Author's Note

Rabbits are the third most euthanized animals in the United States, behind cats and dogs.
"In reality, most rabbits facing euthanasia were once family companions or classroom pets who were bought at pet stores or breeders and surrendered to shelters when the novelty wore off or at the conclusion of a school year." ("About SaveABunny").
Aside from families and teachers who don't need the rabbit for the purposes of enjoyment for children anymore, some rabbits wind up in shelters after they've suffered abuse, abandonment, and other acts of animal cruelty.
Luckily, many organizations help rescue rabbits who have been placed in shelters where they're next in line to be euthanized. One organization, the House Rabbit Society, has saved over 25,000 rabbits since 1988 ("House Rabbit Society Background").
25,000 is a large number. 25,000 is a shocking number. Yet, 25,000 is just a fraction of the amount of rabbits that have been rescued through these kind of organizations, and just a fraction of those that have not.
When you hear statistics about the number of animals that get put in shelters each year (about 6 to 8 million cats and dogs alone, half of whom are killed) or the amount of animals that are abused each day, I don't think that it affects you as much as if you see it firsthand.
So, the first time I volunteered at Sean Casey Animal Rescue, I was shocked at the amount of animal 's that were there. It was cramped and noisy, with cages stacked on top of one another. Since SCAR is a on-profit no-kill shelter organization, they work as hard as they can to maintain decent conditions, but I was wondering if this place was better that the animal's original home. If people were aware of these conditions or aware of what rescue centers did, would they be more valued in society? Or would problems such as animal abuse still be happening as frequently as it is now?
What I want readers to take away from this book is that no type of animal abuse is good.

If I Say It All Again Again Again It Doesn't Make It More True

I wonder if anybody ever wants to see the truth.

Or, at least the downsides of things. I think that it depends on whether you're an optimist or a pessimist. I feel as though optimistic people always try to block out the bad things, because to an optimist, almost everything has a solution and that solution will solve the problem they're dealing with, so they always look on the bright sides of things (or at least this is what I gather an optimist to be). There is always a positive outlook, a.k.a, the glass is half full. A pessimist is pretty much a person who looks at the downsides of things, the cons, the things that could go wrong with any theoretical solution to this theoretical problem. Me, being just that, always look for problems with things before getting my hopes up, thus resulting in the opposite of the phrase for optimistics: the glass is half empty.
I'm not saying that these are solid set types of people. Plenty of people are in-between, some are extremes in either, and some sit comfortably in one of the two. But I wonder if authors give clues to what the rest of the book is about through these groups.
So far, my answer is yes, even if it's not directly through the character in their dialogue or thoughts.
For example, Persepolis. The main character tells one of her mom's friend's daughter, "when people say that people are away on a trip, doesn't that mean that they're dead?". This was after the other girl, told the main character that her dad was on a trip.
To me, this statement is pretty pessimistic. Not only because it's obviously telling this girl that her dad is dead, but that it's said so casually, like it should be expected that he's dead because of the revolution. It's weird, because I was thinking that the main character was pretty optimistic. She "talks" to God, wanted to become a prophet, and always offered up solutions to problems.
But in books, most things aren't what you think they are. Looks can be deceiving.

Just like the lipeic tree in The Zookeeper's Wife.
First off, let me clear something up. I did not finish the book, so I don't know what happens at the end, or past around page 28. But I can tell you that I'm almost positive that the lipeic tree, a kind of lilac shrub, is a symbol or representation of something throughout the book.
The zookeeper's wife talks a lot (about a page and then some of font this or this big) about the lipeic tree. She talks about how it's beautiful, it makes her home beautiful, it makes her town beautiful. It makes everything beautiful and perfect in her life. Its flowers, its scent all make the lipeic tree beautiful and breathtaking.
I absolutely love what the author did next. Okay, I know that sounded super-corny but let me tell you, it is probably the most genius thing ever, because it's just like when magnets don't attract each other and wind up pushing each other away and you see the magnets move and sway without either one of them touching each other and your fingers barely moving.
What she said next was that the local slang for white lies was lipia.
Lipia. Lipeic.
Lipia. Lipeic.
Lipia. Lipeic.
I think it's pretty neat how she incorporates this seemingly small detail into her story with one sentence. While the Lipeic tree is supposed to be this beautiful, calming tree, something so similar is the opposite of what it actually is.
Like in Persepolis, a dad being on a trip is so innocent, but the fact that he might be dead brings doubts into your mind. Doing something big or small may not seems so simplistic or innocent anymore.
Anything can have two sides, and most things do: the optimistic side or the pessimistic side.
So which one do you beleive?

Dear Dr. Scarpetta...

I think that that woman could be the only person on earth who has put up with so many psychopaths breaking into her house at night.

Kay Scarpetta in the medical examiner (yes, a coroner) in Richmond, Virginia in Patricia Cornwell's mystery novels. With her detective "buddy" Marino, they're basically the average pair of people who solve crimes like in any other mystery novel.
What I like about Cornwell's books though are that you get to actually see into Kay's real life, a.k.a, her life at home, not just her bloody life at the morgue and with her jack*** of a commissioner named Amburgey. She actually has real feelings! (Unlike some un-blogging worthy books I've read).
Kay has a weird way to relieve her stress from work. Who wouldn't? I think that you need a little more than yoga or getting drunk to help yourself feel better when you're getting stalked by a guy who's planning to trick you then stab you or strangle you and rape you like he did to 5 other women.
So, Kay relieves herself by cooking Italian food. It's like a little blanket that she hides under from the rest of the world. After a hard day at work she goes home, drinks some liquor, and prepares to go to bed.
I always will wonder when she realizes that making food and drinking alcohol won't help anything, especially since she always happens to it a few days before or the very day that the person who killed everybody else tries to kill her, too.
I think that maybe for some people who hide from the world like Kay have a thick, tight warm blanket around them, but sometimes the blankets have small holes or tears that make the people inside them feel insecure. We all fell insecure, but when you've been in a cocoon for a while, you sort of get used to the dark. Then, when you see the outside world, you're frozen like a deer in headlights because you're so used to seeing the world from the inside of a safe little shell. As tempting as it may be to be addicted to the darkness and not want to see the reality side of things, you always should. If you don't, you're living your whole life in isolation. You're ignoring the world and what it has to offer. And maybe when the opportunity of a lifetime comes along, you'll be hiding. You won't even be there to miss it.

