance and the farm away from them. They are as you all know dangerous.”

The news was such a surprise to all the animals that they were happy.

“Since Napoleon made that decision, he now has full power over what goes on here. The humans were a great advantage to us, and now that they will be gone, Napoleon wants you working much harder than you usually do. You will be assigned more jobs to do and if you refuse to do something, you will be punished. Napoleon will keep giving all of you orders, and we will keep supervising your work. If you do something wrong, there will be big consequences. You are not allowed to go out of the farm and you cannot talk to any other animal out of this farm. Oh! And Napoleon is sick. He said he does not feel good and he will probably stay in the house for a few more days resting “ said Squealer.

After Squealer said that, all the animals looked angry. They knew it was better not to argue so they did what they were told and when they were released, they went straight to do their jobs. Clover obeyed and fixed the fence as Napoleon ordered him.

That night, Clover and Benjamin started talking about what they should do while everyone else was asleep. They both agreed that a rebellion against Napoleon and the pigs was much easier than before since they didn’t have human help anymore. They talked all night about what they’d do and came up with a plan. The next morning they spread the news about the plan and by the evening all the animals knew that there was a plan and that they all had to be up at midnight to hear Clover and Benjamin tell them the plan.

They all waited until the lights of the house were off to be sure that the Pigs and Napoleon were sleeping. Clover began, “Thank you for being here tonight, my comrades. As we all know, Napoleon is taking advantage of his power and taking advantage of us as well. We have to stand up to him and the pigs, just like most of our ancestors rose to overthrow the humans of the farm. We are all brave and strong, and we cannot let this keep happening. We are all animals, therefore we are all equal. Napoleon does not have the right to think he is better than any of us. My plan, my comrades is to get rid of Napoleon and the pigs and to establish justice and equality. We cannot change the pigs; they are always going to be the way they are. What I suggest is for us to burn the house tomorrow night with Napoleon and the pigs in it. That is the only solution we have.”

“I agree with Clover and I think we need to do this before things get out of control.” Said Benjamin.

There was a moment of silence, until Benjamin asked, “so who is with us?”

Moses was the first to answer, “I am”.

Then one after another started answering, “me too”, “I am”, “I am”, “I am too” until everyone said yes.

“Alright comrades, tomorrow we will prepare everything for our plan. We will work as we normally do, but we will be taking dried grass and leafs and we will secretly put them around the house without making it obvious. We will need you, Moses to fly in the house through the chimney and get the matches. Maybe you or someone else can light them. Clover, I will need you to make sure the doors cannot be opened, you are strong, so you and with the help of other can move bales of hay to the possible exists. Is everyone understood?” said Benjamin. They all nodded.

“Thank you for your time comrades, this is and will be for our own good.” Then they all went to sleep.

The following morning, they all started working as usual and putting the dried grass around the house. Neither the pigs nor Napoleon noticed as the animals placed grass around the house. It was finally time to go to sleep and they patiently waited for the lights of the house to be off. They waited about an hour after the lights went off to make sure they were asleep. Then all the animals quietly got out of the barn and starting helping move bales of hay and setting them in front of doors, and any kind of exit. The house was surrounded by grass and dried leafs. Moses, with its beak held a math and lighted it and dropped it on the grass. Fire started. Moses did the same thing all around the house. The fire started getting big. The house was burning and the sky looked black from all the fire smoke. The animals moved away from the fire but still in the farm watching as the house was burned down and everything inside it being destroyed.

The fire continued until the morning, and luckily it did not move from the house to the farm. About an hour after the sun came out, the farmers from other farms close by started coming and trying to stop the fire with buckets of water and hoses. They managed to stop it before it got dark. It didn’t seem like they found anything in the house. That afternoon, the farmers moved the animals to their own farms. Animal farm was completely empty and no one controlled it anymore. The house was totally destroyed, and that gave the farm a feeling of peace, which was of course because there was no one there.

