THE END!

Finally! Done with the book, we had our final discussion today, and it went well. My group and i talked about Winston’s changes from the beginning of the book to the end of it and how the book could be the future of the world.
In the beginning of the book, Winston was a rebel. He rebelled against the government - Big Brother, Ministries, any representatives. - It said,” His pen slid voluptuously over the smooth paper, printing in large neat capitals -

DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER

DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER

DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER

DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
over and over again, feeling twinge of panic,” while in the end he said,” He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Big Brother,” (Orwell 18&289). Seeing the transformation of Winston from a rebellion man to a guy that follows the government is a humongous change. Because in the beginning he was into trying to take down the government, like he would do any thing to bring down Big Brother, but in the end he just gave up because of the pain and torture he went through being in Jail. It just shows weakness, because people did not see heroes of time gave up on one little pain, but they worked harder to bring righteousness for the people. Winston did not know that and so he gave up that easily.

Later on my group talked about how the book could rate to the current world and how it could be the future of the world. Well observing from the wars that is currently happening and some of the government styles in ruling their country there is no difference from the book. In the book Oceania, Eurasia, and Europe, but in reality we United States is at war with other countries. With the government controlling over the people like slaves and wars are constantly happening the book could lead to the world’s future.

In conclusion, the book is great. i have enjoyed reading and Orwell’s prediction about the year 1984 could happen in the years head of the world.

deja vu or a reminder?

After reading Kristein Chin’s blog post titled “Forget”, i wanted to make a response to it. At the last paragraph she wrote was interesting. It said,

“I was never interested in my past before, but something recently sparked my brain into having these dreams. Now, I really want to know who I am. These dreams were derived from seeing just one thing recently, but I didn't recognize what. I passed by too many things from day to day and I didn't have the time or energy to recall these things.”

I can relate to this quote because sometimes i see, hear, and smell things that sometimes give me a memory of my past or sometimes deja vu.

There was one times that i was just walking back from school and i saw this balloons tied into a pole and it just reminded me when i was little, living in the Philippines and in each of my birthday i would have a big bash party that all my friends and family was there. And there would be always be games, laughter, and entertainment. And those balloons was just there tired in a knot at the pole and reminded me an event that occurred years before. Or when it is a deja vu. Sometimes when i stare into space and i just hear my surrounding it feels like a deja vu. - A deja vu is an experience of thinking that a situation had occurred before, in other words that event that is occurring feels like it happened before.- For me when i have deja vu, its weird and it scary because you do not know it the event really happen again. So having deja vus and being reminded of the past is good and bad things. It is good because it would be nice to reminded of the past once in a while. It could be bad because probably people want to forget about something that happened tragically in the past and deja vu feels weird. Having deja vus and being reminded of the past is vice versa, according to the person.

Winston's love and rebellion affair. (Book post#2)

My group-mates and i just finished reading the second part of 1984 written by George Orwell. The second part was mainly about Winston’s love for Julia and the book of Goldstein. In the discuss that we had at Friday afternoon during English class, was Julia’s multiple sex partners and her love for Winston. While reading the second part of the book, i came across the area where it explains he job and her multiple partners with men within the Party member and the Inner Party.

“She had had her first love affair when she she was sixteen, with a party member of sixty who later committed suicide to avoid arrest... Since then there had been various others. Life as she saw it was quite simple... the Party, wanted to stop you [her] having it;you [she] broke the rules as best you could,”(Orwell131).

And there i had a question, is Julia truly in love with Winston or is he another sex partner like the others? And there my group discussed this topic. My group said that it could be either way or both. Since there are no relevant evidence, we ended in a conclusion that it could be both. It just shows that love can be a way to cover up for a problem or it could be true and passionate love.
So far the reading of the book as been great. With Winston’s adventure and his rebellion against government and Big Brother just added the suspend to it. In part two there was not a lot of things that was happening, but just explain about the love affair he has with Julia and the book called The Theory And Practice Of Oligrachical Collectivism written by Emmanuel Goldstein. I like the fact that Julia is fighting for her rights again. Ever since Big Brother, the Ministries, and the Party members came the people has lost their individuality because the government forced all the people of London to wear the same designed overalls. The government did this because they wanted to stop the creative thinking of the people and made it illegal to think creatively. And so the government did their work for illegalizing the creative thinking of the people and to show passion for others.

Reponse: Precious Moments

I just read a blog post written by Vincent Liu about precious moments. And i agree with him, there is nothing better than spending time with family or friends at any time in a day and remembering each thing that has happened. He said,

“...a precious moment? It is a moment in our life that we can truly feel happy and warm inside of our heart. It can be more than one moment of your life that you feel is truly important and that you can never forget about it for the rest of your life...Those moments are the time when I feel truly happy and just laugh freely without having to worry about anything at all. Precious moments are also times that you always want to experience again. It is a time in your life that makes you feel like life is truly worth living.”

His state is very much true, because when ever i have the time to spend time with my friends or family it seems that time just stops and each thing we to together is a memory to be remembered for a long time.

I remember the trips that my family and i took when i was little until now. Each of the trips we went to was a chance for us to bond and have fun at the moment we there. And in those time my family and i was traveling, we had new adventures each day. In those time we may have the ups and down, but still it was a memory to be remembered. For example, the trip we took in the Philippines. During times it was horrible, but fun, and in those times my family tired to go to places that was fun or the place we never went to. In the places went was a memory to remember because not every time we could go back to the Philippines, and it was nice to have remember events that is important to my life. Precious moments are events that occur in someone’s life that is important or made a significant attachment to their heart.

1984 Book Post.

Currently I am reading the book call 1984 by George Orwell. Just this week my group finished the first part of the book it is about one hundred pages long. The first part was mostly about Big Brother’s power.

Big Brother is a tyrant over London, he control the people’s lives and thoughts. In all citizen of London, if they have a telescreen or television, the government can see their each movement they made in seconds. Narrator said,

“It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time...-in the assumption that every sound you made was overhead, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinize. Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen. It was safer...,”(Orwell3).

This means that the government will do anything to keep their power. It seems that the government is paranoid that the citizen of London would try to over throw them, so they would have to create a television that had camera to view the people daily. It just shows that Big Brother and the Ministries are self-centered people and care about their power. Including the fact that London has been in constant wars with Oceania and Eurasia.London’s government is just ridiculous and odd.