But keep it up, Scarpetta!
KEEP FIGHTING THE EVIL FORCES

Research Entry #2

• "Students who describe themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered are five times more likely to miss school because of feeling unsafe. 28% are forced to drop out. --National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, "Anti-Gay/Lesbian Victimization," New York, 1984.

• The vast majority of victims of anti-lesbian/gay violence - possibly more than 80% - never report the incident, often due to fear of being "outed." --New York Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project Annual Report, 1996.

• 85% of teachers oppose integrating lesbian, gay and bisexual themes in their curricula. --"Making Schools Safe for Gay and Lesbian Youth: Report of the Massachusetts Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth," 1993.

• Due to sexual orientation discrimination, lesbians earn up to 14% less than their heterosexual female peers with similar jobs, education, age and residence, according to a study by the University of Maryland. --Badgett, M.V. Lee, "The Wage Effects of Sexual Orientation Discrimination," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, July 1995.

• 42% of homeless youth identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual. --Orion Center, Survey of Street Youth, Seattle, WA: Orion Center, 1986.

• More than 84% of Americans oppose employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. --Survey Conducted by Newsweek, January 1997.

• 75% of people committing hate crimes are under age 30 - one in three are under 18 - and some of the most pervasive anti-gay violence occurs in schools. --New York Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Report, 1996.

• Lesbian, gay and bisexual youth are at a four times higher risk for suicide than their straight peers. --Gibson P., LCSW, "Gay Male and Lesbian Youth Suicide," Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1989.
  

• A survey of 191 employers revealed that 18% would fire, 27% would refuse to hire and 26% would refuse to promote a person they perceived to be lesbian, gay or bisexual. --Schatz and O'Hanlan, "Anti-Gay Discrimination in Medicine: Results of a National Survey of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Physicians," San Francisco, 1994."

cite: http://www.now.org/issues/lgbi/stats.html
(And all other links).

It really shocks me how much being gay or lesbian can affect your life. It can ruin or give you a detriment on your career, get you bullied in high school, and even make you drop out. So many gays or lesbians commit suicide, or have hate crimes committed toward them. How would it feel to have someone who was homophobic treat you as if you were a different species?
I think that this would be a good topic to write about, because it really shows kids that no matter who you are, you should still be able to live a happy life and be treated as equally as others.

A Bunny's A Bunny, No Matter How Small

For my picture book, I would love to do an "expansion" or "separate way of looking at" the quote from Horton Hears A Who, "A person's a person, no matter how small."
You know, when I hear this quote, I think of people. I think of the fact that all people should be treated fairly, equally. But what else comes to my mind are animals. Yes, we all know that animals get abused. They go to shelters, and make wonderful pets to adopt and love, you care for them, they care for you.
The two probably most common pets are cats and dogs. Maybe that why they're included in the expression "It's raining cats and dogs", and not exotic pets that are kept worldwide. Maybe if we did, the expression would be, "Hey! It's raining monkeys and hedgehogs!"
When people see ads or campaigns or fundraiser signs for animal shelters or animal protection organizations, they see cats and dogs. On a pet shop ad: cats and dogs. Cats and dogs are seen everywhere. Why? They're such common pets. The thing is, some people don't think about the smaller or more exotic animals that get abused or put in shelters or euthanized each day.

"According to the ASPCA, companion rabbits are the third most frequently euthanized animals at shelters, behind cats and dogs. While many shelter rabbits come from feed stores, flea markets, or laboratories, in reality, most rabbits facing euthanasia were once family companions or classroom pets who were bought at pets stores or breeders and surrendered to shelters when the novelty wore off or at the conclusion of a school year. Many people mistakenly assume that rabbits are low-maintenance or good starter pets for children, rather than physically fragile, yet spirited and opinionated animals..."
(http://saveabunny.org/about#need)

Some people don't know that small animals like rabbits or birds or ferrets or reptiles are abused so much each year. I didn't even know how much either, until I took the time to research it, and I learned so much.

I went to SaveABunny.org, (a link is listed above), and found out how many rabbits were abused each year, and even read up on some real-life rabbit-abuse cases and their trials. It's astounding how rabbits can be mistreated. While some can be living in horrible, cramped, and filthy conditions, others can be outright abused, through torture or other kinds of beatings. The white and gray rabbit to the left was even set on fire. (Phoenix - This brave & loving bunny was tortured and set on fire. He came to SaveABunny for treatment of his physical & emotional wounds.)

Since this whole entire project is for social awareness, I want to raise social awareness on how many small animals -not just bunnies- get abused each year. Because after all, a bunny's a bunny, no matter how small.

A Bird Cries, A Damsel Sighs...

