At first when Alice Walker is searching for her she does not realize what she is in for.  When she finds just the smallest fact she gets extremely excited even if she did lie about being her niece.  She does not really know what to expect so everything is a surprise to her and when she finds the grave she is completely upset because of how bad that it looks.  And when Mrs. Sarah tells her she dies of malnutrition she gets very upset.  It is not until she talks to Dr. Benton that she gets the truth of how she really died and how she really lived her life.  Zora Neale Hurston was not a skinny lady, she loved to eat food, and she died of a stoke and when she had one she was never able to write because she could not focus on anything.  She was a great woman, or so the people that knew about her say.  She is not taught in the schools in Eatonville because most people did not agree with what she thought and what she believed in.  It is sad that nowadays people do not know about the great person that walked the very same streets that they do now.

Janie's Blues

What am I supposed to do
To get rid of all these blues?
I get abused everyday
But he tells me that there's no other way.
He hits me across the face
He never lets me have my space.
His words hurt like knives
And I wish I had another life.
I just don't know what to do
About all these stinking blues!

Years Coming

"There are years that ask questions and years that answer." 
When we are young we often ask questions but never answers.  As a female we ask questions about our body and males often do the same.  We usually never get the answers because our parents say we are not ready but as we get older  and experience these situations on our own we get answers to things that we never knew.  For Janie she wants to know what the upcoming year will bring, questions or answers.  She knows for a fact that she is happy with her new husband but everyone around her had a million questions and at one point so did she.  This next year she will receive the answers she has been waiting for.  She will learn the importance of love and she will be able to tell what it is that is best for her and what is not so good.

No One Tells Me Who I Can Marry

At least one person in my family should have a say in who I marry..... Probably not! Back in the day you would have to get approval to marry someone and some countries today still do that but here in the U.S. we are free to marry who we want. And yes there might be some families here that still live by these customs and that is what usually makes them unhappy.
My parents have always told me that I should do what ever makes me happy and I should be with whoever makes me happy and that's what I plan to do. I don't need approval from anyone in my family about who I am going to marry, if they happen to have a problem with the man I marry they can tell me but they will have to deal with it. If someone in my family has a problem I am not going to to change my life to make them happy.
I am in charge of my own life and they cannot tell me who I can a cannot be with. If I am truly happy then they should be happy for me. I should be able to marry who I want when I want and no one should be able to stop me.  

Gatsby Questions

What is the meaning of the car accident in front of Gatsby's house?



Why is nick listing all the people at Gatsby's party?



Who did Tom slap and why?




Why did Gatsby leave when Nick introduced him to Tom?

Infinite Hope

He didn’t say any more,
But we’ve always been unusually communicative in a reserved way,
And I understood that he meant a great deal more than that.
In consequence,
I’m inclined to reserve all judgments,
A habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores.
The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person,
And so it came about that in college I was unjustly accused of being a politician,
Because I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men.
Most of the confidences were unsought — frequently I have feigned sleep, preoccupation, or a hostile levity when I realized by some unmistakable sign that an intimate revelation was quivering on the horizon;
For the intimate revelations of young men,
Or at least the terms in which they express them,
Are usually plagiaristic and marred by obvious suppressions.
Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope.
I am still a little afraid of missing something if I forget that,
As my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat,
A sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth.

Can you Buy Hapiness?

People should never get married for the money.  That is one thing that really bothers me; when people say that they want to be in a relationship with someone with money to get them things they want.  For me it has nothing to do with money, it has everything to do with personality.  I never grew up with any nice fancy toys and I still don't have anything fancy.  I have an outdated phone and my clothes are not from Hollister or Forever 21, and I could not be happier. 

I am not gonna lie and say I never wanted something that everyone else had and it took me a long time to understand why my parents could never give me these things, but now I know that if they were to give me these things I would not be a very nice person to be around.  Not having all these materialistic items made me the person I am today and helped me understand what I need versus what I want. 

To some people this may sound dumb and they might even call me "Jesus Freak," but that is how He intended it to be and that is how it should be.  I am not going to get all crazy and talk about God and everything he has to offer but it is something to look into. 

Everyone has their own perspective on this and I get that, but would money be the reason you marry?