Big Brother made changes into the society of London is to destroy any textual evidence of the past history and change it to Big Brother’s prediction or idea. This change in the society was a terrible idea because now many people would think that Big Brother did or think those things that happened in history and make him like into a God. Winston’s job is to change the history to make it into Big Brother’s prophecy. It said,

“ A number of the Times which might, because of changes in political alignment, or mistaken prophecies uttered by Big Brother, have been rewritten a dozen times still stood on the files bearing its original date, and no other copy existed to contradict it,”(Orwell40).

This means that Big Brother cares about people worshiping him because he changed the history to make it in to some prophecy. It just makes him sound like a swallow person.

Big Brother and the Ministries has been controlling the people of London. In the year of 1984 there is a new language called Newspeak, and Newspeak was type of language that the people in the government to use to make the citizen sound like idiots. But there is also Oldspeak, this language is what the people around the world currently speaking. It is the normal way, but in Newspeak the people that create new words destroy the language. They tend to make dictionaries filled of Newspeak words and by the end of 2050 all people would speck Newspeak. Winston’s friend said,

“‘The Eleventh Edition is the definitive edition,’”he said. ‘We’re getting the language into its final shape-the shape it’s going to have when nobody speaks anything else. When we’ve finished with it, people like you will have to learn it all over again...,that our chief job is inventing new words. But not one bit of it! We’re destroying words-scores of them, hundred of them,every day. We’re cutting the language down to the bone. The Eleventh Edition won’t contain a single word that will become obsolete before the year 2050,’”(Orwell51).

The purpose of Newspeak is to make the people sound like a fools and to lower the thinking of the citizen so that the superior men would think that they are intelligent people.

Finally the government style in the London has been destroyed by a “powerful” being called Big Brother. And him and the Ministry has been destroying the country of London. They have ruined the language arts and replaced it with Newspeak, there are no more privacy, and they destroyed the history. Big Brother and the Ministry has been controlling the people's lives and thoughts.

Daily Rouitne

I just have to respond to Carly’s response post to Ruby’s blog post about daily routine. Ever since i started attending ASTI (Alameda Science Technology Institute) my daily routine in going to school and stay there for about eight hours and go home and start doing homework. In Ruby’s blog post said,

“My weekly ritual consists of: waking up, going to school, coming home to do homework, and sleeping... Saturday and Sunday, never too much thrill out of those days either."

I can relate to her idea of daily ritual because i do almost the same thing each eek. My daily habits is similar to a robot doing the same thing each day of its life. I find my life in ASTI very boring doing the same routine, it is like nothing exciting happening to my sophomore life except getting the work done before it strikes midnight.

My daily routine is to get up at five thirty in the morning and take a shower for about ten to fifth teen minutes and get ready for school and when i have about an hour left before heading down stairs to eat breakfast i ten to review or read the book “1984” by George Orwell. And when it is finally seven o'clock i go down to the kitchen and eat breakfast and bring my small bowl of food to the living room to turn the television to watch the news for the weather and also the news that are happening in the Bay Area. Then when my alarm for school rang it means i need to go and head for school, but school is not difference. I go to all my four periods before lunch and after lunch head to my last two classes. And finally walk back home when it hits three o’clock, and when i got home i have about thirty minutes to rest then start on my no ending homework. Yup, this is my daily routine for Mondays to Fridays.

Looking at my daily routine, it seems that my life so far is boring. I also notice i take so much time doing school work, i do not even have time for my family or friends. Its true what on of the staff in ASTI said, “we got to sacrifice a lot of things for attending ASTI”. I just hate it when i got so much work to do, while my family or friends are having the time of their life with each other. That makes me feel like an outcast because i was not there in the moment it happened also that with all the work i have to do for school i barely have an eight hour sleep. Now i have dark circles around my eye. Sometimes i wonder if i made the right choice attending ASTI.

The Garcia Girls.

Books gives examples that can connect with the audience. Like in the book How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents written by Julia Alvarez, shows that in some events in book can relate to the readers. In the novel she explains the four sisters going through trials in their life and they are the ones that resolves their problems. I started talking about the author’s connection with the book the gradually explains the character’s life in book. The four girls goes through challenges and they are the ones to resolve their trials and links to the reader’s similar experience.

In the book How the Garcia Girls lost Their Accents; Mami, Papi, Yolanda, Carla, Sofia, and Sandra are from the Dominican Republic. Julia Alvarez was also from the Dominican Republic and moved to New York City like the Garcia family. And when she and her family moved to America, they were very much influenced by the American culture and they respect the American cultures. In the vignette The Blood of the Conquistadors, she wrote about some secret agent from the government of the Dominican Republic. She too experienced pressures the government:

“When Alvarez was ten years old, her father became involved with a plot to overthrow the dictator (military ruler) of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina. His plans were discovered, however. With the help of an American agent, he was able to get his family out of the country before being arrested or killed,“ (notablebiographies.com.

Her family was part of a way for the country to be free from a Tyrant with the help of agents. A similar experience to the the family of Garcia when they were suddenly encountered strange agents from the government of Dominican Republic shown in the vignette Blood of the Conquistador. With her connection with the book and her life, she shows a connections with her audience.
The purpose of this book is to share the author’s experience as a fictional character. She also wrote her book backwards meaning the time line is from present to past. She probably did this because she wants her audience to see that the characters has a deeper meaning. One of her ideas to know more of the characters was to be moving back in time. As she talks about the adventures the Garcia Girls has, she gradually talks about one character at a time. When it got to the middle of Part Two and the though out the ending she started to explain less about the four girls, but into the as an individual character. Because in the beginning she was explaining that Mami and Papi are stilling calling them the four girls as it gets closer in the end of she starting to talk about the characters as individuals. For example on the vignette “An American Surprise” it was about Carla wanting to move to America where it is free and has better jobs. Alvarez started to describe Garcia girls as in one group, then towards the ending she started to dissolve the group description and into individual characters.

The book How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents just explained about the adventures in the past years and i have not seen any connection with the girls but they are all related. The only idea that i know is that it is about four girls that are related to one another and the book is structured like a time line but the time goes backwards not forward. I do not see the main point yet about this book about the four girls being treated like they are still children when ever they visited their father. Alvarez wrote,”Even grown women, they lowered their voices in their father’s earshot when alluding to their bodies’ pleasure,”(pg28). The four girls just want to keep on the type of relationship with their father, that they want to keep on respecting him even all four of them are adults. It proves that even though how old the girls are they are still little girls to their father because they want to respect and care for him even they are married and has their own personal life. Their life being controlled by their father has made them respect his.

