Friday, March 17, 2017

The Homeless

The nonfiction book I read is called The Homeless by Tamara L. Roleff. Homelessness is not new to the United States and has increased slowly since 1922. Although many people can't afford a house it doesn't cause homelessness because the person could have a mental illness and wouldn't be able to care for themselves. Mental illness contributes to homelessness but it doesn't stop the person from wanting to make a better life for themself.

I chose this book because I've always been interested in helping people in need and by reading this book it gave me a new insight on what kinds of problems they faced and explained how people are unfair to them. A quote from the book says, "The low minimum wage, raised in April 1990 for the first time since 1981, has left many working families in poverty." This interested me because people are still protesting to get paid better in their job and the problem is still ongoing after 27 years.



Thursday, March 16, 2017

Backlash

The book I finished is called Backlash by Sarah Darer Littman. When I read the summary on the back, I was really interested and wanted to find out more, so I did. The story starts out with Lara Kelley's point of view and she's messaging someone named Christian on Facebook. Lara has been depressed but she soon gets better, so when Christian tells her that she's an awful person, it drives her over the edge and tries to commit suicide, Lara survives but her parents are extra over protective. Throughout the story there are many conflicts and surprises. Although the story focuses on Lara, there are different characters points of view in the following chapters.

There are many interesting characters in this book but I will write about one I really disliked. The character I didn't like was Mary Jo Connors, she is a real estate agent and wants her daughter, Breanna, to follow her dreams and not her own. A quote that made me not like her even more is, "Can't I trust you to do anything right, Breanna?" Mom says in a voice as cold as her anger is hot, completely unmoved by my tears." After I read this part it made me feel bad for Breanna because she dealt with this everyday. Also the fact that her mom didn't show any sympathy after her daughter was crying shocked me.


Sunday, March 12, 2017

Terezin


"Terezin"

That bit of filth in dirty walls,
And all around barbed wire,
And thirty-thousand souls who sleep
Who once will wake
And once will see
Their own blood spilled.

I was once a little child,
Three years ago.
That child who longed for other worlds.
But now I am no more a child
For I have learned to hate.
I am a grown-up person now,
I have known fear.

Bloody words and a dead day then,
That's something different than boogie men!

But anyway, I still believe I only sleep today,
That I'll wake up, a child again,
and start to laugh and play.
I'll go back to childhood sweet like a briar rose,
Like a bell which wakes us from a dream,
Like a mother with an ailing child
Loves him with aching woman's love.
How tragic then, is youth which lives
With enemies, with gallows ropes,
How tragic, then, for children on your lap
To say: this for the good, that for the bad.

Somewhere, far away out there, childhood sweetly sleeps,
Along that path among the trees,
There o'er that house
Which was once my pride and joy.
There my mother gave me birth into this world
So I could weep...

In the flame of candles by my bed, I sleep
And once perhaps I'll understand
That I was such a little thing,
As little as this song.

These thirty-thousand souls who sleep
Among the trees will wake,
Open an eye
And because they see
A lot

They'll fall asleep again...

Monday, March 6, 2017

My Regret

I have a few regrets in my life and most of them are things I wish I had done. I think that regret helps you as a person to build confidence to do things I passed up on. Although I didn't do most of those things, I think that my choices helped me in the end.

I have a regret that happened years ago and it's still clear in my mind, let me explain it. When I was around 8 I had swim classes to help me swim better. I made it to the experienced part of the group and we started doing harder stuff. One thing that I had trouble on (I still do) was flipping in the water. I tried so hard to do it but eventually I gave up and told my mom I wanted to quit. To this day, I wish I had persevered and kept on trying, but I know how to swim and that's ok with me.