A Dancers Power

In every book, no matter the genre, style, audience, or author, there is a common issue that has to get resolved. There is often a hierarchy that causes problems for the characters throughout the whole time, but this greater being is not always as obvious as one might think. In the book When the Stars Go Blue by  Caridad Ferrer, the problems lie within the plot itself. Being a dancer has been Soledad’s dream since she was four years old, but she does not have the stereotypical dancer body like so many of her delicate friends do. Her forte is not the soft ballet songs, it is the songs where she can be larger than life onstage and fill up the entire performance space with her presence. When she gets an offer from a boy named Jonathan to express her and feel her kind of music washing over her for an entire summer, she is conflicted. In the duration of this time, many hidden enemies and problems emerge due to this one job offer, and I think Soledad will see her path once all of the fog has cleared.

            Not having the skinny body that most ballerinas have was a hierarchy that was very unfair to have to overcome. Being yourself and having ambitions should not be a crime that people judge you on. This power that the typical ballerinas had was very unjust because even though Soledad has a goal in her mind, this difference between her and them is so great that anyone who was in that situation would feel alone sometimes like her. This goal of hers is becoming foggier and foggier as she becomes closer to Jonathan. He has a power over her because of the feelings she has towards him. The emotions and her dream are getting mixed, which is causing these changes in her plans. I believe that this is a just problem because they have control over it and what happens to it. Once everything with Jonathan gets sorted out and once she has a new goal set in her head, the path will be waiting for her to dance down it.

            Overall, Soledad’s dilemma is that she needs to make up her mind about where her path in life is going to take her. For me, my plans are still unclear but with every choice I make about studying for a test or doing my homework to the best of my ability, I am taking another step to my future. Once these power problems are resolved, there will be nothing more holding her back to make up her mind about how she wants to live her life. The just moments and the unjust moments are all a part of the life that we have paved for ourselves; down this bumpy road.

Community: Social Justice

         Humans are the most powerful animal in the world. We dominate the planet with our population of 7 billion people, all with their own stories to tell and lives to live. Social justice and injustice is inevitable at our point in time, and current authors of books know that and try to ease us into the damaged world and its people. In the book Paper Towns by John Green, these right and wrong doings were hidden beneath a complex love story that illustrated these social problems through high school.

          Quentin and Margo have always liked each other from afar, but once the "fun" begins, they feel connected, like they were meant to play these pranks together and have this time together. When Margo runs away, the whole high school dynamic was disrupted. Green makes it known that when something unexpected happens, you have to just keep on moving forward or else you will be stuck in the past. As the book progresses, the element of community and togetherness were presented as another social justice piece, yet this time, it was a rewarding piece. When something horrible happens, everyone is affected in a negative way and all of these people have something that they can relate to each other with. This is a helpful thing to learn in life because there aren’t many good things in the world, but the sense that people know what you are going through makes it easier.

          By leading us into the damaged world, these authors help us realize that there are issues greater than us. Since there are so many of us with so many different stories, we can take action against these acts of unjust happenings and prevent these bad situations from occurring. We create an awareness of the social justices and injustices that happen in our daily lives. 

Darkness is Just the Same

What parents call depressing young adult literature now, is what we have grown up our
whole lives. To insult our past reading lives is a lack of understanding. These books help 
us understand that this has happened before like Maureen Johnson says in the article "Yes, teen fiction can be dark – but it shows teenagers they aren't alone".

This darkness that has been around in books for as long as we can remember has not been appearing more and more but has been appearing in different forms. The books are different portrayals of life that reflect the youth of today. In the article, Johnson argues that "There isn't a YA writer alive who is out writing books to corrupt youth". For example, like stated in the article, no author who writes about self-harm is teaching self-harm. I agree with this because we don't read about these things easily. They provide information about the teenage life.

Personally, I think that teen literature is fascinating. The complexity and depth that the authors provide engages the reader and also helps them understand more in life. “If subjects like these are in YA books, it's to show that they are real, they have happened to others, and they can be survived." This quote represents the entirety of the subject. This is because almost all of the themes in YA books relate to a current day teenage problem.

Overall, all teen books are represented badly by the label of "dark" or "gruesome". We are familiar with all the topics in the books so to us, the most common readers of his genre, it is no surprise. The article really represented that idea and spoke for those who are afraid to defend our generation’s books.

Cigarettes by Mariah Hill 10/7/13

Smoking was a big deal with Alaska. She was like a cigarette; on fire. Breathing in smoke was Colonial, Pudge, and Takumi’s connection to her after she had fizzled out. The book Looking for Alaska by John Green describes the teenage life that everyone wants to pretend doesn’t exist.

Alaska, Colonial, Pudge, Takumi, and Zara were all good people, but they were just sucked into the world of smoking and drinking and couldn’t/ didn’t want to get out. Culver Creek Preparatory High School is where their lives would be changed forever as they made one bad choice after another like getting drunk, smoking, and other bad things. Pudge was and still is a good person on the inside, but Alaska had a very dramatic effect on his life, both before and after she died, and not just in a good way. Alaska was the very model of a modern teenager whose life had been ruined before she even got a chance to live it. ‘“Why do you smoke so damn fast?” I asked. … She smiled with all the delight of a kid on Christmas morning. “Y’all smoke to enoy it. I smoke to die”’(page 44) All of the people in the book had some modern characteristic that made them a lot more relatable like Zara and her relationship problems, Pudge and his drinking problems, and especially Alaska and her smoking problems.

Even though I have never had a friend die, I have had plenty of family members pass away. For the characters in the book, they smoked to cope with the loss. Singing is how I deal with these losses. When these family members were alive, I would sing for them all the time and I loved it. When these musical notes came out of my mouth like the smoke from their cigarettes, I was with them in my memories.

Overall, I think this book is a necessary read for all teens because all the characters have these flaws that any normal person would have. In a way, it tells the story of a teenage life that should not happen, but is inevitable at some time or another. It tells the story no one wants to hear, but has to. It tells the truth.

Summer Book: The Future of Us

     Over the summer, I read the book The Future of Us by Carolyn Mackler and Jay Asher. I felt that the book was really deatailed and good, and also told a story that had a big message in it: When you know your future, you want to change it no matter what it is. You just have to accept it and let fate decide what will happen to you.
      The beginning of the book was a little slow, but once Emma and Josh discovered facebook, the pace was alot faster. I really liked how the authors put the facebook excerpts in the facebook format because it really brought the story to life and made it more relateable and understandable to the people who use it today. I also liked how the facebook status always changed what they were going to do to make their futures just hhow they wanted it. This also relates back to how both their futures were not perfect. Emma kept changing what her fate was trying to make it better when she had a cheating husband, but it just kept getting worse.
     Josh and Emma's relashonship in the book had alot of impact on their futures. When they got in a fight, in the future theyy were no longer friends on facebook. But, when they made up their statuses would change to them making small talk. Personally, I want them to end up together in the future because that would be the best fate they could hav chosen. I think the authors foreshadowed in the end of the book a little bit that they were going to end up together when they had Josh and Emma kiss.
     Overall, thi book was a really intriging story and I LOVED the concept. It was an easy read, but I still really liked it.