In the vignette called Daughter of Invasion, the four Garcia girl’s father ripped apart the speech that Yolanda worked really hard on.He thought it was disrespectful,so he ripped it into shreds. In this action the man controlled the house hold and the women did not have a chance to say anything. Because after he ripped apart the speech he did not want to hear any reasons or excuses from Yolanda or the girls. It started with the speech,

“He mocked Yoyo’s [Yolanda] plagiarized words. ‘That is insubordinate. It is improper. It is disrespecting of her teacher teachers-’... She[Laura] stood by Yoyo’s side, shoulder to shoulder. They look down at Carlos... But now , Carlos was truly furious. It was bad enough that his daughter was rebelling, but here is own wife joining forces with her... He snatched the speech out of Yoyo’s hands... he tore tje speech into shreds,” (pg145-146).

It is a sign of controlling rude man. In conclusion, the Garcia has went through many trials in their life that involves men being to controlling.

This essay has been about the author’s life and connection with it and the deeper meaning of the book and the characters. It explains the men in the girl’s life are controlling and how the author incorporates her life to a fictional book. The essay has a lot of ideas mixed together, but it shows that the author is trying to express her feelings though some of her audiences went though the same experience as her in the vignettes. In her examples of going through the father being controlling, showed that there are girls with fathers that are very strict same as the Garcia girls. The book made a connection with the audience through the vignettes.

The End.

Finally the novel “How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents” is done. Over the course of three weeks, I am finally done ready the book. Even though the reading was hard to understand because its filled with vignettes and the time line is going backwards, it was worth reading it because after listening from other student during the Lit Circle about the book and reading the novel i there are many ideas why Julia Alvarez, what was the true meaning of the book, and how did all the vignettes connect as one idea. I want to focus on the idea of the author’s life and how she reflected in her book.

As i was reading the book, the main characters: Mami, Papi, Yolanda, Carla, Sofia, and Sandra are from the Dominican Republic. When i was looking over Julia Alvarez’s Biography she was too from a Dominican Republic Country and moved to New York city like the Garcia family. And when she and her family moved to America, they were very much influenced by the American culture and they respectfully the American cultures. In the vignette The Blood of the Conquistadors she wrote about some secret agent form the government of the Dominican Republic. She too experienced about the government. “When Alvarez was ten years old, her father became involved with a plot to overthrow the dictator (military ruler) of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina. His plans were discovered, however. With the help of an American agent, he was able to get his family out of the country before being arrested or killed,“(notablebiographies.com). Her family was part of a way for the country to be free from a Tyrant with the help of agents.

The purpose of writing this book was to share the author’s experience as a fictional character and adding more characters rather than herself. She also wrote her book backwards meaning the time line is from preset to past. She probably did this because she wants her audience to see the that the characters has a deeper meaning and get to know the characters more towards the ending or their beginning of their life in America.

Christmas Time.

I found this response post at Tiffany’s blog post that she responded to Karisssa blog. It is about her wanting it to be Christmas already, trust me she is not the only one. I just wished it was already the month of December and me turning sixteen and let the Christmas feeling and season be falling already.

“It's also nice when you turn on the radio and they have holiday music playing, and even though you've heard these songs a million times from the years before, you don't seem to get sick of them. Christmas day is a highly anticipated event and I am always counting down the days of December until the 25th comes. I'm not going to lie, I do look fo[r]ward to the acquisition of what was put under the Christmas tree the night before, but I also really look fo[r]ward to getting to spend this day with my family.”

When i saw this quote at Karisssa’s blog i immediately remembered the days i had with my family during the Christmas times. I remembered the times i go shopping for everyone i knew: my friends and my family. I remember always staying up until midnight and opening presents with family and seeing their surprised faces and just enjoying the time we have for one another.

I just love the month of December because then it a about three weeks without going to school, and just a break from the ASTI school work and pressure. With the final finished and going straight to break is a nice thing because then all the brain cells that has been burned out during the first semester of school can be rebuild and have full load brain, but the down side of having no work during the break is losing the things i have learned from the first semester. This does not mean i want homework during the break, but a small very thin packet, it is just a way for to review the things. -Still i hate having a lot of work during vacation.-December is fun a month and yet be educational.

The month December is always fun for me because its a time for to gather around, me celebrating my birthday, and create a New Years Resolution. It is a month were everyone can party and change their lifestyle.

After A Sicky Week.

Just went back to school this week, I started school again at Monday, November 8, 2010. I'm so tired, i needed to catch up with everybody else since i did not go to school for a whole week. Even though the week is about to be over i have not finished my missed work from History, so I'm just exhausted from everything at school. This week i had to take a Chapter exam for Anatomy since i missed it on Monday, I had to present to her today the partner Drug Project since i left Wendy presenting by herself in front of the class, and I had to study for a quiz for History and start studying for Anatomy and Math Quiz on Monday next week. I am just out of brain juice, this is why i hate missing school because i do not get to learn new things and i have to catch with everybody else also doing the missed work with the current work. I am just about to quit, but no i have to stay.

This week has just been busy for me. Catching up on all my assignment also doing the current homework, my brain is ready to pop with all of the work to do in school Not just in school, but at home too. My parents has been cleaning the house and i was needed for help and i just could not handle all the work with the teacher giving me and my parents. Including the distraction that has been going on around me for a while. The distraction is killing me i just want to go to a place that is not to quite or to load for me to do all the work and i call that my bedroom. It was a place for me to do all my work. Next thing i knew i was done with all of my work and yet i missed a lot a bunch of stuff that my family and friends did.

Looking back at this week i am just tired and missed on a lot of things. Now I'm ready to hit the covers and just sleep until it hits Saturday afternoon.

The Garcia Girls and The Men

   Reading the novel How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents has been quite a reading. The book is all little confusing because of the time changing from present to the past, and the vignettes are not as helping at all. Some of the vignettes are little confusing because of the transition of going to the past, but so far the reading of part two has been straight forward and understanding.
    In part has been an acceptable reading, and i pretty much understood all the vignettes. For example, in the first vignette in part two it talked about the four Garcia girls being influenced by the American culture, and by the influences they encountered they were all sent to boarding school for punishment. 
      The second vignette titled Daughter of Intervention and it was about Yolanda writing a speech for her school and she wanted to write the speech by herself with no help. When she finished writing her speech she read to her father and he thought it was disrespectful to the teacher, so he ripped it apart and he did not want to hear any reasons from Yolanda. Yolanda ran to her room and her mother voluntary wrote a brand new speech for her. 
      The third vignette titled Trespass talked about Carla experiencing a disturbing moment in her life. Carla had troubles in school because the lack of understating of English and going through some changes that made her feel like an outsider. She went to school and many boys ridicule her because of her appearance and her accent. Then Carla was invited by a stranger to get inside the car, but she refused and ran off. She told her mother and her mother called the police. Police came and asked questions about what happened during that time, but she could only say that the man was driving a green car and the man had little hair. It was also families first year in New York, and it was the first time the family experiencing snow. She was afraid to tell and she did not know a lot of English, so he was frustrated. 
         The fourth vignette titled Snow was about the family's first year in New York and it was the first time the family experienced snow. It was the time Yolanda was growing and developing her English vocabulary that describe her life challenges. 
         Fifth, the vignette explained the family had dinner with the people that helped their father to have a job as a doctor, the Fannings.  they were at a ballet show and everyone was enjoying until Sandra saw the most shocking thing in her life. She saw her Mrs. Fanning put a kiss on her father, she could not believe that her father kissed another woman. Then her father saw Sandra and immediately told her not to tell anyone, it was between her, Mrs. Fanning and her father. It was shocking for a child to see her father kissing another woman. These were short summaries about part two.

