Sour Sweet Post

For the past two weeks in English class we've been reading Sour Sweet by Timothy Mo. This novel tells the story of Chinese immigrants living in Britain. We encounter many characters/civilians such as Chen, Lily, and Mui who all work hard to make money and create a live for themselves. On the other hand, we also see characters such as Red Cudgel, White Paper Fan, and Grass-Sandal who are in a ruthless gang that deal drugs, raid stores, and even take the lives of others. We see this really come to life within chapter 18 when the Triad raids a rival gang and kill everyone in there way.

Each time throughout the book when the gang is brought up planning something malevolent I think how is a person capable of doing something like this. People aren't raised to kill, they go out of there way to learn and eventually act. Even today, you hear so many stories of school shootings or someone getting shot on the street. There are some people that are born with some sort of mental handicap that you here shoot someone. But what about the one's who are born with a stable brain.  So my question... what outside influences, or innate traits that people are born with interest them in going down such a dark path? 

Halloween Story

It's my first year in Abu Dhabi, I'm five years old and I'm in kindergarden. It's my first time celebrating Halloween outside of the U.S. and to be honest, it feels really weird. First of all, in Abu Dhabi Halloween isn't a holiday that exits there, only the foreigners partake in that holiday meaning there are no pumpkins sitting outside of people's houses let alone in the store waiting to be bought. That year my parents had bought my brother and I squashes to carve instead of pumpkins which I didn't know because I had no clue what a squash was, I just thought it was a weird looking pumpkin. Another reason it felt weird was that I was still getting used to the new environment I was living in, I hadn't fully adapted yet which makes a huge difference.

That year I dressed up as Robin Hood and I'll be honest, I look really good. I have a bow and plenty of arrows, I also have the hat and shoes, everything was just working with that costume. In the end everything worked out fine, I had a great time trick or treating with my friends and my parents and I ate a lot of candy that year.

Which One Am I

Konichiwa,
This weeks blog assignment in English was to take one of three characters, George, Hazel, or Harrison from the short story "Harrison Bergeron" and decide which one these characters I am. To be honest, I don't think I'm any of the three options because of their role they play in the story.

Harrison, is a really big/strong teenager who is trapped in shackles. The reason I don't see myself as him is because I don't believe I have anything in my life hindering or blocking my path to the point where once I get around I go off like a bomb. George on the other hand, is an old man who is extremely smart but is held back by a noise that goes off in his head every 20 minutes, that makes him forget what he was thinking. The reason I don't see myself as George is because I'm not the smartest guy in the world, and if I were, I wouldn't have anything holding thoughts back unlike George.

Between these two characters is how I view myself. I see myself as both strong physically and mentally. I see myself as well rounded person, unlike in this story where these two (three if you include Hazel, I don't though) characters are only good at one thing and one thing only.

Peace,
Adrian

A Very Difficult Choice

In life, your going to face many difficult choices, the hardest ones are the ones you benefit from but force others to suffer or opposite way around. The best example of this incorporated in my life is when I partially saw a video of how the meat that we eat really ends up at the grocery store where you buy it. The video was so horrible that within the first 12 seconds of watching it I stopped watching.

After seeing that video I refused to eat meat for around 2 weeks. Eventually my mom made me eat meat because she was worried about the amount of protein I was getting. Although I didn't like it, I ate the meat. Eventually I started eating meat again but it's not the same as before. I eat a lot less of it now and every time I eat meat I think of that video and it makes not crave meat for a while.

As long I make the choice to continue eating the meat sold at grocery stores, I'm going to continue to kill thousands of animals in horrible ways. I wish that there was something I could do other than eat less of it. If I were able to, I'd become a vegetarian but meat just tastes so damn good. Why is that all these animals from the day they're born have to live a life of pain, misery, and agony just for them to be slaughtered? Is it that hard to treat them in a humane way and allow them to live in pens instead of cages they can barely fit in their entire lives. Each time I make the choice to eat meat, I immediately feel guilty afterward. The world that we live in is such a big place and nothing is off limits.

