Hate crimes and more blogs

        With the powerful presentation in class and our notes on hate crimes i've learned that the world we live in can in fact be a horrible place and bad things do happen. There's so much hate and now rightfully so we have hate crimes to try and stop the hate thanks to President Obama and the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. hate crime laws. Hate crimes are "traditional" offenses like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias. People go out of there way to commit a crime based on someone's race, religion, disability, ethnic origin, and sexual orientation. In Matthew Shepard's case it was because he was homosexual and the two boys who murdered him took advantage of that and committed the crime out of hate. Matthew Shepard was a innocent boy who was taken advantage of and killed because he was "different " from what these boys thought was the norm and didn't like the idea of a homosexual kid which is when you see that the world we live in is messed up at times. In James Byrd Jr's case he was killed because he was black. The men who killed him were extreme racist and said to have been active members in the KKK which is one of the main things i think of when i think of hate. There's no other group that demonstrates more hate and hate crimes then the KKK. Knowing the KKK is still active reassures me that once again the world we live in can be a bad place.

I'm glad hate crimes are getting more serious and more awareness because we need a solution and quickly and i think we will be able to eliminate all the hate on this planet one day.

















          Another presentation i really enjoyed this past week was A Wolf At The Table by Augusten Burroughs. Augusten is an amazing writer and his ability express his pain and leave the reader with an image is remarkable. The reader always feels bad for Augusten and i've never even read one of his books. The book is all about Augusten's relationship with his father and how much of a struggle his childhood was at times. Augusten grew up with un-stable parents especially his father who was a messed up man. I couldn't imagine growing up in his scenario and most people feel the same way and thats why people are so fascinated with his books. Learning about Augusten has taught me a lot about being able to move on and be yourself. Augusten is able to persevere so can we. He overcomes his mentally un-stable and abusive father and pursue his writing career even though he wasn't so sure about writing as a profession. Augusten and his book can teach us a lot and i really enjoyed the presentation in class and learning more about such an amazing man's story.

second week of presentations

        This week there were numerous presentation on A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah and now i can see why so many kids chose this book for there memoirs. Learning Ishmael's journey is life changing, i dont know if theres many people who can relate to the horrors that filled his life. The videos show in class really emphasized how horrible life was for many kids Ishmael's age in Sierra Lione where he was from. Running from war and seeking your family might be one of the most horrifying things anyone can endure. During his story in search for his family Ishmael comes across a village where his parents are supposed to have taken refuge. When he comes across this village he finds it burned to the ground and bodies everywhere. At this time he was only a boy and finding your whole family killed is the worst thing that could happen to anyone. His ability to keep fighting and move on though is remarkable and thats where people learn to fall in love with Ishmael's memoir.

     Ishmael does some horrible things during his time as a child soldier but it was either that or death or even death for your whole family if you refuse to the rebels request. Being able to survive that lifestyle and escape is takes a lot of perseverance and thats why the picture above. Whats special is Ishmael is able to escape this life and come to America and share his story with us. People here are fascinated by his story because nothing like this happens where we live. Once we here of Ishmael's journey it makes us realize how lucky we are to live where we do in the best country in planet. I really enjoyed learning Ishmael's journey and can understand why there were numerous kids in our class that chose this book.

         The other memoir i really enjoyed this past week was The Open by Andre Agassi. This story hit me really close because i can relate in many ways with Andre's story. When it comes to tennis and sports in general Andre is so revolutionary. He knew he was good at something and made the most of it which anyone can respect. Even though he didn't enjoy tennis most of the time he did it to make his father happy and because he knew he was good. Sometimes i dont like hockey that much because of what it has done to my social life but i continue to do it because my dad wants me to and because im good at it. I want to get a college scholarship for hockey and thats worth sticking with the game. Its the same thing with Andre, he was able to make a career out of tennis even though it wasn't his favorite thing. You have to respect someone who wants to make everyone happy and i see that in Andre. Pleasing his father was so important to him and thats what he did. 

  

      Watching the video of Andre;s last match was also really interesting because you see how thankful he is for the game of tennis. Even though he didn't enjoy the game part of the time he loved his fans and did find joy in tennis eventually. Seeing him show respect to his fans was really special. He was such a good guy and people knew that which was important. He one grand slams and at times didn't even care. He said losing hurts more then winning feels good which also shows you how much he hated failure and disappointing his father and fans. Success was so important to him and that's why he was so special in the game of tennis but in sports in general. Someone who hates failure as much as he did is something special in all of sports. His story is so special and im glad i learned about it in class.