By reading all of the short summaries of part two from the vignettes it ends tell me that part two is about men had total control over women. I have observe this because in the vignette called Daughter of Invasion the four Garcia girl’s father ripped apart the speech that Yolanda worked really hard on because he thought it was disrespectful. In this action the man controlled the house hold and the women did not had a chance to say anything. Because after he ripped apart the speech he did not want to hear any reasons or excuses from Yolanda or the girls. It is a sign of controlling rude man. In conclusion, the Garcia has went through many trials in their life that involves men being to controlling.

Winter response.

        Referring back to Wendy Li's Blog Post about winter, she mostly describe the good things about winter. But there is also the bad side of it too. For example, the weather is always either very cold that it looks like its about to snow or there will be a storm and i would be soaking wet by the time i get home. This weather happens at the month December, January, and sometimes February. I just do not like having that weather kind of weather because it ends up with people having coughing, sneezing, and fever. The sickness happens because the people go inside and outside the building where inside the building it is nice and warm and outside it is freezing cold.
          The other things is bad side of winter is that we have winter break. I love the winter break because everyone is out of school and we could just hang with our friends and family any time at any day. But the sad part is that we have homework, and i' m guessing this year that we have to read during our winter break and probably write journals about the book. Sometimes homework ruin all the fun at the wrong time. Since its winter break and everyone is going on with family trips or just hanging around with close friends it can just ruin the fun by saying to the family and friends "i have homework to do." Its better with no homework because then people can enjoy with minute they have with their family and friends.
            The other part i hate about winter is my birthday being on winter season. I just do not like having my birthday doing the winter season. Is that the fact my birthday is five days before Christmas which means i only have one gift. Half the gift is for my birthday and the other half is for Christmas. I'm not complaining, but sometimes i just feel sad on birthday because it sometimes rains on my birthday. I would like to have one birthday that is sunny and bright, but that would not happen because it is on winter. 
              As i observe winter does not only have a good side, but also a bad side of it.

Sick Week.

Right now i am at home because i’m “sick”. It all happened last week when a certain student came to school coughing and sneezing everywhere and now im infected. I blame that student for getting me sick. I’m at home doing the homework that i missed so far and not understanding a single thing. I also hear my stomach growling because im to lazy and scared to go down stairs, and just watching television with non of my favorite shows on. I so bored, and i would rather be in school rather at home.
    This Monday i went to the doctor at exactly five thirty in the evening to get a check up because i have been coughing for about a week a ready. Dr. Stevens asked me questions about how long i have my coughing, what type  of medicine im allergic too, and all the question the doctor ask when people come in. Then i describe to her what is happening whenever i cough; I have dry cough and whenever i start coughing it starts over and over again and when my lungs do not have any air it finally stops then my coughing started again. She said, “your couching sounds suspicious,” so she got me tested for Whooping Cough.-Whooping cough is a type of virus or decease that anyone can be infected, but can make babies die.- After the vaccine shot and the awkward test, she prescribe  two medicines. One is the antibiotics for Whooping cough and that i need to take for five days and cough syrup for my coughing. That was my day of of medicines.

I’am at home watching television and doing homework. If i did not get sick i would not have to leave Wendy presenting by herself and i feel like i made her do all the work. It is sad i did that to her and i am missing a lot on school. But the good side of staying home is that i would not have to wake early in the morning or stay up late because im doing school work, i could do my work in the afternoon, and just relax the entire time. For once i did not feel the the stress of being an ASTI  student and feel like a normal teenager.

How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents: Book Blog Post 1

I just read the first part of  How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, and it was great. The first part of the book mostly talked about the adventures of the four girls, they are: Yolanda, Carla, Sandra, and Sofia. Even though there are many adventures that these four girls had in the first part of the book, there are also weakness in the book. The weakness is that i have noticed that the book it is a Vignette, I personally do not like vignette books because sometimes it does not work with the stories inside the book. Because on the last book that i read had Vignettes and it worked because there was a main idea that mostly talked about it. Not like the book How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents just explained about the adventures in the past years and i have not seen any connection with the girls but they are all related.

Since the book is full of vignettes and not a connective story then it has been confusing. The book is okay, but i just did not see the main idea of it. Even though it is a book of vignettes it should have a certain topic that connects all the ideas together. Because i like a book that has an idea by just reading at least the first part, but in this book reading the first part did not give me any connection that could the entire book me about. The only idea that i know is that it is about four girls that are related to one another and the book is structured like a time line but the time goes backwards not forward. I do not see the main point yet about this book.

The book has been fine, and i think the book connects with the audience that had the same experience as the four girls had in the vignettes. For example the vignette that talked about the four girls being treated like they are still children when ever they visited their father. Probably there are women that are married ,out there that they are still being treated like children when ever they visit there parents place. My point is that this book can relate to readers that has the same experience like Yolanda, Carla, Sandra, and Sofia had.

Refective Essay.

The first quarter of ASTI just ended about a week ago, and now i want to reflect back on my writing post on English. So far on my Free Topic blog posts has been fine. I wrote about my trip to the Philippines, the show Glee, and my favorite Filipino Drama “Kristein:Precious Hearts and Romance”. In all of my Free topic blog posts has been straight forward and understandable. In all of Free Blog Posts i mostly explained on how i enjoyed watching my favorite shows and doing fun events in the Philippines. But in my response posts i have some trouble writing a flow blog post. Even though i have struggles with my writing, it has not change from the first quarter.

