"Czar Putin" Nonfiction Response A luke-warm war?

In the article, "Czar Putin" by Patricia Smith, she discusses the conflict surrounding Vladimir Putin. President of Russia and a ferocious dictator. He is highly popular in Russia, because he is seen as a strong leader to many Russians. With many aspects comparable to past "czars' and kings of the Russian empire. Putin has executed many actions related to those of the Soviet Union.  Putin has caused much conflict around the world, and the relationship between The United States and Russia is very tense. When Putin annexed a region of Ukraine (Crimea) many other Eastern European countries worried for their safety. Flashbacks to the Soviet Union annexing Eastern European territories after World war two arose. In response, the United States has sanctioned, or banned individual  trades between Russia and the United States to try to stop Russia’s aggressive action. These sanctions are causing an economic crash and crisis in Russia, from a lack of trade with many countries. Russians are getting restless and angry and protests are rising, as public services decline. Putin's reaction to these protests and the economic crisis could either be him "letting up” and allowing the demonstrations. Or being even more aggressive and constraining protests even more. Smith assumes the latter. If this happens will another “cold-War like” stand occur again.

The author wants me to realize that Putin has a large impact on the world. Putin will be even more aggressive and he will not relent; he won’t give in to protests. For example, Smith chooses the end the article with a quote. Stating, “If [Putin] prolongs the policy of greatness, of expansion, of confrontation with the west, he will be popular and supported by the people despite any economic crisis.” By ending with this statement she is expressing her opinion. She thinks Putin will be popular with the people from his actions. Smith includes a political cartoon titled “Vladimir Schwarzenegger” showing Putin frail and skinny flexing his muscle. But his muscle droops downward. From war, falling oil prices, and sanctions. This cartoon shows that, while Putin may look one way, he actually is another. Acting powerful and strong, but in reality concerned and “weak”. Smith uses a great deal of background information to show the history of Russia and its past actions and relations with other countries. For example, the author conveys her opinion that Putin will be even more aggressive, by telling of past leaders, Czars, and the history of imperialism in Russia.

In summary, this makes me think how one person can have such a large impact. Their actions changing politics and the world. Putin has such a large impact on the world. Provided that he used his power to make progress; like supporting democracy, fighting climate change, and emphasizing equality, then he could change the world for the better instead of (sometimes) for the worse. Putin might be take for granted the amount of power he holds. This makes me angry. I agree with Smith; Putin will continue act in provocative behaviors and continue to receive support and praise by the majority of the Russian people. Through reading this article I have learned that one person’s actions can give their whole community or society (or country) a bad reputation that will stay with them. The notion of a new cold war was very intriguing. Considering and contemplating what this would entail was fascinating. Would there be actual physical war and fighting? Or will it be another space and arms race? Will other countries join? Will this become “World War three”?

Tales of the Madman Underground

Fairness is what justice really is - Potter Stewart

In the novel, “Tales of the Madman Underground” by John Barnes, Karl the protagonist is in his senior year of high school. Ever since middle school Karl and his friends have been in group therapy, they all call it the “madman underground”, because everyone in the school thinks that they’re strange, and weird people. But this year, Karl wants things to be different. He wants to be normal, for just one year, before he gets out of Lightsburg, Ohio a town that has rundown shops, and not much for high schoolers to do. Karl’s mom is an alcoholic and spends all of Karls college fund on alcohol and drugs. Karl works five jobs to be able to buy food for his house, and he has to hide his money in stashes so his mother doesn't steal it. In life our actions have direct effect on our lives or others’ lives.

When people try to help others it can work out. For example, Paul and Karl’s friendship starts to reform when they both hang out together at Karl’s house. They both wanted to be friends again, they tried and it worked out. Another example, Karl’s mother (Beth), turns off Karl’s alarm and makes him breakfast, because it is raining so he doesn’t have to work. She wanted to show her love to Karl and she did so in a very parently way. Normally she doesn't act like a mother or a parent, but here she does. Some people might think that Beth doesn't love Karl, but she does. She just struggles finding a way to show her love.