Until my next blog,

A

Wowzers has it been a while since I posted a blog. So lets get right into it. For this assignment I must read a quote (which is at the very end of my blog) and answer certain questions about it.

I believe that the quote by Barry Glassner is completely true. A fear-saturated media has an unbelievable influence on people, and the society they live in. A perfect example of this is gated communities and the amount of fake security it assures people. It's amazing how people will live behind a gated community and believe that one fat guard with no training is going to stop a killer from getting in to the neighborhood. Although I believe that a fear-saturated media has an influence on people, I don't believe in can influence they're emotions one bit.

I don't think that watching a scary movie, or a crime show is going to affect someone's happiness or any emotions in general. The reason I believe this is because of how easily people forget things. There at least a thousand things forgotten each day and although a scary movie might not be one of them, it'll be forgotten eventually. Also, people have a huge list of events to deal with in a day and while your doing those, you'd never think about something you saw the other day. Watching a scary movie, or hearing a news report about a man going on a rampage with a gun doesn't mean you can't hang out with friends or be happy. Sure, it might make you more careful and more protective, but it shouldn't affect you more than that.

I want to know what you guys think about the quote though, leave a comment saying whether or not you believe in the influence a fear-saturated society has on us or even just general thoughts on the quote.

Catch you on the flip side,
A

"Watch enough brutality on TV and you come to believe you are living in a cruel and gloomy world in which you feel vulnerable and insecure. In his research over three decades Gerbner found that people who watch a lot of TV are more likely than others to believe their neighborhoods are unsafe, to assume that crime rates are rising, and to overestimate their own odds of becoming a victim. They also buy more locks, alarms, and- you guessed it- guns, in hopes of protecting themselves."

Aloha,

For my second blog prompt I must talk about two photos my teacher showed us in class. Both of them are of Iranian women but in different time periods. Although both pictures were of Iranian women difference in them was unreal.

The second I saw the second I was in utter shock and awe. I've never been so shocked in my life to the point where I can only think of one word to say for the next five minutes. The only word I could think to say was wow, over and over again. It was as if these were photos of two completely different cultures.

Growing up, I was lucky enough to live in Abu Dhabi which is in the Middle East. I grew up around Arabic women wearing the hijab or wearing whatever they wanted and even with that knowledge I was still shocked.

If I were sitting with the Marjane Satrapi, the author of the novel The Complete Persepolis I believe she would give me history on both pictures. I think she would talk about how before 1978, women actually had freedom in Iran and could dress the way they chose. On the other hand, she would also talk about how after 1978 women had almost no rights and no freedom in Iran.

Imagine going outside everyday wearing the same thing over and over again, and if you got caught wearing anything but that, you could be tortured. The women of Iran still have that struggle today and some of them do everything thing they can to help fight for freedom but nothing has worked yet. Does anyone benefit from having that rule in place? My answer to that question is a very simple and stern no. But I want to know what you guys think about that question.

Till my next blog,
A

For this blog assignment our teacher told us to pick a photo that is significant to us and why? Most people probably wouldn't understand how this photo could be significant to anyone because all they see is a heavy hitter, and a drum set. I on the other hand, see so much more than that.

I see my favorite drummer/musician on stage going crazy on the drum set. I see an inspiration that makes me want to do more and be the best drummer that I can be. Most importantly though, I see myself. I see myself at a concert going crazy and beating the crap out of my instrument.

That photo creates a spark of joy and excitement so special and so surreal and is unlike any other feeling in the world.
If this photo was described with words none of it would be the same. None of it would have meaning and there would be no significance to it. First of all, with a photo you see every detail of what your trying to comprehend where as with text your limited to what is being described. The absolute difference between a photo and text is that you can feel the emotions and energy of what your looking at.
How are you supposed to find significance in something when you can't feel what that person is thinking or feeling.