When Art Spiegelman wrote the life-changing graphic novel, MAUS, he wrote about anything but a fairy tale. Portraying the characters as different animals, Spiegelman tells the story of his father's experience in the Holocaust.
Right away, I saw a connection between this book and Terrible Things. Not only are they both stories of the Holocaust, but both show the characters as animals, but I think that they both did so for different reasons. Eve Bunting, the author of Terrible Things, had different animals being discriminated against to show the reader the ridiculous things that people in real life discriminate against, and how differences don't matter.
In MAUS, I think that Spiegelman did something very clever with which people from the Holocaust he put as each animal. Spiegelman, his father, his family, and all the rest of the Jews are drawn as mice. Later when he draws the Nazis, if you look closely, you'll notice that they're cats. This says a lot about what happened in the Holocaust. The Nazis and Jews were just like cats and mice: cats hunt mice, and unlike in Tom & Jerry, the cats win the fight in real life. They mice are their prey, small, weak, and helpless. But cats seem like lovable, friendly creatures, a companion, a pet. But to most people, mice, rats, or just all rodents in general, are rabid, nasty, garbage hoarding, dirty, foul beasts, and that's exactly what the real Nazis in the Holocaust thought about the Jews, although the Jews were innocent victims of their power. But the real-life version is the cat is the exact opposite of what the Jews thought of the Nazis. To the Jews, Nazis were killers, liars, men to be feared.
The fact that sometimes animals like mice or rats, playing a human role or not, can be misunderstood, relates back to an entry way back on this blog. This particular entry was about Templeton. Remember him? The rat from Charlotte's Web? I don't think that I'll ever let the idea that he's the real victim of discrimination in Charlotte's Web leave my cerebrum. Throughout the whole book he was described as a nasty, mean and dirty. I find that not only were the animals in the barn discriminatory toward Templeton, but also E.B. White!

¹rat noun \ˈrat\

1

a : any of numerous rodents (Rattus and related genera) differing from the related mice especially by considerably larger size

¹mouse noun \ˈmau̇s

: any of numerous small rodents (as of the genus Mus) with pointed snout, rather small ears, elongated body, and slender tail

I wonder why people think that rats or mice are such abd creatures. Is it because they've had to adapt to be dirty or live in subways because of what us humans have done to the world? Modernization, construction, pollution....what could have made the difference?

Equality, And I Will Be Free.

Equality

You declare you see me dimly
through a glass which will not shine,
though I stand before you boldly,
trim in rank and making time.

You do own to hear me faintly
as a whisper out of range,
while my drums beat out the message
and the rhythms never change.

Equality, and I will be free.
Equality, and I will be free.

You announce my ways are wanton,
that I fly from man to man,
but if I'm just a shadow to you,
could you ever understand?

We have lived a painful history,
we know the shameful past,
but I keep on marching forward,
and you keep on coming last.

Equality, and I will be free.
Equality, and I will be free.

Take the blinders from your vision,
take the padding from your ears,
and confess you've heard me crying,
and admit you've seen my tears.

Hear the tempo so compelling,
hear the blood throb through my veins.
Yes, my drums are beating nightly,
and the rhythms never change.

Equality, and I will be free.
Equality, and I will be free.
-Maya Angelou

The first time I read this, I thought about African Americans, and how there was so much segregation in the United States involving them and whites. It all seems so long ago, but there was still segregation in the US when your grandparents were alive, maybe even your parents. I decided that the poem talked about how the African Americans were fighting for equality and acceptance in society when there was segregation. Maya Angelou is speaking to the white people that aren't accepting. She speaks of their ignorance toward her race, how they know that there should be equality and that they know African Americans wish for it, but don't want to stand up and take action against segregation.
This reminded me of the children's book that we read recently in class called Terrible Things, by Eve Bunting. It's an allegory of the Holocaust, and takes place in a quiet forest, until the "terrible things", which represent Nazis, come and start to take animals that have certain features away. When the terrible things wanted animals with quills, they take porcupines. When they wanted animals that swim, they take the frogs and fish. And each time an animal is taken away, the rest speak badly about it, even if they were friendly before they got taken by the terrible things. In the end, the last survivor thinks, "I wish that I could have stood up against the terrible things."
I think that this moral relates to the poem Equality, because it teaches readers to stand up against people, or even "things", that aren't doing the right thing. The poem teaches readers not to take ignorance as an answer, and to always fight for what you beleive in, which in both cases is equality, for all different types of people or animals, and the African Americans and the whites during segregation.
Another childhood book that the poem Equality relates to is Horton Hears A Who. Horton Hears A Who is about an elephant and his companions that are so small they live on a speck of dust. Others in the forest think that his friends are non-existent. In order to prove that they are real, the beings that live on the speck of dust gather together to make a loud enough noise so that the animals in the forest can hear it. All the villagers beat their drums and shout and scream and blow their whistles and play their loudest instruments. Still, the noise is not loud enough. The mayor runs all around town, in search of one more villager. Finally, he finds one: a little boy named Jojo. When this boy yelps, he makes the noise loud enough for the animals in the forest to hear, and finally their voices are heard, the animals in the forest accept them for who they are, despite their shock that such a small creature could even exist, on a piece of dust no less!
All three authors are telling the reader the same thing: Stand up for what you beleive in, because without a person that's willing to speak their mind toward a person who's doing the wrong thing, their voice will never be heard.

Stereotypes

All women
Are skinny And weak
And have long hair
And pretty
And have children
All men
Are muscular
And strong
and handsome
And have short hair
And have children
Women do chores
And men go to work
Women like men
Men like women

All one society
A "perfect" society.

¹per·fect, adj \ˈpər-fikt\

a : being entirely without fault or defect : flawless

This is not perfect.

