Janie from "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

     Something I admire about Janie is that she knows herself very well it seems. She has her own thoughts and opinions and is not just living the typical wife role, or at least doesn't want to be. She likes the independence that comes her way with the death of Joe Starks. She proves many people wrong when she owns and runs the store successfully and can play checkers. Although others try to undermine her by insulting her intelligence, appearance, and ability to perform tasks, Janie is not easily fooled, has self-confidence without being vain, loves herself, which can seem like the easiest thing to some, but for others is a daily struggle. This confidence gives her the ability to not care about the gossip and what other people say or think about her. She knows she wants to be free form the oppression of men, which is not to say she wants to be without one, which is another thing she knows about herself.
     Her dream of finding true love is normal and admirable, but at the same time is one thing that bothers me about her. I feel like she knows she can easily be without a man especially now that she is almost getting too old to marry. Nevertheless, she is hung up on this idea she NEEDS to find true love and that once she has found this her marriage with him will be perfect. This might be because of, like Janie had said in the book, her grandmother pushing her down this path of marriage without love so early in Janie's life and Janie was left with this curiosity and yearning of what she could have found if she had explored herself with no rush. Also considering the time period this story takes place in, we see women were expected to have a man by their side always because they were seen as unfit to work and care for themselves, whereas today, it isn't uncommon to have independent women, widows not remarried, single mothers, and lesbian couples who may also have their own family. Also she has learned to be a bit more cautious of running into a relationship head on with the first man that "talks in rhymes to her" from her experience with Jody. She makes sure that Tea Cake has good intentions (not wanting to waste her money/force her into things she doesn't want) and that he understands the reality of their potential relationship.
     Overall I really like Janie as a character because I feel like she is outspoken (for a black woman of her time), independent, practical, rational, confident, and charismatic.

Thankful for a Classmate

I was trying to choose one person in my class that I am thankful for, but I was having trouble because I didn't want to have the people I know feel left out. So I am going to list them and a few things that explain why I am thankful for them.

Veronica, for her happiness and positivity, and always helping me out by reminding me what we have for homework.

Iris, also for her happiness and borderline insanity, which is hilarious and cheers me up, and being a really smart person in my group works.

Sylvia, for being easy to have a laugh with about the most random things in division, and saying really cheesy jokes.

Bailey, for always willing to be in a group with me and giving the group good and well thought ideas.

And also to anyone who makes a funny remark in class that makes me laugh. (I promise I'm laughing with you not at you) :)

Hemingway

Hemingway is an American writer who lived between 1899-1961. He had various personal struggles throughout his life. He helped out in WWI and also in the Spanish Civil War. He also had married 4 times. This had heavily influenced Hemingway's writing, but for me, it was getting a bit depressing. After I was done feeling depressed, it got a bit predictable in what I should be looking for in terms of analysis and meaning of the stories. It usually had something to do with war, PTSD, emptiness (as in missing something e.g. happiness, love, light), marital problems, or masculinity/pride/honor. Speaking of which, his attitudes toward women, countless affairs, and myopic view of what a man should be were rather annoying. This being said I actually enjoy his writing style. It is very simple in that the reading is not hard to understand, but it is challenging in that he might not always say some things straight forward. The famous "Ice burg Theory" is always at play in his stories. This is where I feel as though it is my job to analyze the story; he gives us the clues to figure out the big picture or idea. I also really enjoy the use of symbolism, which again ties in with the solving with clues and can usually be easily analyzed with the knowledge of Ernest's biography. Still, at times this is very difficult, but I can't really blame that on his writing, now, can I? Another thing is that Ernest has written so many stories, you are bound to like one of them. Of the few stories I have read so far, I have enjoyed more than not.

6-Word Novels

"Sorry, shoes only sold in pairs."

"There's the president and her husband."

Present: they like me. Absent: hate.

"Kill yourself." Dies. "So sad! Why?"

"Gross. You'll go to hell hetero!"

Thinking of you not thinkin'a me.

Feelings, once obtained, seemed to fade.



I had a fun time writing my 6, 6-word novels. These were surprisingly difficult to write at first, so I'm going to be honest, I Google'd some inspiration. The result that popped up kept me on my computer for half an hour! I loved them so much to be honest. They are creative, unique, controversial, truthful, realistic, surprising, and just so good. So I am linking a couple sites below. Take a few minutes they are worth, it in my opinion anyway.

http://www.sixwordstories.net/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/16/six-word-story_n_5332833.html

John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

          In my opinion, John Proctor from "The Crucible" is a hero in the play. Maybe some may argue that he cannot be the hero if he has committed sins and ends up being hanged at the end, but those are easily refuted. 