At the end, it was like nothing happened because the humans took the animals over again. Animals then realized that they could never be free. Another attempt on rebelling would be in vein. Clover knew that he could not do anything else to try to be free, so all he and the other animals did was work and do as the humans said for the rest of their lives.

Rebuttal: Should teenagers be allowed to vote? YES!

 Well Amber, first of all, pigs can fly. Don't believe me? well, check this out.

Second of all, i disagree with you even though you had some good points. 

I think that you are making too much of a generalization. You are saying as if all teenagers, those in between the ages of 13 and 20, act the same way or think the same way. Like i said on my post, not all teenagers think the same way. Some think in a great way and some just, well, they are just immature. 

I do agree that voting is a very important decision, but do you really think that teenagers could make a huge difference in elections? They are probably not even half of the population of the people who can vote and since they are mostly influenced by adults as you said, I think it would almost be the same if that were the case because if an adult influences a teen on one side then also another adult influences another teen on the other side (confusing, I know). If influence is a factor, then it wouldn’t really matter because it would be the same amount of adults plus the number of teenagers they influenced which would be an almost evenly number per person or per side (also confusing, a little, I know).
 Our brains might not be developed to understand things like mature adults do, but it is developed enough to understand what is good and what is bad and to be able to choose which decision in an election would be the best. 

You say teens aren’t trusted with any major life decisions until they are adults, but they actually are. Don’t you think that going to a school like ASTI is a major life decision? It might not necessarily be one, but for the most part it is. That isn’t such a good example, but you cant assume that teens aren’t trusted with major life decisions because you cant prove that. Wouldn’t driving be a major life decision? When you drive you are risking a lot, I’m sure that the risk of killing someone could be a life decision. They are trusted to drive, but not to vote? Yup.

Politics and the English Language

Orwell’s main points are that the English language and that political writing have changed through time. We are the ones who have made these changes. Every time, we make more changes to the language creating it more confusing and harder to understand. Orwell says that political writing and the English language are not used correctly.  People have changed the way they speak through the years, they make up new words that they understand when talking but that have no meaning when they are applied in writing. We have developed language that only we understand. For example, people all around the United States have different ways of using the English language. Some people for example, might not understand people that are not from the same place as them because where they live they speak English a little differently and so it might be a little confusing for them to understand each other.

Orwell says that we use words we do not know the meaning of. He says that we tend to say whatever comes to our minds and because the way we think is inaccurate the things we say are bad. I agree with this idea that what we think is inaccurate. I think that even professional writers and professional speakers think in an inaccurate way. Writers for example, they write stuff trying to make their writing look fancy and professional. Sometimes when they try to make their writing look good, the results are that the reader ends up being confused and that there is too much analyzing to do in order to fully understand what the creator of the piece of writing means. We think in a way to impress people says Orwell, and what we need to do is to think clearly with meaningful thoughts that people could understand without analyzing instead of trying to look fancy with writing and making the readers confused. That is what happens in political writing. Orwell says that political writing is sometimes used incorrectly. Sometimes, things such as figurative language are used in political writing and it is totally unnecessary and only makes the political writing confusing rather than understandable. 

He also makes a good point that to make writing understandable, a writer has to be honest about what they are writing. If the writing is made up of, for example opinions stated as facts then there is no point really on writing. The writer must have a reason to write and what he writes should be his thoughts that are understandable and clear.

Orwell says that the English language can be reversed. I agree with him and disagree with him. I agree with him because it can be reversed meaning that people can start thinking more clearly and communicating either through speaking or writing in an understandable way. I disagree with him because I don’t think that all people are willing to make those changes since they are the ones who have some up with those unnecessary words.

In general, I mostly agree with Orwell and his “Politics and the English Language”. I think that the English language has been affected by the misuse of its speakers. It is constantly being changed and made more confusing by the people. I also agree with the idea that the only way we can reverse this is by thinking clearer and being able to share those clean thoughts with everyone so that they understand easily without having to do any kind of analyzing.

