In the short story “If You Kiss a Boy,” Alex Sanchez introduces us to two boys facing their own bi-curiosity. The short story was written to introduce the concept of being gay to pre-teenagers and teenagers. The book is in 1st person and is told through a boy named Alex. In the short story Sanchez’s hopes that by writing the story was it would educate teens on the concept of being gay and help other kids that know that they are gay through a tough time in their lives by writing an intriguing short story. This short story is intended for teens and pre-teens, specifically kids that are trouble with the concept of being gay or someone being gay. Sanchez’s writing style is calm and comfortable, like a teenager was written it. It fits the short story is well suited to the intended audience and it was clear and makes an impact on its readers. I really liked this short story. It really opened my mind on a new subject that I hadn’t read much literature on. It gave my different ideas of the perspectives people have on gay people and the troubles a young gay boy or girl have to go through. I believe that Sanchez’s has achieved his goal behind writing this short story. It portrayed the life and the opinions of many different whether they be gay or straight, male or female. I would recommend this book to others because I think it may widen their horizons in literature and introduce them to a new topic. Many teenager struggle with ether being gay or reacting to gay people. Reading this short story has really opened my eye up and shown me the importance of excepting everyone no matter who they may be, and I hope that if I recommend this to one of my friends that they will realize that to.
Monthly Archives: June 2013
It’s a Barbie’s World
The character that I have chosen is Penelope. I chose Penelope because I think she is just a normal girl that many people can connect with. Penelope is trapped of the cycle of people following society’s path for them and not living their lives the way they want to. Society essentially makes clones of people by advertising the idea of perfection. I used a Barbie doll to represent society’s idea of perfection. By filming an everyday girl in the Barbie box, I displayed the feeling of being trapped in box that your community or family has set around you. Because many girls and women believe they have to live up to these standards 7 millions female U.S. citizen have eating disorders. Penelope is one of these 7 millions females.
Different aspects in my video represent different things. One example of this is this label on the box itself. The warning label is black this represent how the dangers of living up to the standards set for you is different for everyone. The warning label also says +13, I made it like this to represent the troubles of being a teenager, and as a young girl becomes a teenager appearance begins to matter more and more. Not only the warning label has meaning in my video everything has meaning, for example, the girl in the Barbie box is wearing everyday civilian clothes this represent that the everyday person goes through these problems.
The principals of design that used in my project were contrast and emphasis. Contrast is seen throughout my video. One example of contrast in the video is the contrast between the young girl I chose to put in the box and the actual Barbie itself. The girl had dark brown hair and deep brown eyes the exact opposite of Barbie. I did this because I feel it shows how these social pressures affect everyone all races and religions. The emphasis was on the box in my video. The room around the box was white, so the box was the point of emphasis.
The elements of art that I used in my project were color and value. Color was used in the color of the box. I used a bright hot pink as the color of the box. I did this because this hot pink reminds you of Barbie. I color was a key part of the project to catch the viewers attention and remind them of Barbie. Value was used in my project through the filter that I used for the video. The filter changed the value of the colors to make it more dream like.
Be uses the elements of design I tried to create a video the express the feeling of being trapped in society’s idea of perfection, because in reality it is a Barbie’s world.
The Price of Owning Yourself
“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” Friedrich Nietzsche said that and it is true in many ways. How do you balance your duty to society, to your family, your tribe, and the duty that you have to yourself. Should you sacrifice the life you have always dreamed of for the responsibility you have to your tribe?
Life on a Native American reservation is not ideal with problems like, alcoholism, bad education, and drug violence with in the community. Many want to escape the tribe they live in, but not all can. Arnold, the protagonist, in Sherman Alexie’s book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, deals with fitting into is community while going to a school off the reservation. He is exiled from his Native American community and called a traitor. The jobs on the reservation are few and pay little. Arnold is faced with the issue of living in his community to pursue education and later a possible job outside of the reservation or continuing to fill the readability he has for his family. Even though Arnold has the readability to his family he still pursues his goal of getting a better education. Arnold says, “I have to go. I’m going to die if I don’t leave”(Alexie 52).
Sometimes culture and family hold you back from the happiness that comes with achieving your goals. Maria is the protagonist in the play West Wide Story directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, and suffers from racial and gender discrimination. Her main goal in life is to become an American citizen and live a normal American life after she migrated from Puerto Rico. There are many obstacles she faces everyday because of her race and gender. The Hispanic community around her pressures her to wed another Hispanic while Maria wants to marry an American boy. Her family doesn’t approve of Tony, the American boy. Bernardo states, “Can’t you see he is one of them (American)” (Wise/ Robbins Scene 4). Her goals and the goals of her family are conflicting. In this case Maria tried to run away from the pressures of her family with Tony, but sadly all did not end well. Maria is similar to Arnold, they both refused to allow their community’s goals to take precedence of their individual desires.
Not only minorities and people who are racially discriminated struggle with the balance of their readability to their family and the reasonability they have to their individual goals. Penelope is a character in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian who wants to escape her life. Her individual goal is to travel the world and meet new people. She doesn’t want to get stuck in the life of a stereotypical white girl. “… I want all of it. Every single piece of it” (Alexie111). Penelope wants to travel, meet new people, and experience life to tit’s fullest, while her father, a close-minded racist, wants her to grow up to become just like everyone in the community. The goals her father has in mind are conflicting because it causes Penelope to struggle with her loyalty to her father and her individual desires and goals.
The struggle to fulfill the goals of the community vs. individual goals can cause conflict within communities and can cause an individual to question their motives. All the character struggle with the balance, if you’re an Indian, White, or Hispanic everyone goes through it. To solve the problem you have to personally weigh the pro and cons of your situation. It depends on the situation of the specific person, but in the end “no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself”.
emilyduque9 