Black and White Post Reading #2 (October)

"When you keep a cover on your feelings for so long and they finally break free, it's hard to put them on hold again."

            This is a quote from Black and White. I have actually used this quote but in my own words. There are a million different ways to put this. Don’t hold in your feeling or they’ll one day explode out of you. I have held in my feelings to long before and then one day I just exploded. There is also a girl I know that rarely ever let’s her feelings out. Any time she looks upset I try to ask her what is wrong. I have even seen her cry and I try to help her but she will just try to isolate herself. I really wish she wouldn’t do that but I can’t help it. I also know that if she doesn’t open up to more people, that one more thing will happen to her then she will let everything out and it will actually be a mess of a situation. So everyday, I always try to talk to her just to make sure she is okay.

            There can also be a reference to the actual book Black and White. Like when Marcus and Eddie accidentally shot the man in the parking lot, they had to keep it a secret for so long, even from the police. Although I do not condone lying to anyone with proper authority. They were going to go to jail otherwise, though I would not have lied because I know what lying can do to a person. But they lied and you have to think that if you shot somebody and you lied to the police about it, you would feel a lot of guilt. Plus if you were in Eddie’s position, then your best friend that was at the robbery was the one that got arrested even though he was not the one to shoot the gun. That would put even more guilt on you because your best friend got arrested even though you were the one to commit the crime. Yes he/she (in the book, it’s a he) did try to rob the man but they never had pulled the trigger to that gun.

            This quote taught me to express my feelings. Any time I had a bad day, I might just go to my room and yell. I am not joking; yelling will make you feel so relaxed. This is a quote I might give to my kids in the future if I have any because I wouldn’t want them to one day just have a meltdown towards me or their friends. I will also try to make sure no one else I know has a meltdown at least if I can. Because based on experiences, meltdowns can lead to depression. I would know. I don’t want any of my friends to get depressed in the future like I have in the past. So I always try to help anyone that I possibly can.

Black and White Post Reading

“When the noose gets tight around someone’s neck, they are liable to say anything to save they’re own skin.”

            This is a quote from Black and White. I will explain how this can portray to real life and how it portrays to the book. Well this quote means that in the most desperate situations, you are suitable to lie as long as it is helpful. Think of some people in WW2. Jews begged people to let them in their apartments. A lot of people had let the Jews in, even though it was against the law. When the Nazis came into the apartments and asked the people if they have seen any Jews and they said no to help the Jews because they knew they would be killed, or just threw them under the bus and said yes they are over there because they didn’t want them to search the house and find them then arrest the family holding the Jews in secrets. So lying is okay as long as it actually helps someone and doesn’t hurt anyone is what I have taken from this quote. But do not use lying just for any natural means, like if you don’t want your parents to know that you did something bad. So I will always tell the truth unless something really bad will come out of it.

            There are some ways this relates to the book as well. Like near the beginning when (SPOILERS) Marcus had gone to a police interrogation, he lied to the police to make sure that Eddie would not get caught. Now, I do not advice lying to the police at all. I do not care whether it is to save yourself or your best friend. Whether you have done something bad or not, please never lie to the police and do everything they say if you end up in a situation with them. Police are here so you and everyone around you are safe. Marcus was just using the thought that you can lie in certain times of distress in the wrong way. I honestly would not have lied to the police even if Eddie hated me for life. There are five people and only five who I would do anything for. Three of those are my family and the other two are people who I would not want anything to happen to. But that is just an expression that says you love them way too much. I wish that I felt that I would do anything for them, but I cannot. Those people would have to deal with the fact that I would not lie even to the police for they’re complete help. I truly wish I would but I can’t.

            So I hope this inspired any of my fellow classmates that have not read the book (since you are the only people that have not read the book that will read this) to read the book.

Black and White Pre Reading

         How do "mountains" grow between friends? This has happened to me before but thankfully that ended. This happened to two people in a novel called Black and White. A black named Marcus and a white named Eddie. They are star basketball players at their high school. But to make money to pay their student fund, they decided to steal Marcus's dad's gun and do some robberies. They never planned to shoot, just to scare people into giving up they’re money. Well Eddie ended up accidentally shooting someone then Eddie and Marcus made a run for it. During their next game the cops arrived during half time and arrested Marcus because they thought he shot the gun. Eddie got away with no arrest although; Eddie should have gotten arrested because he shot the gun. Both Eddie and Marcus are upset because 1. They have just been separated thanks to a stupid mistake and 2. Once their family finds out, what would happen?