When people do things without considering the consequences of their actions, bad things can happen. When Beth’s heart is broken, she becomes miserable when her boyfriend “stands her up” and doesn’t show up. She bawls her eyes out, screams, destroys the house. I think it’s unfair that Karl had to deal with this kind of thing, he shouldn't have to. Beth’s reaction is pretty immature. An adult, especially a parent shouldn't act this way in front of their child. Karl is sad and his mom is unhappy, he might realize or think that there is no one to support or comfort him. Beth should be thinking about how this reaction will affect her child.

In life the things we do can change someone or someone’s life for better or for worse. Sometimes in life, when people don’t think about the aftereffect to their action they can make someone very angry or unhappy. Teens can connect with this by thinking about their actions, including bullying.

Karl's Struggle With Tension in The Tales of the Madman Underground by John Barnes

Karl's Struggle With Tension                                                    Charlie Muller 806

“... once you were in, they put a note in your file that said you were in therapy, and all your teachers saw that file. They might as well have tattooed CRAZY on your forehead. The next year every teacher would be watching you for the first weird thing you did—and has there ever been a kid who never does anything an adult considers weird?

”

― John Barnes, Tales of the Madman Underground

In the book Tales of the Madman Underground by John Barnes, Karl the protagonist, lives in the small town of Lightsburg, Ohio. Karl is in his senior year of high school, and wants to be normal for a year. For his other three years of high school Karl has been in the "Madman Underground" a group of teens who, according to the school, need group therapy. But things are different senior year for Karl, he didn't get his "ticket" into the "Madman Underground", and  when Marti moves to town Karl is able to see his friends through another lens. Set in 1973, this hilarious (and wildly explicit!) compelling coming of age novel won't let you put it down. Throughout the novel, Karl faces a lot of tension and responds in different ways.

         Karl  has power when there is tension and other times he resists someone else's power. One example of Karl having power, Karl has physical power over Paul when Karl punches and teases Paul. Karl thinks that he has authority, so he hurts Paul. Paul is unable to resist Karl's "authority", because he is physically in pain and injured, because he got punched and didn't react (dodge) in time. Also when Karl was emotionally hurting Paul, Paul did not stand up for himself. Reading this, I realized that people express their anger and other feelings inappropriately, with violence or hurtful words. Karl could have handled his anger differently, but because he was so upset he didn't think about the consequences of his actions. An example of Karl resisting power in a moment filled with tension,  Karl's mother has the power of a parent or mother, she has authority in this way. Karl resists her power with his actions. At Karl's mother's party, Karl tries to clean up the messes in the house, "embarrassing" his mother. Karl also tries to ignore the people and what's going on at the party. Sometimes in life parents try to control their children; what they do or don't do, or who they hang out with. Youth need to explore what they like to do, adolescence is a time of exploration of oneself. Youth need to discover what truly makes them happy.

      

 How people, and especially youth deal with or respond to tension is very important. People need to have the skills of dealing with a conflict in a mature and appropriate way, that is respectful. Violence is not a way to solve problems. If we can't learn how to problem solve then, friendships and relationships will fall apart. Compromising and thinking about your happiness are also important to do, so you can be relaxed and content. In the novel Karl confronts a lot of conflict and reacts in contrasting manners.

Changing Times in South Africa

Charlie Muller                                                                                                                                        806

11/12/14                                                                                                                                           English

Changing Times in South Africa

In the article, "Role Reversal" by Patricia Smith, Smith describes the story of Oscar Pistorius a South African Olympic, double-amputee runner, who was found guilty of premeditated murder in the shooting of his girlfriend. Throughout the article, Smith expresses how out of the ordinary the fact that a black woman is the judge of a white man. Smith also conveys that it was a challenge, overcoming "apartheid", the rigid policies that segregated black people from white people. Smith wants the reader to think that many South Africans were surprised by Pistorius' actions, as he was a national hero. The author wants me to feel that the judge of Pistorius, Judge Masipa would ultimately decide the fate of Pistorius, one person deciding your future is unfair.

Throughout the article, Smith used quotes from people to show what she thinks. For example, Smith quoted Nomavenda Mathiane a former newspaper colleague of Judge Masipa, “Whoever thought that one day a black woman would be standing judge over a white boy?” Smith includes the perspective that Pistorius killed his girlfriend, with narratives and quotes about that, “...Pistorius broke down in tears and even vomited during testimony”. But, Smith does not include the opinion of someone that thinks Pistorius did kill his girlfriend on purpose. Smith also talks a lot about how well Judge Masipa handled the case. But, there aren’t any criticisms of Judge Masipa included. This leads me to think Smith admires Masipa.

