Blog Reflection

After a year of blogging, I have realized different positive and negative aspects about my reading and writing life. One, is I’m good at interpreting non-fiction, whether it’s a book about competitive eating or an upfront article on the environment. I see messages that the authors are saying and the tricks they are using to get those messages through. I also like to formulate my own opinion on whatever the topic is. On the downside, I never respond to fiction in my blog besides when it is mandatory. In fact, my reading life is based entirely on non-fiction. Although that is my favorite genre, I should probably read a greater variety of genres to improve my interpretation and comprehension of other writing styles.

I have found that writing online is much more thorough than writing in my notebook, partially because my notebook to other people is eligible. But when I type, I usually delete ideas that I don’t think are important and think about what I’m writing harder. When I am writing, once I write something that isn’t too great, I don’t bother to erase it. I also think writing online is much more liberal than writing, because at this age, we can’t write in newspapers, and online media can express our thoughts to many more people than writing. The actual writing is freer in that it can reach more people.

Speaking of writing online in general, I think it is a great way for people to connect, although I feel it’s not as real as writing. In something like a letter, we take time and effort to make it sound polite and rich, while online is so quick, that usually whatever the writing is isn’t really important at all. On social media sites, I also feel the writing is very basic and has less effort to put into them. Much of the time, the things people post are meaningless, while sometimes hurtful, so overall its not great reading. Although I can’t imagine making a blog for myself, I might start to look at other people’s blogs for topics like music and news. I know some kids who have popular blogs, and checking them out might be a worthwhile activity. I think blogs are more similar to real writing than social media, and you can definitely learn a large amount about the world, or what other people think about it. 

The Matrix

The Matrix, a film where humans are oblivious that they are actually living in a computer generated realm, the main character Neo discovers the truth. Humans, for the most part, are controlled by artificial intelligence that uses them as an energy source. They think they are living in a world that looks like the present, but this is just a computer-generated world called the matrix. The matrix, that stimulates regular life, keeps them from knowing the truth. This connects to the philosophical topic of truth that Plato wrote about and we discussed in class.

In Plato’s book, The Republic, he includes a story about another philosopher, Socrates, talking to one of his students named Glaucon. Socrates tells Glaucon that most people are living comfortably in ignorance. Discovering the truth is like looking into a bright light after being in darkness for a long time. It hurts and is difficult in the beginning, but when you adjust, you can see so much more that you could have ever seen in the dark. It also says that many people can’t handle the truth and return to their old lives of ignorance and darkness.

The ideas in this book are correlated with characters from the movie. When Neo is confronted with the truth, he is flustered and in shock. At one point he lost it and tried to return to the matrix to live his normal life again. But eventually, he adjusted and discovered so much more than he could have in his old life. Another character, named Cypher, also is introduced to the realm of truth. But he can’t handle it, and wants to live his old life again. He betrays Neo and other characters in order to be reinserted back into the matrix with his memory wiped out, where he will be ignorant once again.

The movies theory about truth is very similar to Plato’s theory on truth, as it is with many other philosophical theories. On the other hand, it also contradicts with other philosophical theories just as much. This is why the matrix is so rich in thought and complexity, and a great film to watch and observe to learn the ways of philosophy.  

The Virgin Suicides

In the book The Virgin Suicides, by Jeffrey Eugenides, the Libson family, a mother and father and their five daughters, loses their youngest daughter Cecilia to a tragic suicide. The Libson family doesn’t communicate often with the rest of the neighborhood, and nobody seems to know him or her. Mr. and Ms. Libson have isolated their daughters from other kids throughout the years and have not socialized much themselves. When Cecelia jumped out the window of her house, the community felt obligated to help them pull through the tragedy. But it felt like the neighbors went to far in their assistance. This raises some ethical issues and questions to consider: Is it right to intervene with someone’s life without permission? And are the neighbors obligated to help in the first place?

In addition to sending cards and flowers, the community decides to take huge action that involves going onto the Libson’s property and making major changes. The Libson family rarely made contact with their neighbors before the death, and after, it seemed like nobody ever left the house. So without ever asking, the members of the community came in and decided to take out the fence that Cecilia had jumped on to kill herself. They considered the fence a safety hazard because of its sharp tips. Unfortunately for the neighbors, they don’t know if the work they’re doing is being appreciated, or is possibly making the Libsons uncomfortable. Is what they’re doing the right thing to do? To determine this, we must think about the possible outcomes. Say the community pulls out the fence; the Libsons with either not care, be bothered, or maybe make a better relationship with the community. If the community doesn’t pull out the fence, there is no chance anything will improve, and it is possible their neighborly relationships will worsen. I think the neighbors are making a good decision. After Cecilia’s death, the Libsons will only grow into worse and worse condition unless they receive help. Whether or not they appreciate the effort, something needs to be done.