Mother to Son

"Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps.
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now—
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair."
-Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

In the poem "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes, Langston takes the role of a mother, speaking to her son about what her life has been like and the troubles that she's been through. The poem acts as a kind of motivational speech to the son, telling him, "Don't you set down on the steps, 'Cause you finds it kinder hard." The mother is telling the son not to give up because life get's hard, and that he's not climbing a crystal stair, like some people.
The crystal stair in the poem represents perfection, and how not all people get to live the kind of life where everything is perfect. The mother, speaking to the son, is telling him about all the difficulties that she's had in life. A splinter, a tack, cold, bare floors or torn up stair boards. Some things hurt for a minute, like a splinter, but some leave bruises for days, or even scars and cuts.
The time period in which the poem was written (1922, around the time of the Great Depression and when African Americans didn't have as many rights as they do today and were discriminated against) also relates to the theme of not giving up because of bumps in the road like in "Mother to Son".
Even 41 years later, there were still issues with discrimination against African Americans.
On August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. said:
"...We must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land."
In the poem "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes, not only does the son represent a literal son, whose mother is telling him valuable information that he'll use throughout his life, the son also symbolizes the whole entire African American population in the United States in 1922, and Hughes is telling them not to let a ripped up floor board, or being tired of climbing, stop them from reaching their ultimate goal: equality.

Social Awareness Journal - Day 5

Day 5
Wednesday, October 27th, 2010
Abortion: Pro-life, or Pro-Choice?

"Abortion: the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus"

"There are two many answers to the question of abortion access. They can be grouped into two basic positions:

Those promoting a pro-life or anti-abortion position say that the government should override a woman's decision to have an abortion in some, many, or all cases, and require her to continue her pregnancy to childbirth.

Most pro-lifers base their stance on the belief that human life, in the form of an ovum and spermatozoon, becomes a human person during the process of conception. Thus, a human pre-embryo, embryo and fetus are all persons entitled to fundamental human rights, including the most basic right: to be allowed to live. The lives of two humans are being considered here: that of the woman and her the life of the pre-embryo, embryo, or fetus.
Those promoting a pro-life or anti-abortion position say that the government should override a woman's decision to have an abortion in some, many, or all cases, and require her to continue her pregnancy to childbirth.

Most pro-lifers base their stance on the belief that human life, in the form of an ovum and spermatozoon, becomes a human person during the process of conception. Thus, a human pre-embryo, embryo and fetus are all persons entitled to fundamental human rights, including the most basic right: to be allowed to live. The lives of two humans are being considered here: that of the woman and her the life of the pre-embryo, embryo, or fetus.

Those promoting a pro-choice position say that the government should not interfere with the woman's decision, or should do so only under very rare circumstances. She should be able to have an abortion in many, most or all cases.

Most pro-choicers base their stance on the belief that human life becomes a human person at some time after conception -- perhaps when the embryo's heart starts beating, or when the fetus first looks human, or it becomes sentient, or it has half emerged from its mother's body, or is born, or is severed from its mother and is functioning independently. They feel that a woman should not be forced to go through a pregnancy and childbirth if she does not choose to do so. She should be allowed to have an abortion if it is done before her embryo or fetus attains personhood."

Abortion has become a major way for people of different opinions to clash. As you read in the article above (cited below), there are two different point of views on abortion. I, myself, am a pro-choicer, because I beleive that a woman has the right to do what she wants to do with her own body. But, at the same time, pro-lifers beleive that a baby, even as a fetus, is still living and deserves a chance at life. Pro-lifers think that no woman should have an abortion.

www.m-w.com
http://www.religioustolerance.org/abofund.htm

Social Awareness Journal - Days 3 and 4

Day 3
Sunday, October 24th, 2010
Poverty, And Its Effects On People Worldwide

What is poverty, anyway? Poverty is "the state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions". While many people around the world can afford everyday expenses such as food or clothing, 97 million of the 471 million people living in Eastern Europe and Central Asia live on less than 2 dollars a day. Also of those 471 million, 24 million live on less than 1 dollar a day. Nearly 50 percent of sub-Saharan Africans live on less than $1 a day, and the number of people in South Asia who live on less than 1 dollar a day reaches almost half a billion. In South Asia, 240 million people don't have access to safe water, and half a billion don't have proper sanitation.
The poverty rates don't even end there. There are tons of families, children, and adults living in poverty in the United States. In fact, 37 million Americans are living in poverty, and nearly 35% of the poorer population in the US is children. The ratio of children who live in poverty in the US, is 1 to 6.

The fact that there are so many people who live in poverty around the world is so depressing. Here I am, typing this on a computer, in my own room, in my own house, with my own family, who makes an average amount of money each year. We're certainly not in poverty, but we're not rich, either. And the funny thing is that I never really remember thanking anybody for what I have. I know that on my birthdays, when people give me gifts, I say thank you. I say thank you when I get presents on the winter holidays. But have I ever thanked anyone for what me or my family has? Or what we don't have?

Day 4
Monday, October 25th, 2010
Sexism...

sex·ism - noun \ˈsek-ˌsi-zəm\: prejudice or discrimination based on sex; especially: discrimination against women

2: behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex
Sexism exists. As you read above, sexism is the belief or attitude that one gender is inferior to, or less valuable than the other.
Sexist statements include things like, "women can not play sports such as football or 'fight'" or "men can not go to salons or get their nails done". These statements discriminate against certain genders; male, or female. "But what's wrong with sexism?" someone might ask. To be short, sexism is just another form of any other kind of discrimination, no worse than racism or other types.