Memoir Presentations

      By far my favorite presentation i saw was the Fab Five. This story is so remarkable and life-changing when you get to the bottom of it. These five men changed college basketball but also changed the game of basketball all together and gave the young black athlete hope. Starting all five freshman was unheard of especially all five being black. One thing i loved about this story was Michigan University, they put the best five players on the court and didn't care what people thought which was revolutionary at the time. Another thing extremely special special about this story was the E:60 done on it. E:60 is a ESPN show that documents the greatest moments in sports and i was able to watch it last year. The first time i saw this film it changed my perspective on sports and thats pretty powerful.

They changed the game and changed the perspective of the athlete which was so important. The athlete went from the norm of the white athlete and corny high shorts and boring white shoes to the acceptance of the black athlete and long baggy shorts and black shoes. You have to put the best possible players on the court and Michigan was the first school to step out of that racist norm. Five black freshman starting for a big university was now a thing. Another thing that was special was the bond these five men formed after there freshman season. They were five all-stars and friends getting the opportunity to play with each other and dominate the game that they love. Even though there journey ended horribly they shocked the world and thats something to remember.

Another memoir i found extremely interesting was the last lecture. Randy Pausch's story is inspirational and heart warming and i really enjoyed learning about it. Knowing you have months to live and remaining positive like Randy did is one of the coolest things i've heard in a while. I cant imagine how i would act and feel if i was in Randy's position. I know i wouldn't be as positive as he would and i would probably be upset that my life was being taken away at such a young age. The last speech he gives at Carnegie Mellon was so inspirational and i would of done anything to have been able to be there and experience that. Being able to joke around and have fun with his audience who he knows feels bad for him was so awesome. My favorite part was when he did push ups showing the audience that he in fact may be in better shape then them and he's dying. I love that attitude and respect him so much for that.

The most disappointing part of this story is what Randy leaves behind. Randy left behind his wife alice and his three children. There father was taken away from them to early and they deserved to know how great of a man there father was. I know they will find out one day how amazing there father was but the saddest part is knowing they wont get to experience him. Even though the story is so amazing and life changing its also very sad and i bet a hard read when you learn that Randy is going to die. All together learning about Randy Pausch and his last lecture impacted me and im glad i learned a little about it in class.

The War

   


         The War was a perfect portrayal of the need of guidance and the unnecessary need for violence most of the time.  Through memoir and the facts of history this movie is able to show people that even though people may understand war, war will never understand people. The film perfectly conveys the message that there our solutions to the problems we face without violence no matter how badly you want violence to solve the issue theres better ways and thats what Kevin Costner does perfectly in his role of the father of Stu and Lidia. The film brings up numerous issues like race, money, family, and success and the fear of failure and it gives the viewer ways to overcome these issues.


          The war does a really good job of conveying meaning and emotion which are two of the main points of the film. The meaning of parenthood and raising your children to be better then there peers and to not make the same mistakes as you has a lot of meaning in this film. Kevin Costner suffers from PTS in the film and struggles from his experiences in Vietnam and all the violence. Because of what he's been through he makes it his mission to show his children that violence isn't the answer and i think that's the main point of this film and its a brilliant message to get across. When it comes to emotion Stu was very emotional throughout the film. Stu's passion and emotion is something that turned him into a man towards the end of film and realizing his father was watching and he realized just how influential his father was on him and in a good way. Memoir really allowed this film to leave a message in the viewers mind. Instead of a narrator or just one persons view, The war was a combination of numerous peoples memoirs which allows the viewer to get different points of view all supporting the idea that violence isn't the solution.


         Music and sound is one of the most important features in this film because most of the time its very depressing and dark. One of the most vivid sounds was the water tank. The water tank sounded like a raging waterfall and was extremely dark inside. You can only imagine how terrifying it would be to jump into that tank but Stu does it twice. The first time he does it to out do the Lipnicki's for the tree house and the second time to save Billy Lipnicki's life which goes to show you the kind of person Stu became at the end of the film thanks to his father. One thing i noticed when it came to the music was when Gimme Shelter was played during the battle scene with the Lipnicki's at the tree house. When it comes to the Vietnam war i always associate it with this Rolling Stones song and that also may be because of Forrest Gump but its something i noticed. The music and sound were ultimately pretty dark and loud because thats how this film was intended.