What we think is what makes this English language more inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish according to Orwell. Orwell might sound fancy or his writing works might look presentable as if he is trying to make it look great, but the reality is that his ideas are just clear and he thinks in a way other people would understand him.

Should teenagers be allowed to vote?

Teenagers do not all act the same way or think the same way as each other. Some are mature and some have no idea what they are doing and do not care about the consequences.Sometimes there are teenagers that have the capacity to behave like a mature adult. I have personally met people my age who seem to have that adult mentality where everything is serious. I think that most teenagers have the capacity to act mature enough to vote. I think adults make generalizations about us. They see one of us doing something immature, and they think we are all like that, but that is also a generalization; not all adults think that about us. I think that teenagers should be allowed to vote.

Teenagers are a big part of the population in this country. I think that if teenagers could vote, the results of politics would be a little different. It is true that young teenagers are probably not ready for voting, which is something really important in society. Teenagers start to become more mature as they get older. My point is that the voting age should be lowered to sixteen. Even fifteen would be okay. 

For example, in ASTI, we start to see freshmen and sophomores think critically in their work about things that matter in the world such as family, college (higher education), environment, politics, etc. We put our own opinion, and a lot of times people (adults) are impressed by us. We are like young adults. Teenagers work, since we can start working at that age. As said in this article, some of us hold part-time jobs,
some drive, and pay taxes, and seventeen year old teens even serve in the army. The why can't those who work and pay taxes vote?

At schools, there are school governments with the same idea of a normal government, except that they are run by students. If teenagers can vote for something like that, then why wouldn't they be able to vote in real elections? Teenagers that are sixteen or older (maybe fifteen) should be able to vote. There should be some kind of requirements for teenagers, maybe a test or something that can prove that they are ready to vote. That would be a fair thing to do. 


After all, isn't a democracy "a government of the people, by the people, for the people", and aren't we people?

Leaders and Corruption

I think that political power is seen and used different by different people. It really depends on who the person with power is to determine how they will use that power. I believe that if someone with a corrupt mind has a lot of power, that person will use their mind to do bad things and use the power in a bad and unfair way. Power is much like an addiction.I think of power as money. Money is something that when it is unlimited, it becomes addictive to get and to use. On the other hand, if a person with a great and humble mind, like the president of The United States Obama, they would most likely use the power for good. Just like i believe he is right now.
I think that people who use power for corruption are selfish people, they only of themselves and what everyone else thinks does not matter to them. I think that power is a very easy thing to become addicted to, and i have heard of people who seem to be good but once they gain power, they change to evil people. Power is really strong and can change people.
I think that George Orwell would agree with me, i think that he would say that it depends on who the person with power is. I have not finished the book, but from what i have read so far, i think that the different leaders have different ways of using power, some use it for the benefit of the whole farm and some do not.
Political power is a big thing in America, and all around the world; people want good leaders who know how to use politcal power correctly, at least that is what i would want.

What am I going to do this summer?

I have been thinking lately about what I will do this summer of 2011. I will probably have to take a college class again. I am interested on an art class, but I'm not sure about what I will take. I want to travel a lot. That is what I want the most. My parents are thinking about sending my brother and I to Brazil for a few weeks but we don't know yet. I'd love to go to Brazil, plus now that I know a little Portuguese and I can undestand it almost perfectly would make it good. But we are not sure about that yet, so maybe this summer or in 2014 for the world cup which will be there. I can't wait for that. I like Alameda, but last summer I spent 99% of the timehere and it got boring. I wanted to go out of Alameda badly. I'm excited for summer because we don't have school, but I am not excited about the annoying hot weather; I hate it. Summer is not my favorite time of the year, but unfortunately that's when I get a long break from school. Not when it's all nice and cold.
Um, I also want to hang out with friend and with Amber too! She won't be here most if the time though, she will be far away all summer, again. I want to play soccer. I want to spend more time with my brother too. I want to go to my grandma's house in Santa Cruz. I love it there, it's beautiful. I love the ocean.
I don't want to do community service stuff. Even though when I help others it makes me feel good about myself, I do not want to do anything like that, simply because it is boring. I don't like doing boring stuff when I don't have school.
Oh! One thing I don't want to do this summer is homework. I don't like homework during summer. It reminds me of school. If it was only, for example, a day of homework (3-5 hours) I would do it. When we have to do homework at least one day per week, that is annoying. I know it is good for us to practice for school and critical think but I just don't like it. So I'm not looking up to that this summer...
I want my summer to be fun, I want to remember this summer. Traveling would make me happy :)