Just like what I said on my point of views of gay suicides and the people who bully people who are gay, I just don't understand it. And I don't understand this. Why would someone feel that they're more superior to someone else just because of their gender? I appreciate women who stand up against sexism toward women (although there is sexism against men, as well). I especially love feminist artists, and how they express their ideas about sexism and feminism in their artwork. It says a lot about how some people in our society today think about sexism.
I'd like to give a shout out to Kiki Smith, my favorite feminist artist, as of...yesterday. ;)

Cite: wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/
globalissues.org
http://www.nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html
thinkquest.org
savethechildren.org

Social Awareness Journal - Days 1 and 2

Day 1
Friday, October 22nd, 2010
Gay Suicides - The Pressure that Society Puts on People Who are Gay

Recently, whether you read it in a newspaper or heard it on the news, you've probably heard about Tyler Clementi's suicide. Tyler Clementi was an 18-year-old gay freshman at Rutger's University, who committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge on September 22nd. Clementi committed suicide after some of his classmates posted footage of him having a sexual encounter with another man. People were shocked, and still are, by his suicide. What some people aren't aware of though, is that Clementi's suicide is just one of many that have been committed over past few months. On September 9th, 15-year-old Billy Lucas hanged himself "[after] what classmates reportedly called a constant stream of invective against him at school."
Then, just a little less than 2 weeks later, 13-year-old Asher Brown shot himself after he told people that he was gay. And, around a month ago, another 13-year-old named Seth Walsh hanged himself, after being "apparently unable to bear a relentless barrage of taunting, bullying and other abuse at the hands of his peers."

My reaction to this? What has the human race become? Who are we to make fun of, and put down, other people because of their sexual orientation? What's the motivation? Or satisfaction? Why do people think that it's okay to push people's emotional limits, so much, and so far, that they commit suicide? That they take their own life, because they're not "socially acceptable"? Think about that.

Day 2
Saturday, October 23rd, 2010
Injustice: What it Means To Be Small, Be Susceptible, Be an Animal

Have you ever seen commercials on television about how many animals are abused each year? What about the ones that tell you how many animals are put in shelters, how many are used for fur, or how many are used for testing make up products or drugs ? In case you haven't, or you've forgotten the number, I'll tell you. Millions of animals are abused each year. Approximately 6-8 million dogs and cats in the United States are put in animal shelters, and of those 6-8 million, approximately 3-4 million are euthanized. In 2006, more than 350,000 baby seals were killed for fur, including more than 30 million mink, foxes, chinchillas, and other animals that are killed on fur farms each year, by electrocution and poisoning, as well as approximately 2 million dogs and cats worth of fur that's exported from places worldwide, and mostly labeled as fake here in the United States, also unaware that some of these 2 million are skinned alive.
In animal testing, approximately 25 million vertebrate animals are tested in the United States every year. If you include invertebrate, the number goes up to 100 million.

The thing that disturbs me the most about how many animals are abused or put in shelters every year, just in the United States, is that so few people actually know about it. Yes, we all know that animals are abused and put in shelters, and that some are killed for fur or testing, but people never really tend to look at the number. I can compare it to an ordinary person: they find a fatty snack that they really like, but never bother to look at the nutrition facts, and eat it almost every day. Over time, they get more and more obese, but they never notice. Then, one day, bam! They look at the scale, and their whole situation just blows up in their face. It's the same this. People never really look between the lines so see the facts that they're missing, and then, all of a sudden, they realize what's wrong, just when it's too late. What's going to happen when the animals that humans hunt become extinct? Or shelters are overridden with animals? Or, no animals are even left?

Appreciation - The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

Besides our favorite things and what we liked to do, there was one thing that set me apart from most of my friends. It wasn't my culture, my religion, or anything of that sort. It was one thing that even I didn't realize until a week or two ago. It was the fact that I had never really read any "childhood books" in my childhood.

I remember reading Charlotte's Web when I was little. I remember skimming through A Wrinkle in Time, and hating it. I also remember the new copies of the whole Chronicles of Narnia that my aunt gave me when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I sat in my room and read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe when the sunlight dripped, and leaked through my windows in the afternoon. I sat and read on the cold, blue tile bathroom floor and closed the door, when I didn't want anyone to disturb my reading. And after I had read just The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, I gave the whole Chronicles of Narnia away.
Why? I don't actually remember. I just gave them away without a second thought.
But now? I wouldn't give up my book filled with The Chronicles of Narnia for a million dollars. (Ok, I would, but you get what I'm trying to say).
Although I didn't realize it when I was younger, the whole entire Chronicles of Narnia are filled with magic, and The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe especially.
The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe is one of the most well known books by C.S. Lewis.
It contains hope, joy, sadness, loneliness, and, finally, the magic that has the power to
transport you and make you feel like you're in Narnia with Lucy, Edmund, Peter, and Susan.
The whole entire book, you have the "Don't look into the closet! Don't look into the closet!" kind of feeling like when your watching a scary movie. C.S. Lewis keeps you on your toes, alert and aware, but at the same time dreamy and isolated as you imagine yourself in Narnia.
How does he do this? Description. Sentence length. Adjectives and words that evoke feelings. Not only does C.S. Lewis use these things, but most writers do too, and these things are what make a story come alive in front of the readers eyes. These things make something 2-D, like words on a piece of paper, turn 3-D like a colorful pop-up book. You can visualize the story in your mind and relate to it through your own life and experiences.
Obviously, C.S. Lewis did a good job: there are multiple editions of The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, a movie, and even more Chronicles of Narnia books that I'm reading now that I know how great the books are.

One of my good friends once told me: "Always try new things. You never know what you might find." Now, I can never say that that wasn't true.