       The main two conflicts in this film were violence and race. kevin Costner wanted to make sure the youth in this film knew that violence only makes things worst most of the time. The Lipnicki's are constantly bullying and taking advantage of Stu and Lidia and they cant do anything about it because there father is teaching them violence and retaliation isn't the answer. Something else thats really special is how kevin Costner is able to help and change the lifestyles of the lipnicki's as well who suffer from an abusive father, limited food, and horrible living conditions. The other main conflict was race. One of the most important scenes from the film is when Lidia stands up for Elvadeen when she's sent to the back by there extremely racist teacher. Because of the way Lidia was raised she wasn't going to allow a girl to be mistreated because of the color of her skin but aslo because she was her best friend. This is because she was raised properly and had a very influential father. Another main point of this film was to convey the struggles of PTS. PTS is a serious disease that many war veterans experience because they're so haunted by there past. You get a vivid example of it in the begininning of the film when Stu wakes up his father and his father grabs him as if Stu was a threat. There violent pasts make them think that its not over and it can be extremely serious. Although PTS is horrible Kevin Costner was able to handle it extremely well in my opinion. All together this collection of memoirs leaves the viewer thinking that maybe violence isn't the solution and does a really good job of portraying that message.

This last week in class we continued to work on our college essays and read our memoirs. I've gotten pretty far in my memoir and have been amazed with my Reymundo's story. The young and childhood days for Reymundo were torture and it seemed the only way out for him was to join a gang and gain a sense of family and protection the his abusing parents. The story is fascinating and every time i sit down to read it i enjoy it which usually doesn't happen for me very often with most things i read. In addition to reading my memoir i aslo got to meet with Ms. Menough and go over my college essay. I have some really good content but need to make it longer and go more in depth in some parts of my essay. All together last week was a pretty successful week and i got a lot accomplished. I've been revising my college essay on a separate doc and im really happy with how its turning out. I took Ms. Menough's advice and went more in detail and the more important aspects of my paper. With my critiquing and Ms. Menough's my essay is going to be the quality i want it to be at when im done with it. I know the schools im applying to will find my essay very intriguing and interesting because of my love for the game of hockey and the ice rink. I have so much experience and so many stories with the game that i believe ill be able to blow away my readers with an in depth look at how somebody can love something so much. I'm glad i got the chance to review my essay with Ms. Menough and get other peoples advice on my writing.

This week in class we started writing our college essays and continued reading our memoir books. I chose the picture of CU Boulder because its the school i would like to go to if hockey doesn't work out for me. Both my parents went to CU and i've been raised to be a buff. My parents took me to my first CU football game months after i was born. I love the campus and culture and im still deciding what i want to study but as of right now im pretty sure on CU. My love for CU goes farther then my family and my familiarity with the university. The location and the people in the community are my kind of people. I love the laid back approach but when it comes to academics the students know when things are important but still know how to have fun and i respect that. I want to enter the business school and i know the business school is highly respected and if i can get into that i will have a bright future when im out of school. Knowing im close to home is also important to me because i'm not one of those kids who wants to get away. I want to experience the college life and become more independent but i like the idea of having my family close by. When looking at CU i see that its the perfect place for me which is why im so eager to get the opportunity to go there.

This week we also continued to read our memoir books and mine only got more intense. On the second page of my memoir i've already found out that my main character was raped by his brother at a young age and his brother threatened his life if he told anyone about it. This is just in the first couple pages of my memoir i cant imagine what im going to find out in the whole book. I've read about three chapters and have enjoyed my memoir so far so im happy i made a good decision in choosing my memoir. As i read deeper i learned more about my main character Reymundo. He lived a miserable life and did the horrible things he did in order to survive and fit in. The struggle to be accepted is so great that Reymundo begins experimenting with drugs and alcohol as well as sex at a very young age. Being new to America Reymundo believes in order to fit in he must do these things and this is when his starts turning for the worst. Reymundo's life at home only makes things worse. At home he's beaten and abused both mentally and physically. He quickly learns that he'd rather be away from home and stay away from his abusive parents. Leaving the house and entering the streets isn't a good idea either but Reymundo learns that the hard way. Reymundo's journey is truly remarkable and i've enjoyed every part of it.

world around us

This past weekend when i went to Detroit for hockey i experienced something that to some may not seem like that big of a life experience but to me was pretty eye-opening. In the airport on the way to Detroit i left behind my computer and wallet at the spot i was sitting at on the wall that had a charger. I had left my stuff there, i have no idea how but i did. I had walked a good distance away and a man came running up to me giving me my laptop and wallet. I was shocked because i couldn't believe i had left that behind but also that this man came running up to me and gave them back. It just goes to show you how there are still good people out there and are doing the right thing. This experience made me consider the world around us and made me think that maybe the world around us isn't that bad after all. This is more then just the world around us but also the integrity of the people. The good people have integrity and know that maybe they might not want to do the right thing and return someones wallet but they do because they know its the right thing. Doing the right thing can be hard sometimes and thats by the world around us can be a struggle but overcoming that is something special.