It is difficult right now to know why Pistorius killed his girlfriend. But, I think he didn’t kill her on purpose and it seemed like he really loved and cared about her. I learned that there is a lot of pride in South Africa right now because many black people are coming in to government, for the first time. They are in a way taking back their place in South Africa. I was also able to learn more about apartheid in South Africa from this article.

Darkness can Light the way

Darkness can Light the way

Charlie Muller                                                                                        ELA   

10/25/14 806

                                                                                                              

                                                                                                                                                               

In the article Darkness too Visible, written by Megan Cox Gurdon and published for The Wall Street Journal, Gurdon begins by describing an anecdote of a woman and her endeavor of finding a novel for her daughter that she deems “appropriate”.  Throughout the article, Gurdon expresses her thoughts of how dark, and filled with profanity Young Adult Literature has become, compared to 40 years ago. The author wants the reader to feel revolted by the content of Young Adult Literature. In addition the author wants the reader to think that reading young adult literature with explicit content , directly affects teenagers, by normalizing and convincing  teenagers to cut themselves, do drugs, have sex at an early age, or even to go so far as to commit suicide. The author is generally trying to say that she thinks Young Adult Literature is a bad influence on teenagers because it has many “dark” topics.

Throughout the article, Gurdon used “loaded words”, or  words that are powerful. For example, Gurdon  constantly repeated the word “dark” to paint a picture of her opinion on what YA literature has become. The author used this example of imagery to make the reader feel that YA literature has become very bleak. As Gurdon put it, “...kidnapping and pederasty and incest and brutal beatings are now just part of the run of things in novels directed, broadly speaking, at children from the ages of 12 to 18.” She also used a narrative to convey her opinion, “Amy Freeman, a 46-year-old mother of three, stood recently in the young-adult section of her local Barnes & Noble, in Bethesda, Md., feeling thwarted and disheartened. She had popped into the bookstore to pick up a welcome-home gift for her 13-year-old, who had been away. Hundreds of lurid and dramatic covers stood on the racks before her, and there was, she felt, "nothing, not a thing, that I could imagine giving my daughter. It was all vampires and suicide and self-mutilation, this dark, dark stuff." She left the store empty-handed.” Gurdon shows the perspective of an adult, someone who is likely to agree with Gurdon’s opinion. Yet, Gurdon didn’t show or quote the opinion of a teenager or young adult. A perspective that is very important in the wider debate of censorship in young adult literature. The fact that Gurdon didn’t include this group’s voice, shows me that Gurdon isn’t interested in the opinions of others.

All young adult literature should be uncensored. As young adults, we are mature enough to make our own decisions about what we are comfortable reading. If a parent doesn’t want their child reading a certain book, then of course that is their decision as the caretakers. However, parents shouldn’t be able to decide for someone else’s child, that a book is out of place for them. After reading this article I realized that when there is a conflict on a topic as large as this, there can be a lot of biases, on both sides of the argument. An author might only include perspectives that support their opinion. Or when there is a counterclaim an author might make fun of the opposing argument as Gurdon has. All in all, I realized that literature, especially of the young adult genre helps readers to identify with characters. If someone can feel connected, then they know that they can survive what they’re going through.

The Downsides of Being a Wallflower

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!

The Downsides of Being A Wallflower

Charlie Muller                                                                                                     806     

10/19/14

Wallflower- a person who has no one to dance with or who feels shy, awkward, or excluded at a party.

In the novel, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Steven Chbosky, Charlie the protagonist is starting his freshman year at high school. At first he has trouble making friends, (besides his English teacher), but, eventually he meets Sam and Patrick who became his lifelong friends. At first his friends call him a “wallflower”. But, Charlie experiences many new things with Sam and Patrick such as drugs, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, sex, and love in this riveting coming of age novel and he isn’t a wallflower.Throughout the novel Charlie is portrayed as a very loving person, but he sacrifices too much for the people that he loves.