Never Shut Yourself In A Wardrobe

"Edmund can be so rude! Lucy, Peter, and Susan seem so sweet, but Edmund is like the odd person out."
"What's up with the whole, 'don't shut the wardrobe door' thing? Is it bad luck? Lucy and Peter haven't shut the wardrobe, but Edmund has...more 'odd one out'? Or symbolism tying into that? It's mentioned so much."
If you ever read the book The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, you would probably notice that all the kids that the Professor had adopted had good manners, were sensible, and were fairly nice to one another. Except for Edmund.
Consistently throughout the book I see situations where Edmund is left being the odd one out. First, he's horribly mean to Lucy when she tells them about Narnia. Even after he went there himself, he still pretends that she's making it up. Peter and Susan, however, make the effort to beleive that Lucy is telling the truth by consulting the Professor.
Next, he closed the wardrobe door. Now, at first this may not seem like a big deal (it didn't to me either), but since C.S. Lewis mentions the fact that one should never oneself in a wardrobe time after time, I've come to the conclusion that it must mean something. although I haven't figured out what yet.
So while Peter and Lucy sensibly did not close the wardrobe door on themselves when the went inside the wardrobe, Edmund immediately shut it, obviously not knowing any better. This is another example of him being the odd one out. You can't say that he didn't know any better because he isn't as old as Peter, but Lucy is younger than him, and yet she knows not to shut the wardrobe. I keep wondering why he closed the wardrobe. I mean, they all grew up in the same family, Peter the longest and Lucy the shortest, so why don't they all know not to shut a wardrobe behind them?
Another reason that Edmund is the 'odd one out' out of the four siblings is the most obvious reason in the whole book: he went against all of them to be a spy for the white witch. I mean, who does that? Who goes against their siblings (no matter how much you think they're the rude and stuck up people when you are) and basically hands them a piece of paper with their death sentence on it?
Edmund is nothing like his three siblings. While they are nice, understanding, and trustworthy, he turns his back on them, Aslan, and the creatures of Narnia for the witch and her stupid enhanced and enchanted Turkish delight.
I think that throughout the book, Edmund changes though. Even though in the beginning of their stay in Narnia he betrays them to the white witch, by the end of their stay he is one of the two kings if Narnia, one of the people that helped fight against the witch, and has fought countless battles against evil forces that may have still been lurking.
I don't that Edmund will ever be exactly like his siblings, because there is always one odd one out, but through his journeys in Narnia he gained trust, loyalty, friends, and the right to be named one of the kings of Narnia. Long live the Queens and Kings!

A Small Cliche Fantasy Story

If I hadn't reread Charlotte's Web, taken notes, thought about it thoroughly, and written numerous entries on it, if someone asked me what I thought it was about, I probably would have said that it was a small cliche fantasy story that involved a pig and his best friend named Charlotte.
Although it does have the occasional cliche moral or theme (i.e. don't judge a book by it's cover, friendship), how I look at Charlotte's Web now is the complete opposite of how I thought about it before...starting with who I think is the most misunderstood character in this book: Templeton.
At first, Templeton doesn't play much of a big role in Wilbur's life. Toward the end and a little bit toward the middle, he helps save it.
That's exactly what bothers me about Templeton and Wilbur's relationship. While Charlotte thanks Templeton for going out to the dump for Wilbur's benefit, Wilbur doesn't really acknowledge Templeton at all, or the fact that without him, Charlotte would run out of words to write on her web. And without new words on her web, Wilbur is basically asking to become Zuckerman's bacon supply.
Not only does Templeton help Wilbur by collecting scraps of writing at the dump, he bit Wilbur's tail to make him wake up after he fainted at the fair. And still, Templeton doesn't even get the slightest hint at a thank you from Wilbur. All Wilbur wants is more.
Finally, Templeton stands up for himself when Wilbur wants him to get Charlotte's egg sack to bring back to the barn.
"Who made trip after trip to the dump? Why, it was old Templeton. Who saved Charlotte's life by scaring that Arable boy away with that rotten goose egg? Bless my soul, I beleive it was old Templeton. Who bit your tail and got you back on your feet this morning after you fainted in front of the crowd? Old Templeton. Has it ever occurred to you that I'm sick of running around and doing favors?"
I totally get and agree with what Templeton is saying. If you or I did numerous favors for someone, I think that we would both expect that that person at least gave us a thank you, or a small favor back.
But in truth, Wilbur never really thanked Templeton for anything that he did in Wilbur's favor. All Wilbur did to make Templeton happy is give him food, but I think he deserves a real thank you, not bribery.
I think the quote above is meant to make Templeton look like the "bad guy". In fact, that's what I thought when I first read it. But now, I think that Wilbur is such a stuck up brat. He says to Templeton, "Stop acting like a spoiled child!", when in reality, Wilbur is the spoiled child. He asks favors from other people without giving them a thank you, and has had people like Fern and Charlotte care and nurture him his whole life. He doesn't understand Templeton's point of view at all.
I also think Wilbur is hypocritical. When he's up at night in one of the chapters, he looks down on Templeton for being up late chewing on things, which is what a rat does, when he himself is up late as well. This is another example of Wilbur not understanding Templeton's point of view. Being up late and chewing is an instinct for rats, not pigs.
I think that even though Templeton is mainly portrayed as a bad character, Wilbur could not have survived without him and that Wilbur is ignorant and unaware for not realizing this.
I wish I could say that I thought Wilbur was a character who was caring and understanding for others, but I would be lying. Wilbur never really showed understanding or gratefulness toward Templeton...the rat he should be thanking for helping him stay alive to see the spring once more.