We can also ask, if the neighbors are really obligated to help the Libsons. Members of a community always help each other out and interact. But because of the lack of interaction from the Libson family, it changes the neighborly rules. For example, people that live on farms are very far away from the nearest neighbors because of the vast fields in which they grow food. If a farmer 50 miles away had a disease kill some of his/her crop, the next farmer doesn’t feel the need to help them out, because they are too far away to be neighbors. This is similar to the Libson family. Although their physical location is close, because they never take a part in their community, they are just like those farmers who live 50 miles apart. Of course, this doesn’t mean the community shouldn’t help them as I described earlier. It just happens to be a nice community where the people are concerned for each other.

I think its very nice of the neighbor to try to help the Libsons, especially since I don’t feel there are obligated too. The Libsons are going through a very rough time, and could definitely use the assistance. To connect to the real world, I think this expresses a good example of how you should act as a member of a community or as a neighbor. Not knowing somebody is not an excuse to not helping them out, and could helping could bring you closer together. It is almost like one of the unwritten ethical rules that comes with being a neighbor.

Hitting the Snooze Button

Jan Hoffman writes about newly adopted school-start times in the article Hitting the Snooze Button. Hundreds of schools in the U.S. are looking at research of the adolescent body clock, and many have pushed back the start of their school day. Many students are sleep deprived, and would benefit from a little extra sleep time in the morning. There is much scientific evidence that supports that sleep affects learning. Jilly Dos Santos, a student in Rock Bridge High School, lead a movement that brought more sleep to students at her school. Her campaign is inspirational, and a great example of student power in schools.

There is a lot of evidence that sleep is a benefit to education. Sleep experts studied eight high schools that moved to a later time. They found that the students improved in measures like “mental health, car crash rates, attendance, and, in some schools, grades and standardized test scores.” In sleep, the brain is very active, sorting the data from the day and storing the information. Without sleep, “teenagers are losing the ability not only to solidify information but to transform and restructure it, extracting inferences and insights into problems,” said Jessica Payne, an assistant professor at the university of Notre Dame. Teens are losing this valuable sleep because of their sleep hormones that keep them up late and electronic devices.

Hoffman recalled the moving story of Jilly Dos Santos, who got her school board to push back her school’s starting time. At her school, the board was planning on a 7:20 a.m. start to the school day, and she rarely made the old 7:50 a.m. first bell. After encouragement from her teachers, Jilly decided to take action. She set up a Facebook and Twitter page, recruited friends to help with research, got help from teachers in the district, and set up an online petition. Jilly presented her case at a school board meeting, and an earlier school start was rejected. The next day, she campaigned for a later start to the school day, and in a later meeting, the starting time was pushed back 8:55 a.m. It is incredible for one student to change a schools system in a major way, and it expresses the power that students can have if they put in a lot of effort.

I personally think starting the school day later is worth the effort, but we need to account for its affect on the end of the school days. Kids with after schools may end up coming home very late. Sports teams will have to make their games later, and parents would have to change their schedules to pick up their children. I think with enough time, we will be able to overcome the conflicts with a later school day. For me, it won’t be that beneficial due to bad habits of procrastination and electronic use, but for students as a whole it’s a great change to make.

Designer Babies

Modern scientists are finding ways to control genetics in newborns. Scientists say the day when parents can select trait for their kids is not far off. The article “Designer Babies,” by Patricia Smith explains the controversy about whether we should alter the genes of babies. It acknowledges the positive affects of gene manipulation as well as the possible downsides. While the advances in genetic science look promising, they also are quite scary in that we might change the future entirely.

Current scientists are waiting to do a procedure that would combine the traits of three people to create a birth defect-free baby. 12 million people in the United States suffer from genetic affects such as cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, and hemophilia. By isolating the genes that cause these diseases, scientists they could replace these genes with healthy ones, and eventually leave no traces of disease left. “The most exciting part, scientifically, is to be able to prevent or fix an error in the genetic machinery,” says Dr. Alan Copperman, director of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Mount Sinai Medical Center. Diseases can be destroyed by not letting them be passed on, possibly becoming a thing of the past. Perhaps even minor traits can be replaced and everyone could be generally healthier.

