I Dream a World

When I read the poem "I Dream a World" by Langston Hughes it brought back a memory of someone that made a big change in our history as we know it. Throughout our history we once had a wise young African-American man who made a big difference in our world to this day. His name was Martin Luther King JR. He had a dream of there being no race in this country that everyone will treat whites and blacks equally. That no one would be discriminated by their color and that there will finally be peace in this world, etc. With this amazing speech Martin Luther King JR changed the world. Today in America, racism is still very big, yea Martin Luther did help out a lot by giving this speech and standing up for all the blacks that were being discriminated in this world, but he still didn't change everyone's mind, and as you can see our world is way far-off from being at Peace. Martin Luther had the courage of doing this, but yet he was still killed. That just proves the big impact racism has in our country.

Even though the death of Sir Martin Luther King JR happened long ago that still doesn't change all the racism that has been going around in our world especially America, it's just not as indirect as it were back then. It still has its disgusted-ness of racism, people today still believe that blacks should sit in back of the bus, or go to a separate school from the rich white kids. Or that Mexicans are just here to take over our country. In a recent study on about 100 four year old's, it has been proved that they think that the pretty blond blue/green-eyed white kid is smarter, funnier, prettier, and will be more successful than a brown kid of another race. When it gets down to that point you know we have a problem going on. Think about it, if we don't stop this now were would our world end up at by time time our kids have kids?

In my dream I pretty much agree with Langston Hughes. One day I do want to have peace in this world that no one will be judged or neglected by their race. We are working hard to conquer these goals I just want them to become a reality. I want this world to get the education it needs so that it can bring better futures for our children and grandchildren. They need better then what we were taught and our parents and grandparents were taught both in and out of school.

Everyone has the power to speak out and make a difference in this world. For me I personally believe I can make a big difference, not by doing something huge each day, but to just be the best person I can be is a way to make a difference in the world. Everyone can make a difference in this world if they speak their mind and show the courage, strength and bravery out there like Langston Hughes had.

Book Report: The New Girl:)

My just finished book this week was called: The New Girl by the famous author R.L. Stine. Since I started reading more advanced books back in elementary school I always enjoyed reading books by R.L. Stine. Now that I am more in the "young adult" age, the regular goosebumps books are way to easy for me. Thankfully R.L. Stine came up with a whole new series just for young adult readers, the Fear Street Series.

The New Girl is the very first book in the Fear Street Series. It starts off with Corey, your regular silly goof off boy. The popular one at school that has all the friends you can ever ask for, without realizing that just by the simple glance he gave to this girl he became hungrily obsessed with her. Well who wouldn't?; she is truly beautiful, blond, big blue eyes, gorgeous pale skin. Yet there is something quite off about her, she dresses in a rather old fashion and wears dresses to school most days, she is quiet no one seems to notice her in classes, and she misses most days at school. Still, Corey becomes obsessed with her day in and day out, he soon starts slacking off at school, Gymnastics, and starts to ditch his own friends.  One day he decides to give her a call because he just wants to get to know her so he can get over this obsession he has with her. He calls and a strange mans voice answers and he says that she is dead to stop calling the house. Corey is shocked at the news he receives. He decides to go over and finally get some answers, at the end he gets his answers but they end up twisting the whole story around.

I really like these type of stories because R.L. Stine always mixes everything around, like the end is always something you will just not expect and leaves you totally shocked. I recommend this book, and other books from R. L. Stine to young readers who like unexpected mysteries. Yes they are pretty thin books that you can finish in a couple of days, but they are just so good and addicting!

Essay:Race in America

"Oh America the beautiful," Yes it is a beautiful country we have buildings, money, malls, oceans, lakes, trees, skies, etc... all the beautiful things you can imagine. But the people? Let's say that we don't all treat each other very nice or with respect. If you go to New York City and look at the statue of liberty you would notice that the base has a poem that says something like bring me your poor and everyone is welcomed in this country that we will help them succeed in life. This is how America is supposed to be that people from all over the world are welcomed and have a better life here no matter what your race or religion. But in reality we only want some type of looking people, or do we?