So far i have not seen any major changes in my repose post, but i have notice that in my free topic blog posts it is more organized.  For example, in one of my free topic blog post i wrote about my trip to the Philippines this summer. I have observe in that blog post i use chronological order to be organized. “After that flight, we finally landed to Manila International Airport around five o’clock in the morning-mostly every passenger clapped when we landed...The first thing we did was to unpack everything and get settled” (par. 4&5). I used this specific order because i want to the readers of my blog to see how our first day of in the Philippines went in certain ways. Using chronological order is the best way to put a story together with lots of events. The other story that is fluid is my free topic Blog post about one of my favorite show. I wrote about the first time i saw the first episode of season two in Glee. And in the that blog post i poetically summarized the entire first episode, but i also added some questions i asked my self. 

“ I was wondering that why did Rachel Berry feel treated to Sunshine, just because of her voice. Probably she was thinking that Sunshine would take her spot light away from her when we auditions for a spot at the Gee club. But the thing i did not understand towards the ending of the episode she let her audition. Maybe her conscience made an effect on her that she should have let Sunshine audition.... In the end, Sunshine ends up getting a vocalist directer and her family got a condo and green cards, so she would not be attending  the Glee Club after all, (2-3)”. 

In this writing i mostly summarized the show and thought some questions a long the way. By using this organization it made my essay flow and understandable. As i observe my writing in my free topic blog posts, it is more consistent and organized. By being organized it makes my writing in my Free Topic Blog Post to be understandable and it flows.

In reversed, at my response blog post i have trouble writing it to be organized and fluid. Because i see a quote from someones blog i immediately want to write about it as my response post. In the end, i finish in a up with no words to type, and end up being repetitive. For example, when i made a response post about Shiyun’s blog post about jealousy i made some repetition. “ Coming back to the quote, she sees that consequence of having jealousy... Coming back to the quote, she sees that consequence of having jealousy,” (par.3). On quotes that i see that is good to write about i sometime repeat my self. I repeat myself when i cannot think of a final sentence or any type of sentence that flows with the paragraph. When this i happen i get irritate and i either start over or quit. Like i did on Mr. Sutherland’s blog post, i wanted to write about his post, and his blog post is about how my writing in my blog post has not change; like I'm doing in the reflective essay .But i could not finish my idea because i either repeat my self or my ideas did not come as one whole. 

“While searching for a blog post to response i came around at Mr. Shutherland’s blog post. i came across at one of his post called Slowbloggin' Cont'd that explains how his writing post has been slow for a while...And sitting in front of my computer not knowing what to write. I was struggling on what should right about.Having to,” (par.1) 

When i wrote this i wanted to write more of Mr. Sutherland  blog post, but after “And sitting in front of my computer not knowing what to write. I was struggling on what should right about.” that when i figure out i need help on my writing skills.

The first quarter just ended and it seem that my writing has not change. I have observe in my free topic blog post it is in order and on my response post it is either to repetitive or the ideas does not connect with each other. My goal to stop writer’s blog is to gradually write my blog post. I would think before i write, so that there would be less repetitive or misleading ideas. Also i have notice that my Commentaries are shorter than my concrete details. On my response post i do not think more of outside the box, i more stay what the quote is literally means. For me to fix this mistake i need to first pick quotes that are not to broad and also that try to connect with world and explain how it connect with quote. By the end of the second quarter i would like to see great changes in my response post.

Night. -.-

    In the world people are part of a religion or not. Some are strong with their faith some are not. At the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, he experience of losing his faith with his Jewish religion. He started as strong boy that wanted to learn more about his religion ended to be a confused boy whether if he believes or not. The central conflict in Night is Eliezer began strong at his faith and ended with a confused mind.
    In the beginning of the book he started a strong boy with enthusiasm learning about his religion. He even wanted to be a Master to instruct about Zohar. Him and his father was talking and he told hid father he wanted to a Jewish Master. “One evening i told him how unhappy i was because i could not find a master in Sighet to instruct me in the Zohar, the cabbalistic books, the Jewish mysticism,”(3). Eliezer was determined to be an instructor, he wanted to learn more about the Jewish religion. His father is encourages him to a Rabbi, but Eleizer only thinks it so easy but it is not. His Father said, “ You must first study  the basic subjects within your own understanding,”(2). His father told him that it is not just learning about the religion, but also to to try to make it with his own words. Eliezer needed to comprehend the word and share with everyone that believes in the Jewish religion. Eliezer is strong boy with strong faith.
    As the war worsen, the city of Sighet turned into a ghetto. The Nazi soliders put barbered wars around the city so no one can leave or enter. The community felt like they were a small republic or a close community. Eliezer said, “Little by little life returned to normal. The barbed wire which fenced us did not cause us any real fear. We even thought ourselves rather well off; we were entirely self-contained,”(9). They are a brave community, without worrying about tomorrow if they will live or not. Including Eliezer’s fate, it seem nothing can tear his faith from him. As their life continue with the war. They received terrible news mostly everyday, but this one is the worst. “ ‘I have teribble,e news,’ he [father] said at last. ‘Deportation,’... They began their journey without a backward glances at the abandon streets, the dead, empty houses, the gardens...,”(14&19). It is like being apart from their childhood; they were forcefully moved out and traveled by foot to another destination. And yet he stayed with his fate, he felt this journey is an opportunity in life. So they traveled to a concentration camp.
    Finally him and his community reached the concentration camp, he was separated from his family and from there they experience a life they would not have. He witnessed many tortures, he felt the fear of dying; as if they were losing their fate. “Never shall I forget that night, the night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night,... Never shall I forget that smoke... Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever,”(32). He finally understood that living during a can cause his life. Well enough he is  losing his faith at his religion. He is coming to the realization that not everything will be fine.  Until little by little they lost it. As his life in the concentration camps continue and seeing his family and friends disappearing he lost hope and fate. For example on Eliezer,”.... there was not longer any reason why should I fast. I no longer accepted God’s silence,”(66). Eliezer lost his faith and hope that the war would end and their connection with God.  He is coming to the point that he does not believe in God anymore because of the war, people disappearing, and his family being apart from him. He just gave up at his religion and tries to move on with.
    As his life goes on at the concentration camp, he lost his fate and himself because he witnessed a lot of things that he should not have seen. He wanted to quit his fate and tired to move on with his life. His fate became a memory that will never come back.

Reposnse: Jealousy.

I was just reading Shiyun’s blog post about Jealousy. And when she asked the question, “Have you ever felt jealous at one point?” I reflected in my life, and I too experience jealousy. I remember being jealous of my little brother because he has the brains like my mom. when ever he gets good grades in school, I feel like a failure because he has all A’s and I have all B’s or C’s. I was always been jealous of my little brother. But in the end I got over it because I know I do try best in school and I’m proud of the grade i have because I do deserve it.