You Can't Judge A Book By Its Cover

It takes two seconds to judge someone by the way they look.  We never really go behind the scenes and find out who a person really is unless it is necessary.  We take one look at people and say, "oh she's girly" or "oh he's a gangster" without even thinking about it.  I have tried hard not to do that but there are a few times I catch myself saying, "did you see what she was wearing? She looked like a hooker!"  And I don't mean it in a bad way, it's just the first thing that comes to my mind.  And I don't do it on purpose either, it's usually unknowingly.
Everybody wants to fit in with somebody so the easiest thing would be to change your fashion sense.  And honestly I have done it when I was in junior high and then when I got to high school I completely changed.  I felt like a lost puppy because I was always trying to be someone I'm not, I figured it would be a lot easier just to be me and there won't be any stress.  With all the different groups we have at school like the jocks, nerds, skaters, band, theatre, gangsters, and many others it is easier to put someone in a group than for everyone to be an individual.  We are constantly changing our clothing just to match and at times it might be a good thing so we fit in with society, instead of wearing clothes from the fifties or something, but if your doing it just to fit in with your friends then it is a waste of time and money.
In America we value a lot but we also take it for granted sometimes.  We are able to have a good education for free, unless your in a private school, and we have freedom, but we also have people who go breaking the laws and think that out country is worthless and doesn't do enough.  We can't exactly say that our country is great and flawless when we have stuff like this happening.
It's not just about our country though, the way we treat people and they way we "inspect" them says a lot too.  A lot of guys go around looking for the prettiest most super-model like girl and try whatever they can to get their attention.  And girls may be saying yeah that's true, but they do it too.  They go around looking for the best body or the best looking one out of all and try hard to get them interested.  I will be honest I used to be that way, but then I grew up.  I judge guys by how they treat me.  They may be good looking but if you are treating like not good enough why am I going to continue?  It is not worth all the trouble to get a guy to notice you when a relationship will probably never develop.  And another thing we judge them on is money.  We revolve around money, who has it, who doesn't have it, who's getting it, and who wants it.  To me it doesn't matter because I can be honest and say I have it, but not a lot.  And I never ask for it either because I would feel obligated to pay you back even if your my grandparents giving me money.  Looks and money are the top priority for the majority of the world and especially the school, but for me, it doesn't really matter as long as I'm being treated decent and as long as I am happy then I am all set.

Assimilation

   To assimilate means trying to fit in.  It's like you don't like who you are or where you come from so you strive to be someone or something your not. 
   In A Raisin In The Sun Beneatha tries so hard no to be who she is.  She has done so many extra curricular activities but never stuck with one because it was never her thing.  She doesn't like her family and how they act and she especially doesn't like how no one pays attention to her.  She wants to be a doctor and she will step on anyone she has to to get there. 
   I personally think it is shown as a weakness as well as a strength because it shows how Beneatha perseveres what she wants out of life but it also shows how she can be thought of as immature and childish.
   Throughout the halls I see tons of people assimilating.  But I never notice until I spend time with them alone and away from a crowd.  Most people can't really help it because they are embarrassed of their background or scared to let anyone in their life, but not one person can say they never assimilated. 
   I think it's more guys that act that way of school because they are always trying to act tough and gangster but in reality they are not tough and gangster.  And I'm not saying girls don't do it because they do, but girls do it differently.  Girls go around and act like they own the place but they really don't.  They try to act like they are better than everyone else and they usually just spread fake gossip all over the place, but that's only because they want someone to notice them.  Everyone just wants to feel wanted and like they belong that's we have groups everywhere!  A group of nerds and a group of skaters and a group of gangsters and a group of athletes and a group of girly girls etc. 
   I will be the first to admit that I have assimilated before but that was in sixth or seventh grade.  I no longer assimilate, I am content with who I am and where I come from and I will pick that over my friends any time of day.  I find it time consuming and exhausting pretending to be something your not when all you can do is act normal.
   Eric Liu expresses how he assimilated throughout his whole life.  He was a Chinese man who wanted to be white so badly.  He would point out how his family did things way differently from his friends families.  But then he realized that he didn't want to be white, he wanted to be himself but he couldn't change anymore.  He realized all he did wrong and thought it was a bad thing but in reality it was who he was and who he was born to be.   

Family or Myself

My family is extremely important, but there have been times where I had to chose and it wasn't always family.  I have had to make some really tough decisions and I didn't always make the right one.  I always try my hardest to put my family first and most of the time I do, but sometimes my wants cloud me from whats important.  I started a system on how to judge whats more important. What I do is think about what is going to happen, for instance if I get invited to a quince and a family party I would think of what would happen.  If I go to the quince there is a possibility that I will have fun but there is also a possibility that I won't have fun.  If I go to a family party I know for sure I will have fun, so I will end up going to a family party instead.  If I'm being honest my family is number one on my priority list no matter what, but there will always be a time where I don't chose it.  Whether it's a good reason or not.

The American Dream

The American Dream is the chance to live life with a good education and high expectations for yourself.  Unfortunately not everyone gets the chance to live this dream due to bad nieghborhoods or unencourageable parents.  Of course the only way to achieve the American Dream is to believe in yourself and not to let anyone tell you your not good enough.  You are the only one that can tear yourself up and bring yourself back together. 
My American Dream is to achieve many goals.  I have often notice that I put myself down numerous times.  I plan to attend to Notre Dame University and major in psychology and if I don't achieve this I will major in Oncology at a different school.  Fortunately for me I have never been told that I can't do anything, I grew up with my family beside me telling me I can. 

A Little Something About Me

Hello, my name is Leslie and I am a junior.  I am also the Student Council Secretary and I am on the varsity Golf team.  Right now I like to hunt so dove season just started and every chance I get, my father and I like to go and hunt and have a big bar-b-que.  I am a family person and I usually try my hardest not to be rude.  I am genuinely a nice person ans I am a strong believer in God.  I have always loved music and I am now experiencing my own voice.  I am active in the drama department and it gives me a real joy!  It is the one thing I look forward to everyday.  I alos like to read and watch movies.  I love movies because it gives me a chance to relax and just take it easy, and I like books because it lets my mind wonder to extraordinary places.  One interesting fact about me is that I like thunderstorms, really big and loud thunderstorms.  It gives me the security and it lets me know that I am sane.
Well thats a little something about me, hope you enjoyed!