In the news a few weeks ago there was a big controversy all over America to whether or not the Islamic Cultural Center be built two blocks away from ground zero in New York City. It started off as a local news story, but then people from all over, seemed to get angry and offensive and decided to invent stories and lies of their own. Now the story turned into a lie, and have built doubts upon many families of different religions and race. It has become such a Political issue that many people even think that we will have terrorists attacks again very soon.

President Obama said that people have the right to built the Islamic Cultural Center, but WHERE they have decided to be built it is the problem, and is causing people to get all angered up and offended because of the 9/11 terrorists attacks. Stephen Balwin agrees with him he thinks we should move it somewhere else where we won't have memories and finally be at peace with each other. Meanwhile Rabbi Gewritz has his own opinion too, he believes that according to the Bill of Rights we all have our right to free will, which includes expressing ourselves and practicing religious beliefs as long as they are not offensive or hateful to other people. Rabbi himself served on the 9/11 and thinks that its a very special place and he agrees that it will just create more controversy and problems. According to Lissa Miller, Politicians are taking advantage of this problem and stating their opinion in order to get more votes, without even realizing that they are just creating more problems for America.

This is getting so out of hand that many Americans have turned their backs on the president and have been saying that he is Muslim, though Obama himself has said that he is a Christian they just ignore that and believe what they want. Many people are so bothered that Obama is president that they would invent all these lies just to prejudice him, and it doesn't even have anything to do with the Islamic Cultural Center being built. I don't think that this is right people have the option to practice any religion because this country is free of accepting any religion it shouldn't come to a point where you have to prove your religion, there shouldn't be so many arguments about it. I realize that religion pretty much shapes your life, but people are just taking this to the extreme.

Now in other news that is really affecting America  is about the Pastor Terry Jones in Florida. This Pastor has planned on burning the Qurans, which is the Islamic Bible, on the unforgettable date of 9/11. He has been gathering hundreds, and hundreds of Qurans from all over the country from people who agree with him. He is doing this because he believes that this is what God would want, and God talked to him. He believes that Islams are the devil and even though he is putting many of our soldiers in Jeopardy he will continue with his plan because he believes that that is the right thing to do.

Many Muslims have been offended and tried to solve this problem in a civilized way. They have protested around the church in Florida because it's a cruel and unfair Justice to them. There has been going on shouts all over saying "Long Live Islam" and "Death to America." Islams have proved their anger and hurt feelings and even the commander of troops in Afghanistan is furious with this Pastor. The Pastor just doesn't understand the damage that he will cause if he continues with his plans, the War just won't end. The Afghanies are not just sitting there with their arms crossed, they have already started attacks, including throwing rocks at the Military Vehicles.

I understand that America went through a horrible unforgettable tragedy nine years ago with the terrorists attacks, and many many innocent people died. But in my opinion, the way Pastor Terry Jones is taking things into hand is not the right way. I know that we can't forget and all be nice to each other and live in peace, but we are America. There shouldn't be so many hatred coming from us, we know better. We're not going to end the War and fix everything in one day, but if we do things little by little, trying our least to provoke people it should help out. Pastor Terry Jones is making a huge mistake, not only is he saying he is speaking for all Christians, he is also saying that the Constitution is giving him the right to be doing what he is doing. By insisting with his plans he is putting many U.S. Troops that are serving our country and Americans in jeopardy. And the Politicians are not being helpful at all. They are saying things they don't mean just to get votes. I think that we need to have more respect for the people around us starting off with President Obama, and back down and try to handle things in a more civilized and nicer way because this is just hurting America more. We already took the Native Americans rights, and now were doing the same to the Mexicans and Islams.

Book Report:Tell Me Who:))

The book that I have read this week is called Tell Me Who by Jessica Wollman. In my opinion, this book was quite silly and fun. It was based on the magical world of future telling, and psychic readings, but with a whole new twist. It has a whole girly kick to it, so if you like girly, fun, silly books you will definitely enjoy this one. It really wasn't my type of book, but I like to try new things. I finished this book pretty fast it was a bit challenging, but not quite enough for me.