But the idea of modifying babies has sparked controversy. Jeremy Gruber, a president of a bioethics advocacy group called the Council for Responsible Genetics, sees potential danger. “He fears such procedures could unintentionally cause new, unforeseen genetic abnormalities or accidently eliminate positive traits,” the author stated. Gruber is worried that scientists could make a mistake, and that mistake would carry on to many more offspring. In fact, many countries such as Canada, Australia, France, and Denmark have banned the altering of human genes. People also think scientists and people will get to carried away. Choosing traits like intelligence or athleticism could change our society. Ethicist Josephine Johnson thinks everyone will be compulsive in giving children desirable traits, which would change our lifestyle. In history, other genetic experiments have gone wrong, such as the eugenics movement, which discouraged people with undesirable traits to reproduce.

I don’t think we should be modifying genetics either. Humans have evolved and prospered very well using natural selection and variation. These processes relied on natural human diversity among offspring, and producing designer babies could make us vulnerable. I learned in science class that lack of diversity could lead to extinction of a species. Although that is unlikely, the changing of genetics is bound to have negative affects. Perhaps it could lead to overpopulation, or reckless competition. Humans have been living for a long time without changing our babies, and its not worth the risk. 

Move or Else

Move or Else by Ian Johnson explains the large movement of rural residents in China into towns and cities that the country’s government is enforcing. Officials in China want 70% of its 1.4 billion people to live in cities within the next dozen years. The operation will have downsides as well as upsides. The communist government planned this to boost the country’s economy, but it will also cause harm to the people. Details about both the main benefit and negative aspects helped me understand the main idea. The author explains how China’s government wanted to spurt China’s economic strength. “The idea is that more city-dwellers will mean more people spending money, making China’s economy less dependent on exports for growth,” Johnson stated. “Many of China’s farmers are subsistence farmers…with little left to sell. That means they hardly have any money to buy products made in Chinese factories.” I can see the advantages the government sees in urbanization, bringing in a much larger and reliable consumer group to buy Chinese factory items and support the economy.

Johnson also describes another aspect of the movement of the people: how it negatively affects the people kicked off their old homeland. She includes quotes from Wei Dushen, who has been moved to a newly created town called Huaming. “We know how to farm but not how to work in an office,” Dushen says. “Those are for educated people.” So people working on farms were there for a reason, and it’s difficult for those people to make a living in the city. Additionally, rural Chinese culture is being lost. Eighty percent of Chinese traditional songs, dances, rituals, martial arts, and theater come from rural areas. Villages that contain these traditions are being torn down to make cities for new city comers. When these villages disappear, there is no way to get back the lost culture. People not being able to make a living and Chinese culture being lost is a problem and a large downside of this new shift from farming to city life.

By including both the positive and negative effects, the author gets us to consider both sides of the argument of whether or not the forced migration of rural people is the right step to take for China. Making the article balanced allows us to formulate an opinion with solid knowledge about the topic. When articles are strongly centered around one claim, it’s harder for readers to consider the “other side” because they don’t have enough background. The author stays neutral by quoting two migrated people with different opinions of their new life. Dushen doesn’t approve of city life as much because he can’t work in an office. On the other hand, Yang Huashuai found work and appreciated the new opportunity. “It’s survival of the fittest,” he said, “If you don’t work hard, you don’t deserve to make it.” He believes the new lifestyle can be taken advantage of through hard work. The author keeps us well informed on the different angles of the movement so readers can accurately decide which one is better.

In my opinion, the movement to city life and destruction of Chinese farms and villages is not a good move for China. Although it will likely boost China’s economy, that is unnecessary. As stated in the article, China’s economy was second, only behind the United States. Boosting the economy further is not worth destroying Chinese culture. And although many people could find good opportunities in cities, too many others would not be able to. The change would ultimately make the rich richer and the poor poorer due to the decrease in job availability and increase in consumption of factory made items. If I learned about economics and how countries can have successful and happy people, I could imagine other possibilities to make China’s economy more reliant on purchases in the country. It would help if I knew how the middle class affects the way of life in the city and country and if China could reduce the number of subsistence farmers without getting rid of farming altogether.

R+J Literary Essay

In the story Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, main characters Romeo and Juliet, whose families are fighting, fall in love, which eventually leads to their tragic end. Themes like love and death are vital to the story, but another theme—time, such as events being rushed or unlucky timing—subtly plays an important role. Throughout the story, Shakespeare uses the theme of time to show and create the different aspects and stages of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship. In the beginning, there is a sense of urgency and uneasiness toward their future together when Romeo marries Juliet right after they meet. Later, there is a scene contrasting nighttime and morning that shows the bond between Romeo and Juliet. Lastly, a sequence of bad timing  was responsible for the end of their relationship and their unfortunate deaths.