How Cruel Human Beings Can Really Be

The summer's over, the school year's started, the air is still hot and stuffy (especially on Prospect Park West because of the bike lane) and it's finally time for...you guessed it! Talking about my reading life this summer!
Okay. So first off, trying to keep up with my reading life was pretty easy, I dove into the summer prepared in advance with many books ready to read. I started the hot season with The Adoration of Jenna Fox, which was an outstanding book, and even though at first it didn't 'woo' me, later on it hooked me; overall thought out, smart, and very well written.
One of the most recent book I've finished is To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Like The Adoration of Jenna Fox, the beginning of the book didn't really lure me in. I tried again...and again...until I finally read past page 3 and began to enjoy the book.
Since I don't like big blocks of text or long paragraphs (bad, I know, but I just can't help it) I found myself skimming. So, I forced myself to go back and re-read all of what I had just "read", like I did in Richard Adams' Watership Down.
I found myself really into the book. I can't find anything faulty with it. I didn't drag through it taking notes and almost forcing myself to find a text to self/world/text connection (sorry Ms. Galang). Overall the reading experience that I had while reading To Kill a Mockingbird was quite an enjoyable one.
The book is about a young girl called Scout, and what her life is like while and after her father defends a black man who is accused of rape in a segregated southern town.
The book starts with explaining Scout, Jem, and their father's history. Then, like any other book, you get to step into the character's shoes and really experience their life.
Scout lives in a small southern town in Alabama. Her life is a simple breath; she breathes in, she breaths out, and her day goes on and on and on until night, then it's starts all over again, with the occasional thrill of bothering the town's "odd person out", Boo Radley with her brother and their friend named Dill.
Her father, Atticus, who is a lawyer, soon gets involved in a case involving a men being accused of beating and raping Maya Ewell. Since the town is segregated, and the man being accused of rape is black (Tom Robinson) and the accusers are white (Maya Ewell and her father), and he knew that he had a very slim chance of winning, he still put his all in all in trying to win the case.
The book To Kill a Mockingbird is not only a book about how Scout, her brother, and her father deal with being labeled as "______ lovers" (If you read the book you'd know what I'm talking about). To Kill a Mockingbird is about a young girl and how she figures out to make sense of the world around her, how to tell untrustworthy people from people who you can trust with your life, and her discovery on how cruel a human being can really be.

Watership Down (Again)

No matter how many different books I read, my mind always drifts back to this book. I might reread it, or might not, or may just forget about it all together, which is exactly what I don't want to do.
Surprisingly, Watership Down is the only book by Richard Adams that I like so far out of the, um, 2 books that I've read by him. (And wow, I remembered his name!)
Watership Down just stands out to me by the depth in it's ideas. I probably have yet to figure out the full meaning of it even though I've spent so much time thinking about it.
My old entry on this book says something along the lines of "Hazel and Fiver want a perfect home where they can fit in." I still think that this is true, and I think that the books makes it quite obvious. Who wants to get picked on for a stupid piece of cowslip in their own warren?
I'm actually starting to think that (one of) the main ideas is perfection. It makes perfect sense! (No pun intended at first, but now that I look back it's kind of funny).
I think that a theme in this book is perfection because the whole point is that the homes Fiver and Hazel try to fit into aren't perfect.
In their original warren, they got picked on and hassled out of good food and high statuses because the weren't in the strongest group. In Strawberry's warren, the rabbits had to worry about the traps that farmers set up to catch them, a deadly secret that they kept. And in Woundwart's warren, the dictator of the warren, (I just said it all) the rabbits have no freedom, and are living in a kind of military camp.
None of the warrens they see and go to are perfect. They all have flaws one way or another. I guess that's why Hazel and Fiver want their warren to be perfect. And I guess this happens with humans too, when people see all the flaws around them and try to fix them. But flaws are so realistic, why bother to change? I guess I would want freedom, and a real family warren instead of other hostile rabbits, but sometimes you can't change anything even if you try hard, even harder that Hazel, Fiver, and all of their friends tried. For example, the flaws going on in the world right now, as you read this, there's war, trees being cut down, oil in the oceans, poverty, animals being abused, animals dying, humans dying, air pollution, land pollution, water pollution...I could go on forever and make this entry so long you couldn't even load the page without your computer freezing, and having a window pop up saying "The URL is not valid and can not be loaded", like mine. But somethings can't be fixed, no matter how hard you or I, or the whole world tries.

Thoughts On Beatles Lyrics

My dad has always been obsessed with The Beatles. Maybe that's why I started to like their music when I was little. On car trips, plane rides, at home, everywhere, The Beatles were constantly playing, song after song. At first, listening to a band play so frequently wherever I went was sort of annoying, but slowly, I grew to love The Beatles. Not just them, but their music, especially their lyrics.
The Beatles have been a part of my family forever-Revolution, my dad's favorite song, and P.S. I Love You, my mom's.
Mine is Think For Yourself-because listening to it makes me think that I'm somewhere else and lets me relax...

I've got a word or two
To say about the things that you do
You're telling all those lies
About the good things that we can have
If we close our eyes

Do what you want to do
And go where you're going to
Think for yourself
'Cause I won't be there with you

I left you far behind
The ruins of the life that you have in mind
And though you still can't see
I know your mind's made up
You're gonna cause more misery

Do what you want to do
And go where you're going to
Think for yourself
'Cause I won't be there with you

Although your mind's opaque
Try thinking more if just for your own sake
The future still looks good
And you've got time to rectify
All the things that you should

Do what you want to do
And go where you're going to
Think for yourself
'Cause I won't be there with you

Do what you want to do
And go where you're going to
Think for yourself
'Cause I won't be there with you
Think for yourself
'Cause I won't be there with you

Deciphering the lyrics, I read a story of someone leaving someone else in the dust. In the past. Leaving them for someone better. The person is confronting the other about their actions, and what they've said. How wrong it is to tell someone else that dreams and fairy tales can't some true. That they've ruined it, not just for every one else, but for themselves. The narrator, "I", encourages them to change for the better, to "rectify all the things you should".