Also when she wrote down, 

“   When we are jealous, we do some things that we would not normally do. I think that we should be more calm when this happens. We do not always have to have what others have. If we do, then doesn't it just make us all the same. I think we should just feel happy for what they have." 

I have to agree with her because it is true, we should be happy on what we have because we deserve it. Learning from my experience, I too do feel that my brother is better than me, but the thing is we are two different people with two different minds. So when I realize that i gave up with that issue and just move on.

Coming back to the quote, she sees that consequence of having jealousy, when she said we do some things that we would not normally do. She say is saying that when we do feel jealous we sometimes think about thinks we would do to that person or what we would so to our selves. The point is feeling the jealousy is can lead into major consequences.

The meaning of jealousy is to go against another's success. and whenever we see that people has better life or has all the things you want; it makes you feel that you are a failure because you can not get all those things or have a good life for your-self. Overall Jealousy is every where and we cannot do anything about it.

Philippines II.

    A week an half just past by. I finally saw almost all of my cousins that I grew up with, they’re are so old and has children now. I was great being in the Philippines, inhaling the polluted air, feel the hot breeze of the heat waves, and  smelling the aroma of the street fishball or BBQ.  It was like when I little again. Since it was rainy season at the Philippines, it mostly rained during the afternoon. I remember when i was little I always played in the rain with all my friends and family, but when I saw my first tropical rain in a long time I did not want to go because I do not want to catch a cold or any kind of sickness- I was in a vacation and I do not want to waste my time lying in hospital bed and being sick.
    Soon enough a whole week just past by me, and realize that I did not bother trying to finish my summer homework- While I was in the Philippines, I did not even bother to do my summer homework. Anyways My family has only been to two kinds of mall, SM Mall Cubao, Ali-Mall, and Gateway, they were all in the same place as if they connected to on another. My family and I has been going to that place back and forth for the last week and I personally think the workers there knows our name. The thing is Cubao really changed over the course of seven years, they renovated all parts of it was really nice and they have branded stores from all over the world, its like they knew that I m coming home. I was a whole new transformation.
    Since I’m in the topic of change or transformation, all the people or things that I remember when I was little changed. For example, my crush and his older brother and especially his little sister changed. They have all matured- his little sister was a close friend when I was little-, and I remember her very short but I did not know she was a year younger than me. Because of her height I have always thought of her as old as my little brother, so when I saw her for the first time I did not even recognize her at all. she got taller and skinnier. including the house we lived in. To me it used to be huge, but now it seem it got smaller, but mom said that it only looked small because we grew. Overall all the people I knew when I was little changed and all the places my family and I went to and lived. It was great seeing these changes, but also it felt like a part of me grew up.

My trip to the PHILIPPINES. part 1.

I miss the Philippines. I remember my trip with all the exciting and fun stuff that my family and I did. It all started the last week of July, and each day that gets closer to our flight i get excited each time.For about seven years we have not seen our family and friends, and the time came and it was a whole new culture in the Philippines.

Finally, the day came, we arrive at San Francisco International Air around eight o’clock in the evening, and waited for about out one or two hours in the waiting area. Soon enough, the flight attendants started to tell the people to weigh their carry on bags and to start to line up. The flight attendants started with families with infants, toddlers, or disabled family members. It took a while when they called for our row which was in the front so we were the last one to come aboard.

At last we were on our seats and our carry-on where on the storage compartment above us or under our feet. Our flight to the Philippines was long and uncomfortable, it lasted for about twelve to thirteen hours. It was so cool that in front of us was a television screen-for every individual seat- that could play movies, music, and much more, so during the flight we would be comfortable and sleepy. For me the entire trip was uncomfortable because a long the way he hit some bumps so i felt a little dizzy on the way, and i can’t full put my seat down because some man was behind me. Including that there was these two old couple that was watching movies and they could not keep their mouth shut, until they feel asleep. My trip to the Philippines was not so great after all.

After that all flight, we finally landed to Manila International Airport around five o’clock in the morning-mostly every passenger clapped when we landed-. When we landed at the airport, they just opened the entire airport so the heat from the air vent hit us, and so we sweat ed as we exited to get our passport check, and when we exited the baggage claim area it was even hotter outside. I hated the first day already and we had to wait for my uncle to pick us up. Finally and thank goodness my uncle came right before I melted like butter, but the good thing is that as we drove to our place to stay I saw new things that i did not see when I was little like: Mega Mall, how the pollution there got worse, and how all of my niece, nephew, and all my awesome cousins grew up to be great adults/parents.

The first thing we did was to unpack everything and get settled. We unloaded the Balikbayan Boxes be bought and took out all the thing we will give to all of our friends and family. So we change in to our: shorts, t-shirts, and sandals, so that we would be more comfortable with the weather and headed out to our old house and met all of our old neighbors again. And I even remember my very first crush, and they were still living right next to our old house. And that is another story.

Reponse: Mistreating your Girlfriend

“For all the guys that have a girlfriend, you should always treat her right. If you have a girlfriend, be with her only if you care about her, trust her and love her. Mistreating your girlfriend is a very stupid thing to do. Only because you you’re the guy in the relationship doesn’t give you the right to boss her around. That is so unfair. Advice for the girl, leave the damn guy! You shouldn’t be taking the crap that he throws at you. If any young girl is going through all that but still love him she should open your eyes, understand what you’ve got your self in and forget about him. “

When i read Fremin’s first paragraph about Mistreating your Girlfriend, i just have to agree with him. Because why would girls put up with guys that treat them like crap, girls deserve better boyfriends. If the guys is being rude to the girl, then the girl really has to break-up with him. No matter what the guy’s status in school or wherever, the girl has the right for dumping the boy. And guys say that they’re “men”, if guys are men why are they rude to some girls, should they be a gentleman to be man?  

When he implied “Another thing that guys do when they are in a relationship is that they try to pressure their girlfriend to have sex,” at his second paragraph i just have to disagree with him, because not all guys pressure their girlfriends to be having sex but sometimes their girlfriends pressure them to be having it. I do agree with his idea, but sometimes it is not the guys fault.  But mostly i hear guys hurting their girlfriends to get what they want.
    Finally, when he said,

“On the other hand, girls have many more consequences to face if something goes wrong. They can get STDs so as the guy and get pregnant. And a girl’s reputation is much more at stake if she has sex and people find out about it. rumors will be spread and she will be called a hoe, or a slut. She will not only get sex but also might be dumped,. If she gets pregnant, she might abort the baby which is wrong to do.”