Romeo and Juliet’s relationship feels rushed. Both characters are blinded by love and prone to something bad happening. One day after meeting at a party, Romeo and Juliet secretly marry without much thought of the future problems it could create. Marriages usually happen well after a couple meets, because a long period of time is needed to make a good plan for the future and Romeo and Juliet skipped over that period. They come from two families that are feuding, and marriage could make the conflict worse. Additionally, they break rules for marriage at the time by marrying in the afternoon, not getting a license, and not getting approval from the parents. This shows that their relationship is especially extreme because they are too madly in love to think about what will happen to them in the long term. Because of the Romeo and Juliet’s rash decision to marry, the priest, Friar Laurence, could see that their syrupy love could end badly. He warned Romeo that his hurried, passionate love could spin out of control. “These violent delights have violent ends,” ( 2.6.9) he says. “The sweetest honey/is loathsome in his own deliciousness” (2.6.11-12). The violent delights he mentions reflect the mad love of Romeo and Juliet; he is saying that kind of relationship won’t end well. He compares their strong love to the sweetest honey: although it feels really good, the way sweet honey tastes good, the surge of it has a bad result, just as eating too much honey can make you feel sick. “Therefore love moderately,” he says. “Long love doth so;/Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow” (2.6.14-15). Friar Laurence thinks they need to slow their love down to ensure a better future.

Shakespeare shows how close Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is with a scene about daytime and nighttime. After being exiled from Verona, where they live, Romeo stays one last night with Juliet before his departure. Juliet has a hard time separating from Romeo the next morning and tries to extend the final time they have together. “Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day/It was the nightingale, and not the lark” (3.5.1-2). To persuade Romeo to stay, she tries to assure him it is still nighttime. The nightingale is a bird that comes out at night, while the lark comes out in the morning, so she reckons if the nightingale is chirping, there is more time for them to be together. But Romeo responds by saying the bird is indeed a lark, and the streaks of light coming from the window indicate it is morning. He knows their time together must end because if he stays, he will die. Then she says, “Yond light is not daylight; I know it, I/It is some meteor that the sun exhales” (3.5.12-13). She tells Romeo that the light he sees outside is just a meteor, not the sun rising in the morning. This shows how badly Juliet wants Romeo to stay, because she desperately comes up with reasons she knows aren’t true to convince him. Whether the bird is a lark or not, it is still ultimately morning, and the light from the window actually is from the rising sun. In addition, Romeo’s response also shows how much he wants to stay with her. “I’ll say yon gray is not the morning’s eye,” he says (3.5.19), “Nor that is not the lark whose notes do beat” (3.5.21). Romeo also knows it is morning, but just to stay with Juliet longer, he agrees with her claims. He accepts that it’s not the lark that’s singing or the sun that’s shining. The personal risk he takes by staying just to be with Juliet shows how much they love each other.

The end of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship was a result bad timing ruining a plan by Friar Laurence. After Romeo was exiled from Verona, Juliet was forced to marry another man against her will. Friar Laurence suggested that Juliet fake her death and rejoin Romeo after being placed in her family vault for its dead. Friar Laurence sent Romeo a letter telling him of the plan, and Juliet drank a poison that would make her seem dead for two days. *But Romeo’s serving man, Balthasar, happened to be in the graveyard where Juliet was brought. Believing that she was dead, Balthasar took a horse and rushed to Romeo to inform him of the news. “Her body sleeps in Capel’s monument/And her immortal part with angels lives,” he says (5.1.18-19). But unfortunately, Balthasar reached Romeo before the carrier of the Friar’s letter to inform him of the plan, so Romeo believed Juliet was actually dead. Upon hearing this, Romeo rushes to the monument where Juliet was still in her dormant sleep. But right before Juliet awakens, Romeo takes his own life, not being able to bear his loss. “Here’s to my love!” he says. “Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die” (5.3.119-120). Right after that, Juliet wakes up to see Romeo dead, and takes her own life. “Oh happy dagger!/This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die” (5.3.169-171). The events that led to this were a result of people unluckily arriving too early. Because Balthasar reached Romeo before the Friar’s messenger, and Romeo saw Juliet just before she woke up, their relationship ended in their tragic deaths.

Shakespeare foreshadowed the unsteady future of Romeo and Juliet in their rushed wedding. He included a scene about night and day that showed how close they were. And he ended their relationship by adding a two components of bad timing. All of these aspects of their relationship are expressed through the theme of time. Just like in the real world, time is something that can’t be controlled; sometimes there is too much and sometimes there is too little. It can often change things in our lives, make us do something questionable, or make us want more of it, as it did in Romeo and Juliet. Time is only one of the smaller themes in the story that can be elaborated upon and written about. There are so many others, like the ones written of in class, that make the story so good.

*Some events stated are based on the movie Romeo and Juliet directed by Franco Zeffirelli.