It starts off with 12 year old, best friends Molly and Tana, at Molly's house playing a silly game of "light as a feather stiff as a board". They both, especially Tana, have always been obsessed with magical and psychic games that tell the future and things like that. After they realize that the game doesn't really work, they get sent to clean up the basement by Molly's future step mom "the claw". That's where they discover an antique machine that accurately predicts who you are going to marry. The problems just start spilling from there because Molly doesn't like her future husband, which is a stinky 5th grader, but Tana gets head over heals by her prince Edmund future husband. They name it The Who Meter, which eventually turns into the Ew-Meter, and they start charging kids from all over their school to find out their future spouse. Things start to get even more out of hand when the most popular girl at school finds out she is going to marry seven times, and the most popular boy at school never ends up marrying at all. That's when Molly knows the Ew-Meter is trouble and she tries to do everything she can to change the readings and not have "the claw" as her step mom or the stinky 5th grader as her future husband.

They face little struggles and their friendship gets in big jeopardy, but Molly and Tana save the day at last. I enjoyed reading this book because it was a cute adventure and it brought back memories when I was in middle school and the little drama my friends and I had that we made such a big deal out of. It took me away from this stressful high school life and brought back all the little silly adventures I had of my own. I don't really like books like this, but once in a while it won't hurt, just to have a little laugh and enjoy the book.

Essay: Cultural Underpinnings of Literature:))

"This human World of ours would be inconceivable without the practical existence of a religious belief" (Hitler,Adolf). Religion, take a second to think and realize that without this we are nothing. Since the very first human beings that have walked this earth we have had many ways of religion. Just alone in the United States of America Religious beliefs have shaped literature, politics, philosophy, writing, poetry, culture, and even the social sciences. Today in the Western Civilization it has compromised the broad heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs of religious beliefs, and specific artifacts and technologies shared with the western sphere of influence. When we talk about Western we often refer to Asian, African, Native American, or Arab nations. But this is affecting the entire world, including the Politics in the United States today and in the Southwest of New Mexico.

The Judeo-Christian Paradigm is very important in America. But before we start to talk about that, lets go way back and find out what the heck Judeo-Christian means. Religion came from England coming to America. Judaism gave birth to Christianity and pretty much all the other religions. It started out with Judaism, then Jesus and from there formed all the other religions tens and thousands of decades long ago. From then on it has shaped our traditions, music, religious beliefs, philosophy, art, beauty, and eventually everything in the world. Judeo-Christianity is what has brought up America, it has given its values to America. For the majority of America Judeo-Christian is the common culture. Judeo Christian is the moral accountability for the individual rather than a group. We practice the life of what was left of the Monks. For example, our churches are still schools. They still teach us things and we pray like they used to back then. We have rituals as in Baptisms and we celebrate them. The churches are still in the league from generation to generation, we just aren't as traditional and strict as the Monks. Church for them was literally a school, Church for us is more like a gathering now in days. Another thing that the Monks have practiced is how they identified themselves. They wore poncho like hoods that meant their I.D.'s. Today we at Atrisco as students and Faculty, we were I.D.'s also, but they are just little badges, with clips or with the liner’s. Even with simple things like putting air in a balloon is what is left from the Monks, back then in order to play the Organ they had to step on a balloon like thing to get some air in it to fill it up and play the instrument. Now we just blow on a balloon, or use oxygen to fill it up. See everything that happened around the 1500's affects the way we live our lives today.

Since America was the first and only country defined as Judeo-Christian Culture we are all suppose to follow that culture, and we are all welcomed in this country. You can see it all the time everywhere when people put the American Flag up and say "In God We Trust", we don't point it out literally but it's pretty clear that America is not welcoming the Muslims or Atheist. The Statue of Liberty has it written on her base that everyone is welcomed in this country, "bring me your poor your huddled masses. . etc" yea we may seem that we welcome everyone in this country to have a better and free life but yet we built big border walls trying to keep the "brown" people away, because were bad and we try to take over etc. But not the Canadians no, they are free to walk in and out as much as they like to. People from China, Europe, or India come along and we are as happy as ever. How come America only allows certain people into the country to come freely? It's not just the people who come in America its also your type of Sexual Orientation that defies you from good and bad in this country. People don't really notice but only 5 States in the U.S. allows same sex marriage. Apparently if your different as everyone else now you are going to die and burn in hell.