          Prepare yourselves, I am about to talk about some cliche stuff. An individual is not defined by his mistakes, but by his triumphs against whatever and his good actions and morals, etc. Nobody is perfect obviously, including John Proctor. Yes, he committed adultery. Yes, he doesn't know all his commandments. Yes, he doesn't go to Church often. Yes, he hasn't baptized all of his children. But these things do not determine him to not be a hero. John Proctor throughout the entire play has a conflict with himself. He has so much guilt, judgement and hatred toward himself, that it affects him in his everyday life, especially with his wife. 

          Just when John had finished confessing to witchcraft, the officials asked him to name individuals that he had seen with the devil but he said no to all the names mentioned and refused to bring anyone down into his horrible situation. Reluctantly, the officials agreed to let him sign without John revealing anyone, but still John refuses to sign the testimony. John says he does not need to sign it because all in the room at that time were witnesses to his confession. The real reason he didn't want to sign the document was because he was ashamed that he had confessed (a lie) and that his signature would be hung on the church doors the same day that many others who were staying truthful were going to be hanged. He admits he will not sign it because it is a lie and he has had enough lies in his life, thus condemning himself to be hung.

          By doing this John is helping to end the chain of deaths by hanging and getting the towns people closer to sanity, peace, and everyday life. He is also resolving the conflict he had with himself. He has given up on lies, bad choices, and taking the easy way out for his own benefit. He saves the town while also saving his soul. He is at peace with himself when he dies, believing that the judgement of the town and its officials don't matter because God will give him a different one. And that is all that really matters to him.

          John Proctor (although not directly) saves many lives and can be a good role model (maybe not in this specific situation or sense but in the things he stands for and the motivation of his choices). That sounds like a hero to me.

There Goes the Neighborhood

Written in the perspective of a Native American:

This is the third time a group of our tribe have almost been murdered by white men without doing anything to them at all. When they had first come, they were not as evil. They came to shore on giant wooden structures that floated across the water. Both of us were intrigued by the other, but as we looked in awe, I could see they had a different reaction in their eyes. They were generous by exchanging our possessions and food for their almost heaven-like pieces that were smooth and glossy. How unwise and reckless were we to allow them to get so close and for us to be so comfortable with them. They kept trying to ask us if we had a king, a ruler, a religious leader, anyone of high prestige or wealth. We knew not of what they meant other than our chief, but he did not live in luxuriance. They began to turn on us slowly but steadily. They became obsessed with a shiny yellow rock and sparkling crystals. We did not know what to tell them other than we did not have them. They thought we were telling them lies in order to keep it for ourselves and made us their enemy. We were no strangers to battle, nut we were at a clear disadvantage. It is as if their gods are with them, for they had tubes that spewed fire that could pierce through a man. We were forced to move back for the time being, as they had settled onto the shore by their ship and put up walls to protect them from our warriors. Some of our more brute fighters thought they could kill the settlers off with just a band of our people and our simple bows and arrows. They were sorely mistaken as already three times they have come back with at least two of our men dead and one of theirs. Our chief and people grow more angry as they are destroying our trees and burning many plants leaving barren land for them to build and live on. There has been instances were women were raped. Men killed without reason. We are preparing for war and I do believe that we will now have an advantage. These are our woods and we know them well, unlike the white men who are fearful of the unknown. From others accounts the fire cannot reach them well from far or covered by nature, which is an advantage for our bows-men. We have unity and strategy; hopefully this will be enough to scare away the white men back to wherever they came from.

Intro to Me

My name is Gisselle and I am fifteen years old living in Chicago. I am a sophomore at Whitney Young High School and love it there. I run on my school's cross-country and track and field team, and am a part of the Latinos Unidos Club as well. I am taking 5 honors classes and an AP class, which are basically what my life revolves around right now. I'd like to think of myself as smart, if not I am very hardworking, or both. My parents are both originally from Mexico and later moved here to the United States. I have two brothers. My younger one is Ivan who is 12 years old, and my older one is Erick and he is 19. I also have a pet dog; she is a Maltese named Lily. I have a giant family! My mom has 11 siblings, and my dad has 9. Most of my mom's family lives here in Chicago, but most of my dad's family lives in California or Mexico. Most of my time is spent during school, running, doing homework, or sleeping. When I do have time to myself I love to watch TV, Youtube, or listen to music. I listen to many genres of music including rock, pop, alternative, some hip hop, along with particular songs from other genres. I am a person who loves to be with people (that I like anyways). Most things are much better and more fun with friends for me. I try to be nice 100 percent of the time and am kinda fun to have strange conversations with. When I graduate high school I plan to go to Northwestern University to become a doctor. "Doctor" is very vague but there are so many sub categories that I will just have to wait and see which one I like best because I have no clue right now. Hopefully I'll get there soon.