         So this is one of the ways that a friendship can be split up. Crime can easily break up the strongest friendship. This reason is because if someone tricks a friend into crime then that friend might go to jail and then the friendship is done. Although a wall or “mountain” between the friendships doesn’t mean that the friendship is over. While Marcus is being arrested, that doesn’t mean that Eddie won’t try to clear stuff up. Although if Eddie does commit to shooting the man, he would most likely go to jail.

         My experience in a break between friends happened in 6th Grade. 2 of my friends liked each other and I joked around with the girl and the guy took it a bit to seriously and him and I stopped talking. But thank goodness he forgave me and we are still friends today.

         So, I have another source that something in a novel can happen in real life.

Mr Penumbras 24 Hour Bookstore Pre Reading

        How can a book effect a human being? How can it change someone who you know or even you yourself? Well there are many different ways your entire life can change because of one single book. It could be a little change or something that affected there entire future.
        There are many stories that a person can relate to, or someone feels as if they can be put in those shoes and would make the same exact choices which would tie into the whole relating to the people/books. What if someone is depressed or hurt. Then they find this book that looks good to them. Then they read it, once they are done with the book they feel inspired to go into the world confident and know that if anything is wrong with them, they can always rely on the book to boost up their spirit.
         I have a book that affected me greatly. It is The Fault In Our Stars. This taught me that you have to deal with the bad to get something good. One of the quotes in Augustus's house says, to get the rainbow, you must deal with the rain. I deal with a lot of bad things and this book told me that I will get something good out of the bad. Then I did get some good things. My closest friend came to me because I was getting bullied. Now she is my best friend. She and I came together thanks to one of the worse things.
        So yeah, A book can affect a person a lot. Books affected a guy named Clay. If he would have never went into Mr. Penumbra's Bookstore, he would have never met Mr. Penumbra, or find the secret of immortality. So books can and will affect you.

My Sister's Keeper: Post Reading

        "The safety of the rescuer is of higher priority than the safety of the victim of the victim." What does this quote mean? How would pertain to real life? How would it affect the story of My Sister's Keeper? All of these questions can and will be answered in this blog.

        This quote is from a novel called My Sister's Keeper. Jodi Picoult is the author. This quote means that the rescuer must have more protection than the victim. if the person who is saving or helping another has no safety, then the victim could lose. Lets put this into a super hero story's perspective. If Mary Jane gets captured, Spider man must have more protection than Marry so he can save her. If she has more protection but is still captured, Spider man might not save her. If we put this into a real life situation, say there was a robbery. The brigands are holding people there so that the authorities do not show up. When the authorities show up, they should have more protection. If they don't the thieves are able to get rid of them easily, they get away with the money, and we can never find them. So if the victim of anything has more protection, try and change that.

        How could this affect My Sister's Keeper? Well, in My Sister's Keeper, Kate has leukemia and Anna gives her stem cells so she can live. Without Anna, Kate could not live. So Anna must have more protection so she can help Kate. If Anna has small or no protection, then Anna might have a hard time helping her out and Kate could fail. So if Anna is not protected then that family would be upset because it was their fault that Anna was not safe and that is what caused Kate to die.

        Thank you for reading and I hope that this taught you something.

Human Nature Essay

Human Nature Essay

Samuel Carver

Are people naturally good or evil? That question sat in my mind for a while. I would switch from answer to answer figuring out how i thought. When I thought about it wouldn’t it be neither. In this case, naturally means originally, which when you say “a person is originally”, you might think of birth. That baby is a blank slate. So i will explain why I believe that a person is neither naturally good nor evil. I will also pull some examples from two novels titled Night and Lord of the flies.