"I left you far behind/The ruins of the life that you have in mind" are the words that sort of wake you up, like an alarm clock. You realize, that maybe your life won't be what you want it to be, that with one bad decision, you could loose everything, like the person the narrator is talking to.
The future still looks good/And you've got time to rectify/All the things that you should". These lines really bring hope to me. To say that you still have a chance at what you want to accomplish, to still have a chance to be able to say "I did it! I made it!" and know that you could really do what you wanted to do, even with the help of someone else. Even though you made a bad choice, and you fell, you can have the strength to get back up, keep on walking, keep on running. But you have a choice- "Do what you want to do". You can make that decision to get back up and pick yourself off the ground, or take someone's hand so that they can help you. You also have the choice to say "No," and stay on the ground.
"Do what you want to do/And go where you're going to/Think for yourself/'Cause I won't be there with you". The chorus, like a lot of songs, seems to make one of the strongest points, and is probably one of the reasons it's repeated. To me, these lines talk about departure, and saying farewell. The say that you have to make your own choices, and not rely on other people to help you all the time because they won't always be there. Even though it's hard to make decisions, you can't always be indecisive, and it's up to you to make good choices.
The lyrics in some Beatles songs move me. Especially this particular song. It shows that being dependent on others all the time and making bad choices can leave you like who the narrator was talking to- someone who stays on the ground when you fall. But we all fall. Hopefully we all get back up. But I think that it's really important to be independent, and be able to catch your balance when you trip.
Overall, The Beatles have made a huge impression on me and my family. Their lyrics, and the heart in their songs make their music come alive. So sometimes, music isn't just a catchy tune or beat, and instruments and someone singing some words that rhyme to get to the top charts...It can be a message their trying to send to the world, about an experience they had...or a time they fell down.

The Tale of Finding a True Home

Watership Down was a book I would have never imagined myself picking up to read, and ultimately, enjoying. Of course, I didn't pick the book out myself; Ann, one of my mother's friends, gave it to me as a birthday gift.
"She says she enjoyed it," I remember my mother saying, handing the stiff book over to me as I sat on the kitchen floor.
I wasn't particularly interested in it, mostly because an adult was recommending it. The book had been tossed aside for maybe a day or so before I actually started to read it.
I loved it. After the first page, I was hooked. The detail was vivid , and I strained myself to read every little word. Put together, it made a lot of sense.
Watership Down is about a rabbit named Hazel and his brother Fiver on their adventure to find a home where they fit in. They escape the warren that they live in with the help of some others like Dandelion, Bigwig, Pipkin, Blackberry, Hawkbit, Silver, and Speedwell.
On their journey they make new friends, like Strawberry, from a far-away warren, as well as enemies like the dictator Woundwort, who runs the military-like warren called Efrafa.
I read about the rabbit God, Frith, who controls the sun, and listened to stories that Dandelion told about El-ahrairah, a rabbit folk hero, also known as the Prince with a thousand enemies.
Watership Down made me think about what "home" means to someone, and if it can be perfect. If it's a place that's run by who's the strongest and has the most power like Hazel's warren. If it's some place that's full of unsaid things that clog the air. If it's a place where you're supposed to follow all the rules and be a type of slave to a dictator.
Shouldn't home be a place that we like to be? Aren't homes supposed to be perfect? Why not?
Watership Down made me think about what home is supposed to be like, and what Hazel and Fiver are looking for. I loved this book, and it's a great read for almost anyone.
Watership Down is a tale of friendship, brotherhood, family, and adventure. I pretty much guarantee it will make you think more about the world, like it made me. :)

The Truth About Forever

This was one of my favorite reads in a while: Not to easy and not too hard. It also made me think about the relationships between parents and their children (or child). Like for example, what a parent wants for their child is sometimes the complete opposite of what the child wants for themselves. Should parents have control over every single thing that their kids do? Or do children get a say?
Macy is starting to think about these ideas after her super-uptight boyfriend Jason goes away to a learning camp - and Macy is left behind with her even more uptight mother for the summer. She and her mother get into serious disagreements, though. Macy just wants to be normal: to be able to go out with friends and go to parties, instead of just being referred to as "the girl who's dad died" or things like that. Her mother, on the other hand, wants to turn 180 degrees from that thought. Macy's mother wants her to be prim and proper, and always do what she tells Macy to do. Throughout the whole book I just want to scream, "Let Macy have freedom already!!"
When Macy finally finds some friends by joining a catering business, things begin to look up. Except for the fact that her mother disapproves her new friends, and limits the time she spends with them. I understand why she would want to do that (one of Macy’s new friends has gone to jail), but does she really have the power to "disapprove" of her daughter's friends?
Macy has other problems, though. Like with her boyfriend, Jason. When Kristy (a friend) tries to see deeper into her relationship with him, Macy starts to really see what her relationship has been like with him. How he's somehow "perfect", and sees Macy as a "project" to make her perfect, too. It makes her feel bad inside, like she isn't perfect enough. He makes her feel like she's not perfect in her own way, even though she is, and he shouldn't make it right for her to feel that way: He may be perfect at Brain Camp, but that doesn't mean Macy has to be too. In fact, one of my favorite parts in this book is when she realizes that.
Macy's summer wasn't perfect, but it was a way for her to discover ways she can be herself like Kristy, her one-of-a-kind friend, instead of a person that someone else wants her to be. In the end, being someone other than herself just makes her feel bad about herself.
I think that the moral of The Truth about Forever is that you have to be yourself, not someone else that people pressure you to be: whether that's prim and proper or being a “perfect”. It's not even like when adults tell you that and you know that they "just say it" to try and help you, like the "Golden Rule" and stuff. It's something that is really and truly something that can affect your life, and not just another old saying.