Does it matter where you go to college? Does that shape your future?

My favorite response was "What You Do vs. What You Do" by Martha O'Connell. Her response post was really convincing in my opinion. She wrote saying that it does not matter where you go to college or university, or if that college or university is elite or not. She discusses that why matters is one's ambition for education. I agree with that. I think that if someone who really wants to succeed and get ahead in life can by going to any school. Success is something mental, if you want it, you get it. At least that is what I think and that's what i think O'Connell thinks. I think that the idea of people who attend elite schoolshave more chances of having a better future is partly true, but it does not apply to everyone who goes to elite schools. The people who have the money have it easy. One thing is having the money, and other thing is actually learning. I do agree that if you lean a lot from an elite school, you will probably have higher chances of having a "better" life than any other person who attended a non-elite school. The other thing is defining "better life". People think different ways, some similarly, and some conpletely different. Better can just mean a simple life, or it can mean lots of money, business, etc. So that means that it doesn't matter how much money they will be making in the future (some people). It all depends on who it is and what they like to study, and how much effort they put on their studies. People should have that mentality to succeed so that in the future they really do succeed.
My least favorite was "Skip to the Admissions Game" by Kevin Carey. I thought everything he said was crap. It's was all about how only the people who go to elite schools succed and people who go to cheaper schools get bad education. I thought he only cared about the rich. There are lots of people that can't afford going to such expensive schools and that they have no chose but to go to cheaper ones. I think that if they really work hard, Thayer can succeed.

Winter is the best!

I don't know how Cheunga could have said so many bad things about winter. She disappointed me. She said on her post:

          I dislike any characteristic of winter. On a typical winter day the sky is abnormally gray, with pale clouds hovering- preventing light from the sun. It is like the light from a lamp is turned to the lowest possible level and a morose feeling comes to me. The volatile whether is annoying and picks the worse time for a storm. Whenever I am wearing a puffy jacket, the clouds agreeably make way for the sun to shine on my heated jacket. When I strip off my jacket, the clouds close up and send the winds to further the discomfort....There is no point wearing anything nice because the rain would ruin it anyways

Cheunga, um, there is something called an umbrella so you can cover your nice clothes and not get it wet. Anyways, Winter is the best time of the year. I totally disagree with you with everything you said, except the sweater part which was a little weird. Haha. Well, I think that when it is cold, it is better because it is not annoying. Comparing winter to summer, summer is horrible; you always feel hot and you sweat and it's all gross and it is annoying being so hot. When it's cold, you may feel something else but never annoyed! Rain is so cool. I don't understand why you don't like it. Rain makes my day so much better. I love the smell of wet soil. I know that sone people like it too, but the reason why I love that smell is because it reminds me of home. Days that look gray do seem sad, but it seems so peaceful and quiet when the sky is gray.
I just think that being cold is better than being hot. Because when you are cold, you can just sit next to the heater, put on 20 sweaters, drink a cup of hot chocolate and everything feels nice. On the other hand, when you are hot, if you sit next to a fan, or the AC, it takes a while to get that annoying feeling out of you. It's all bad.
Nothing is like the cold weather, the rain, the winds and the gray sky. That is why winter is the best cheunga. ;)