Judeo-Christian throughout history has also shaped Politics in America. Everyone had to have the same beliefs back then it wasn't until the 1900's when we had our first Catholic President. But still many people who were running in the office who had different belief were having a difficult time because of their differences. In 2008 we had our first ever African-American President in History and many Republic-Americans are boiling up their anger up to this day because they are so bothered at the fact that he Barrack Obama is our President. They are doing the impossible to get everyone against him, they are even saying things like Obama is a Muslim or that he is not a true American-Citizen. I think its great that Obama is president, it doesn't matter what religion, or color he is. Obama is serving our country and we as Americans have lost our teachings and our way, to go disrespect him like that.

Religion has taught us many great things, but even it isn't perfect. Religion first started with Judaism and from there it has spread and created a big religion tree. There are so many religions and cultures out there in the world but the reality is that religion has taught us to not accept others because they are different or believe different from us. You are to know that everyone is welcome in the eyes of god, but yet why can't we let in people from different religions, or homo-sexual people? Back then, people who were left-handed were meant to be evil and from the devil, but eventually that got changed and they were just accepted. It's not their fault that they are left-handed its just the way their brain works, the way they were born. The same goes for Homo-sexual people they can't help it.

Religion will forever be a part of our creation from our ancestors it has been passed down from generation to generation. It's not as strict or formal now but I know for a fact that many, many people out there in the world depend on this, or they would be lost. It's part of our souls, it's what makes us, us. Even though we are meant to follow rules from the 1500's nothing says that they can't be changed up, because times have definitely changed and what was once wrong 2000 years ago, is very different now in the 2010.

Kim: Empty Inside [Book Report]=))

The book that I read this week was called Kim: Empty Inside The Diary of an Anonymous Teenager, By Beatrice Sparks. This book is based on the terrible eating disorders of Anorexia Nervosa/Bulimia Nervosa. I don't really read books in diary form, or have read any about anorexia, but this one caught my attention so I decided to give it a try. I actually really enjoyed it.

It starts off with typical teenager Kim who is a recent graduate and is going off to college at UCLA. Her life seems to be getting out of control because in a way she doesn't feel ready to move away from mom and dad and start her whole new life at college. She's in Gymnastics at college and she feels insecure because the other girls in her gymnastics team seem to be just a little bit thinner than her, she also has fear in accepting her own sexuality because she never had a boyfriend so that starts to freak her out more. The only thing she seems to control in her life is food, but even that gets out of hand. Doing terrible things, like being so starved having to eat food from a dog bowl, to using a whole box of laxatives in one night Kim can't realize that her eating disorder is a problem until it was almost too late. With her hands pretty much tied Kim finally accepted her problem, she had help from her friends and family, but she knew only she can save herself.

At some point I thought this book was a little irrelevant because I think that people that suffer from eating disorders wouldn't have time for all the party and fun that Kim herself had, but then I don't know because I, myself fortunately haven't had an eating disorder. This book though, does, however relay to the life of most teenage girls because dealing with the fact that you have to grow up and create your own life can be very difficult, and at a point you don't know how to control things anymore. I recommend this book because I think that anyone can learn a little something about it. Like how to appreciate and love your body, and how the love of family and friends can overcome any obstacles

"Show & Tell"

So it's a simple necklace that lies on my neck every single day. I really don't take it off at all, only when I necessarily have to. There's just so much meaning behind this simple gold with a flower necklace that I can write a whole book trying to explain. It hasn't even been a year since I've had it, but I plan on keeping it forever. It was a gift lets put it that way from someone very, very special to me. That person is now gone from my life, but my promise was to get rid of this necklace the day I stopped loving him. It's silly to say, but there's more reason why I keep this necklace, then just keeping a silly little promise. When I'm lonely, sad or just need time for myself I look down and grab the necklace it brings back so many good memories in my life. Out in the world 600 miles away I know that that person who gave me this necklace is safe and I am still in his memories in some way or another. Every night, I kiss this necklace hanging on my neck before I go to sleep. It sounds silly, but it's a habit I plan on keeping for as long as I can.

Haiku

It's your own destiny you create by your health, your love, and your life.

Always be the best person someone has it worse and wants you to fail.

You were created for a reason in this world make it worth living.