First, Charlie’s compassion is shown through his willingness to sacrifice his happiness for others’ happiness. For instance, “I realized that through out the course of the evening , I wasn’t happy about Craig and Sam breaking up. Not at all. I never once thought that it would mean Sam might start liking me. All I cared about was the fact that Sam got really hurt. I guess I realized at that moment that I really did love her. Because there was nothing to gain, and that didn’t matter” (p.179).  Sam found out that her boyfriend, Craig, was cheating on her, and they broke up. Sam was very angry and felt very powerless and humiliated. In this moment Craig and Craig’s friend, Peter were fighting about how Craig should have told Sam that he was cheating on her. Patrick and Charlie helped break up the fight between Peter and Craig. Charlie was observing everything happening but also, he helped. Often Charlie zones out when something happens that makes life seem like it’s not real. But in this moment, he chose to help and not just watch the fight happen. It is significant that Charlie is not just watching this happen because in other moments Charlie has just watched things happen. Namely, when Charlie’s sister’s boyfriend hit her, he just stood and watched in shock. I really think this shows how much Charlie had developed and changed.This quote has a very sympathetic feeling and tone to it, and when I read this quote, I felt very sympathetic to Charlie because he doesn’t feel like he should be able to love Sam in the way he wants to. This shows that Charlie is very kind person and he really cares about how his friends feel. A strong distinction, when Charlie was “busy” worrying and sympathizing with Sam, he wasn’t thinking about what he wanted; to be with Sam. Sam eventually tells Charlie that she did indeed want to be with him in this moment. Charlie could’ve been with the girl he truly loved, but instead he was occupied being altruistic.

In addition, Charlie’s benevolence is demonstrated through his ability and willingness to help others.  Specifically, when Charlie’s sister tells him she is pregnant he drives her to an abortion clinic. “When I thought that[Charlie was thinking about a memory of when Charlie and his sister talked about where babies come from, then he started to cry, Charlie and his sister were very innocent in the moment of this memory, and now they are experiencing very scary things together], I started to cry. But I couldn't let anyone see me because if they did, they might call our parents. And I couldn’t let that happen because my sister was counting on me”(p. 118)  Charlie brings his sister to an abortion clinic because her boyfriend got her pregnant. Within this quote a very ashamed mood or tone is represented, because Charlie would feel very guilty if someone saw him crying. This quote makes me feel very sad because there is no one there to support or comfort Charlie. This quote demonstrates how benign and kind Charlie is. Yet, while Charlie helped and comforted his sister there was no one there to comfort Charlie when he wept.

One important message in this novel, being altruistic is a valuable trait to have. It suggests that being loving and kind; helping others when they need a hand; and putting others before yourself; are very selfless things to do. These small acts of kindness really do benefit others. This teaches readers that being a good friend and having a willingness to help others are traits that are important, especially for adolescent readers, as the novel’s intended audience is teenagers. I myself am becoming a teenager and right now, as an eighth grader, I am in the process of deciding which high school I want to go to. Some of my friends who are interested in music want to go to the Laguardia High School, but I am more intrigued by academic and humanities oriented schools. I want to be at a high school with my friends, but at the same time I also want to go to a high school that I like. This process of picking a high school is very similar to Charlie’s situation in Chbosky's novel. The book teaches that you must take care of yourself and think of what you want.

No Man's Land by S.T Underdahl Reading Response #1 2014 806

               In the story, "No Man's Land" by S.T. Underdahl, the main character, Dov lives with his mother and father. His father works a lot so he doesn't see him very often. Dov is emo; he wears skinny jeans and vintage band shirts, he also has long hair so he can feel like he can "escape" his troubles by "hiding" behind his hair. Dov's father sometimes forgets about Dov. But, his brother Brian is the perfect son; he starred on the football team in high school, he also was elected homecoming "king" and "most popular guy" in high school. He joined the National Guard to pay for college and was deployed in Afghanistan.
           Dov really cares about his family this is shown many times throughout the novel. For example, on page 31, ""Pick her up at work?" I echo numbly, trying to force my mind to translate the meaningless words. "So, its not...Brian's all right?"". Dov was worried that there would be news about Brian, that he was hurt or had been killed. This shows that Brian wants to know if his brother is okay. Another example, on page 44, ""Listen," I order, my voice strong and calm. "No one called so he's fine."" Dov tries to calm his mother down by doing what his brother would have done. He wants everyone in his family to be, "ok". So far the relationship between Dov and his father hasn't really developed yet but we do know that they're not as "close" as Brian is with his father.