I do agree with his statement because there are more girls getting STDs and getting pregnant when they first time having sex. Girls have more consequence than guys because there are girls that get called “Slut”, “hoe”, and etc when they get dumped by the guy just after having sex. It just horrible seeing or hearing about girls doing things that can harm their life by just regretting on having sex.

In conclusion, girls suffer more if guys force them to be having sex, being beaten on, and just being rude. Because girls can go through trams, deep depression, and committing suicide.
   

Q's Misunderstood Love Life

Thesis: Q’s love relationship is played by his misunderstanding which consistently lead to heartache. 

              It all happened, when Q met a female reptile creature, at  near by swamp. They spend the days together. They both played, chased each other, and just having fun. Q said, “That was about the time [Q] I fell in love. Lll and [Q] I spent the days together...”(pg74).  She was his first love, and they mostly staying together all day. They should have a serious relationship, where they understood one another, but he has the wrong idea of Lll’s future . He said to him self, “Finally, [Q] I understood: she went to the lagoon,... to swim underwater...It was a game..., but a game I didn’t like...” (pg 80-81) Q understood Lll, but has a different idea of their future together as a married couple. He taught that Lll just wanted to learn how to swim, turns out she wanted to live in the water.  At that point Q was confused and he misunderstood Lll. He wanted to convince her that she does not belong to the water, but on land where they belong. There fight ended with break up. He said, “ It was hard to blow for me. But, after all, what could I do about?  went on my way, in the mist of of the world’s transformation, being transformed myself.” (pg 81) The fight did not really matter to him, but he was still hurt. After all, they were engage and had a serious relationship. By Q’s misunderstanding of idea, he lost the girl that could have been his forever.      

              Years has passed and Q has forgotten all about Lll. He met new creatures from a group called New Ones or Pantotheres. Later on, he met a female Patotheres, and he has a different feeling, and her name is Fer-Flowe. Q describe her,” [She] Fern-Flower, the young creature of the spring...” (pg 101) When he first saw her, he has no words to say to. It clearly show that he is having a different feeling toward her. They first became friends and turned into something special. He say, “ A kid of friendliness has grown up between Fern-Flower and me. Nothing too intimate: [Q] I had never dared touch her. But we had long talks... This was the moment for me to embrace her.” (pg101) At first he does not have an intimate feeling towards her, and later on wants to tell her how feels and he just do not know how to express his feelings to her. But after all that loving, they came into a small bump into their relationship. He said, “Fern-Flower burst into tears.” (pg 107) Q got so mad that her lost his temper and put on that anger on Fern-Flower.The fight was about Q’s low life.  

               With his misunderstanding and anger problems he lost two girls that could of been his. He has no control, he thinks all about himself. Like the incident of Fern-Flower, 

“I has burst of pride; I stiffened and hurled a few contemptuous phrases in her face: ‘Why do you bore me with these dreams of yours? They get more childish every time! You can’t dream anything but sentimental nonsense!’(pg107) 

He could only talk about is himself, he is so coincident. Especially, the way he says it to Fern-Flower, he yelled at her and destroyed anything between them. He can be so rude and he has no feelings

Response: RIch and the Poor.

I just read a blog post by Shiyun about the rich and the poor. On her introductory paragraph, there was a sentence that captured my eyes. And it said, “Although rich people may have lots of money, poor people seem to have a much better life.” when I read this part of her introductory paragraph, I just have to disagree with her. Its because not all people that struggle with money have a better life than the wealthier. Many families and people are struggle because of their money problem and many of them ends in disaster. For example, in families or marriages, when they struggle in money the parents or couple ends up in a divorce because of the constant arguing about their finical problems, and about single people when they are laid off work they go to normal to depressed. My point is that not all people that are poor do not have a better life than the rich.
    Also when I encounter the sentence, I had some question in my head.  For instance, where did she get this idea, where are her facts that states that poor people are more happy than the rich?

In addition, I also found another sentence that does not really make sense to me. She said, “...while rich people don't have trustful friends, they are mean, and not independent.” It is another stereotype. First of all, there are many different types of rich people; like the business type- i think this is what she is describing-, born wealthy, and much more.  Yes maybe there are wealthy people that are snobby or rude when it comes to money or status in life, but are  rich people that can be nice, caring people. The citizens just have to get to know them and be sure that they are good people.

I see another stereotype, Shiyun wrote, 

“Although rich people may look very nice as if they will give you anything you might need. I noticed that they are very selfish. They don't seem to share their things. Rich people are quite mean to people that are not as rich as them. They don't care much about others feelings because they know their the best and they deserve anything they want.”

Like I said earlier, it is just another stereotype. How could she possibly know that these are true? Does she stalk rich people and where can she get solid evidence?

Lastly, I do understand her point, but mostly I see are opinion and not solid facts that can be supported with evidence. I just hope on her next writing she writes, she would use solid facts and not her opinion.

Glee Fanatic!

I just watched the new episode of Glee, for their second season. It was great, the songs they sang from beginning to end was phenomenal. I just loved each moment of it, especially the showdown between Charice Pampergo played as Sunshine Cruz and Lea Michele as Rachel Berry. They were in the girls bathroom and Charice “Sunshine” -she is one of my favorite singer of all time- just walked in to fix her hair, while Lea “Rachel” was hanging flayers in the stalls and the walls to let the girls know around the school that there are opening spots at the Glee Club. While Sunshine was fixing her hair the song Telephone by Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce played in her music player. Then she started singing and Rachel heard. But Rachel had a strange look at her face, that she felt that she was being treated because Sunshine's singing voice. The showdown started, but to Charice it was just for fun. It started strong, but cut off in the middle because the cheerleader coach walked in and told them both to shut it. That moment was intense because they “battled” through singing rather than fist fight. 

I was wondering that why did Rachel Berry feel treated to Sunshine, just because of her singing? Probably she was thinking that Sunshine would take her spot light away from her when she auditions for a spot at the Gee club. But the thing I did not understand towards the ending of the episode, she let her auditioned. Maybe her conscience made an effect on her that she should have let Sunshine audition. And during Sunshine's audition she sang the song Listen by Beyonce and she is adequate for the spot at the Glee Club,she sang that song wonderful.

In the end, Sunshine derives a vocalist directer and her family got a condo and green cards, but she would not be attending  the Glee Club after all. And also when Rachel gave her the wrong place to meet for the auditions the first time, so she does not trust her after that incident and she thought that Rachel “would make her life a living hell”-, and I would have agree with her because I do not want someone to hate me if it cause my natural born talent and I would not miss a very good opportunity in my life to be a professional singer-.