Back to what I said about a baby being a blank slate. Everything and everyone that person comes into contact with will “write” on the blank slate. A baby has done one thing when it is born, and that is be innocent. If you have done nothing good nor bad, how can you be described as good or evil. Innocence means not guilty. You can guilty for good or bad things (it is just used mostly as a bad thing). If you are not guilty of doing anything in your life then you are not good or bad. Let’s take an example from Lord of the Flies. There was a guy named Piggy (don’t make fun of it, just don’t)  who I thought represented innocence. Think of Piggy as a baby. There were two sides/groups, one leader was Jack and the other, Ralph. Ralph represented good, or you could say a Democracy. Jack was evil, or staying with world leaderships, A Dictatorship. Piggy has a “a blank slate”. Both Jack and Ralph wrote on his blank slate and the he chose a side. Then Roger came up and decided to affect the slate by breaking in (killing Piggy). Piggy was neither good nor evil until she chose a side. All three of those boys wrote on Piggy’s slate and effect his life. So at birth there is a great portion (the greatest you will have) of innocence which makes you not good, not bad, but neutral until you make decisions.

There is also what you are taught. Like me, I was born into a family with love, caring, and fun. There was religion, there were traditions (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Birthday parties every year whether I’m one year old or 16 years). So that’s what I followed. I love all the traditions, I followed the same religion, and i believe in love and care for other people. That is what my family has wrote on my slate. Then i met a friend in second grade who is my closest friend today. She showed me friendship and hopefulness. But if I’m born to a woman who is swore at and beaten by her husband, that is what i would think is right because that is all I remember my dad doing. The parent or adult in your family is your number one role model. If I am born to a nice family (like i was), If I don’t know anything else then i will do what they do. I am following the good that was taught to me. It is when I first learn evil and what evil does, when I choose a path to go down. My surroundings will affect how I make a life.

If you are religious, you will get this. “You can eat any fruit from any tree except the tree in the center. For if you eat the fruit from that tree, then you will be cursed and die.” That was said by God to Adam and Eve in the bible. They were not allowed to eat that fruit or they would die. God never said that they never had a choice to eat it, he just gave a warning. So they decided to eat it because they had free will. Free will is what is called a choice. Like for example, when Jack had to watch for the boat, in Lord of the flies, he went hunting because camp needed food. He had free will to choose to do his job. But he decided to go hunt. The camp hated him after this which sort of struck his anger. Everyone one has free will, like choosing what your going to eat. Even the worst people in the world like Hitler had free will. He chose his beliefs over millions of lives.

So I know this was about me choosing a side over if people are naturally good or bad. But if I had to choose it would be neither. I believe people are neutral.

My Sisters Keeper Pre Reading

            I have chosen to write about (a) what scientist have done to achieve in stem cell research/cloning, (b) how I feel about “creating humans”, and (c) how I would react and feel if I knew I was created for the betterment of another human being.

            Scientists are succeeding in cloning to create human embryonic stem cells. This is helping scientists get closer to being able to create a replacement tissue to treat diseases, but is also speeding up the time to when it will be possible to create clone babies.

            At the Oregon Health and Science University, they took skin cells from a baby with a genetic disease (a disease that can only be transmitted through genetics) and fused them with human eggs that created genetically identical human embryos. Then they extract the stem cells. That is a really hard job; to remove, fuse, and compare anything microscopic is horrifically complicated.

            I really don’t know how I feel towards people creating and cloning babies. I know that it could help some genetic diseases, but what do you think that “clone” would feel like once they knew they were made just for someone else’s life. That person might feel a little insecure about himself or herself. It’s like Anna on page 8 of My Sisters Keeper. She thought, and I quote “It made me wonder, though, what would have happened if Kate had been healthy. Chances are, I’d still be floating up in heaven or wherever, waiting to be attached to a body to spend some time on Earth. Certainly I would not be part of this family. See, unlike the rest of the free world, I didn’t get here by accident. And if your parents have you for a reason, then that reason better exist. Because once it’s gone, so are you.” This shows how insignificant a person can feel if this happened.

            If I knew that I was created for someone else’s betterment (most likely a sibling) by giving them stem cells to help them live I would think like Anna but I would also kind of be proud of myself because it is me keeping someone else alive. Think about it, if you were chosen to make sure someone else stayed alive, you are the positive to they’re life. They’re sun, they’re light, they’re ticket to the world. It sounds like a privilege to me.

            Thank you for reading; I hope you really like the paper. To find out more, search up articles on stem cells. There is also a book about a family that has to deal with two sisters and the younger one must give stem cells to the other one to keep her alive from a disease called leukemia. That is cancer of the blood cells.

            So again thank you for reading and I hope you like my thoughts.