Vocab list

1.  derive
2. imply
3. impose
4. marginal
5. entity
6. adeuate
7. regime
8. ration
9. revenue
10. acquisition

Repose Post: " Swagga-Style"

I just read a blog post about “Swagga-Style” and i think it is a bit disorganize. First,she started of with questions about who started style or what is style, and then she showed a time line from 1910 to 2010. From this, her post sounded awkward, she said at her first paragraph;

“ ‘If all your friends where wearing this, so would you’[.]Alot of people say its the celebrity's that are the ones to choose the style and change it up as much as they want but reall, it's not the celebrities its the youth them selves, Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj Totally Dress crazy and all out there, but every kidd around the street can't mimick there style to the fullest.”

When she wrote this, i got more confused. Because from the beginning she showed a time line and questions, so i thought she will be writing about how style changed , but instead she talked about how it influence people around us. Her transition was not as good and she did not explain a lot of details on “inter racial fashions”, so it had a major gap of explanations. Second, her blog post was to short and she did not even cite the time line. She could of done more explaining rather than asking questions. Lastly, i saw mostly saw about White Americans and African American sense of style, what happened to the other ethnic groups? But there was a part that was promising.

    The phrase was: “I think fashion is an expression of who you are,...” it made me think that fashion became a cultural piece. I taught about this because fashion has its on style, and in other countries they have different ways they dress. That sentence impact me because every one has their own unique style and no one can take it away.

    I think that is what the witter is trying to portray, even tough her context does not connect with one idea. I almost understand the meaning of her blog post. Her post was mainly about fashion and how it changes over time, but she was drifting to a different topic about ethnicity style and that made it more confusing. Aleah just needed to focus on one topic, cite facts, correct grammar problems, and read out load before posting it. 

Free topic: "Kritine-Precious Hearts Romance"

    I just watched a Filipino Drama Series called “Kristine-Precious Hearts Romance” and decided that iI should blog about it. This series is about two sisters that got separated because the oldest tried to go to their grandfather’s ranch to get finical help, but she made a wrong turn while driving and she ended in wrong place at the wrong time. For over a decade their grandfather’s ranch and the other has been in war, the De Silva(the other ranch family owners) and Fortalejo( which are the two sisters and mother’s  family ranch). Days had passed and the older sister had not come home or returned any phone calls or text, so the younger sister decided to go and look for her sister at the De Silva ranch. While she is traveling, their mother has no idea what and where are her daughters because she is at conference meeting at Davao City . As soon, as the mother found out she went to the province to look for her daughters. There is a twist, all of them are in the walls of the enemy. It is hard for three of them to reunite and leave the the ranch alive.

Just watching this drama series it creates tension. Each time the new episode ends I always think what would happen next. With the enemy watching every move they make, it is hard for them to escape. The part I love about this series, that the province they are at, people would find their true love. While they are at the villains ranch they have love partners (not the mother because she just lost her husband), but they cannot be in love with each other because the men they are in love with works or owns the De Silva ranch while the girls are part of their grandfather’s ranch. They cannot fall in love with each other because of the status difference, but in their hearts they truly love one other.

This kind of series I just love. With all the tension building up, questions I ask, and the way the characters act it just makes me melt- it seems I can feel what they feel when they are  acting. The way this series is directed is just marvellous and the scenery is great. I give thumbs up to Director Rory Quintos and producers. The series of Precious Hearts and Roman are based in books turned in to everyday drama series, but one day i would like to the read the book- sadly it is in Tagalog, I could barely read in Tagalog. Watching these dramas are great, but if I have enough time I would like to read the books that is based upon it so I could understand the details clearly and compare it to the drama if the writer cut-off some parts in the book. It would be a lot of fun and better to understand. 

This is the Book version. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfFyGDrFRkk&feature=related

The link will lead you to the trailer of the series. sorry about the bad quality and sorry if you cannot understand Tagalog.

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1.03.01

Francis and Grirzzell's Rebuttal

My partner and I has been in a debate about if sexual orientation is determined at birth. The opposing team has said that sexual orientation is not a choice and it is determined at birth. Well, Francis and I argue that it is a choice to be homosexual or heterosexual.

The opposing team has stated at their opening statement:

“ ‘Being born gay’ as most people say, is in fact not a choice.....There is no such thing as a child waking up one day to all of a sudden say, “I’m homosexual” or even heterosexual or bisexual. The decision has already been made before birth. There are no paths to choose from: you are just born the way you are.”

Francis and I do not agree with their statement, because both of us agree that it is a choice to be gay. This choice can mostly happen through sexual abuse or influence by friends or family. The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality has said:

“NARTH  agrees with the American Psychological Association that ‘biological, psychical and social factors’ shape sexual identity at an early age for most people... There is no such thing as a ‘gay gene’ and there is no evidence to support the idea that homosexuality is genetic or unchangeable.”

With this people can not have gay genes in their DNA because it would not survive the gene pool and can make this choice because of an effect in life. Francis and I strongly agree that it is choice to be homosexual or heterosexual.

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1.03.01

Bullies bully.

I found this quote at Shiyun's blog. 

I think people bully others because they want others to think that they are powerful and strong. They want to let others know that they are weak and they are not able to hurt them. I think people also bully others because they feel bad about themselves, so they hurt others instead to make themselves feel better. Bullies don't want to look weak and in the inside they feel that they are below everyone, ..."

This quote of Shiyun can relate to the ASTI Constitution. In one of the rules it says that we have to treat everyone equally, so it means that we should not bully one another. Shiyun’s quote is relatable to the constitution by not bullying one another. By explaining her quote, people bully one another because they do not want to show their true feelings, so they demonstrate it in terrible actions. Bullies also bully not just because of how they are feeling, but also to make other people feel awful about them-selves. This happens mostly to people that are innocent because they are an easy to target. For example, if you are student that does well in school and suddenly an another student makes fun about something that you did not do, soon enough, the entire class well mock and laugh at you. Bullies do this because they want a special type of attention from their fellow peers. It is the easiest way for them to express of how they are feeling and to think that they are superior of all their classmates. This reconnects to our ASTI Constitution, of how we need to treat everyone fairly and think before you speak or act. By bullying a student or a person can make a big impact on a person’s personality. Like, when a student bully another kid, all the other student knows that the child has no manner and know that they have to be careful around the bully. That we need to think and before we act and that we need to speak up for yourself and others. This explains that we need to help the others that are being bullied and that we need to show we are confident enough to tell our leaders about bullies that are happening. We need to speak for ourselves and for others, that we could stop bullying in our areas. This is an ASTI Constitution: speak up for yourself and others, think before you speak or act, and accept others for who they are