Social Action Project

1. Last month 12 year old Rebecca Sedwick committed suicide after being continuously bullied in school and online. This is so sad. The fact that someone so young felt that threatened, is painful but what makes it worse, is the way the 12 and 14 year olds who bullied her reacted. On an interview the 12 year old bully claimed that she didn’t do anything.  THe 14 year old bully posted this to her facebook account "Yes ik [I know] I bullied Rebecca and she killed her self but IDGAF [I don't give a f---]." This is so messed up on so many levels. A simple apology to Rebecca’s family was the least they could have done. The fact that they not only deny it, and claim that they don’t care is awful. But the need to share those thoughts with the whole world through internet is so messed up. Teens taking their own lives makes me so sad and being bullied happens way too much. If people could just be more thoughtful about what they choose to say and think about how it might affect the other person, the world would be a nicer place.

2. A few years ago there was a photoshop scandal at Ralph Lauren. A model’s ribs were basically removed from her torso. When looking at the ad it’s kind of funny, because it’s so obviously fake. But if you think about that image and how it must line up with the expectations for people’s body’s you realize the situation is out of control. The people at Ralph Lauren made an already thin girl look like a snake with a life sized human head on top. They don’t realize how many teens see those kinds of pictures and how influenced they are by them. Models already probably feel really pressured because of being expected to have a body that is completely unnatural. Then in photoshop they are made to look even thinner.  Reporters estimated that about fifty additional pounds were edited off of her in the picture Ralph Lauren used.

This isn’t the only time things like this happen. Flipping through magazines there are always stories criticizing overweight celebrities and reporting their recent weight gains or losses, and you see pictures of models on runways who look so unhealthily underweight you wonder how their twigs for legs are even supporting them. The issue is that this isn’t frowned upon. In Israel almost all modeling agencies require their models to be above a certain weight, and make sure they eat before walking the runway. If those requirement existed in America, realistic role models for teens would be a possiblity. Teens shouldn’t even be worrying about their weight, unless they are unhealthy but they still do. Just a few days ago I wanted to go to starbucks, and my friend told me that she didn’t want to waste the calories on something that fatty. At the time I laughed, because I don’t pay attention to calories and infact eat more than anyone I know, and just don’t really gain weight, but this made me realize how much other people care. I think that if we had more realistic role models this would be much less of a problem.

3. After observing my neighborhood i noticed:

- Lots of people running to the train

- Lots of people walking their dogs

- Grafitti

- Delis

- People listening to music on their stoops

- Abandoned buildings

- Buildings under construction

The topic I found the most interesting is the buildings under construction. Bed-Stuy has been know to be a bad neighborhood for forever, but it’s changing a lot and I have mixed feeling about that.  When I was nine my family and I moved from the super safe and friendly neighborhood of Carroll Gardens to Bed Stuy. We renovated a house for a year. It was actually really sad though, because there had been a family that had lived there for years but they couldn’t afford to take care of the house anymore. But the walls were collapsing, the floors were rotting down through to the ceiling of the floor below. Each room was padlocked and had its own unique scent of a combination of urine and mold. This is how a lot of the buildings are in my neighborhood, some are abandoned, and some actually have families living in them.

At the closing of buying the house a woman approached my mom and thanked us for buying it. She explained that as a child it was the most beautiful house on the block, and it was impossible to watch it deteriorate like this. She said that she knew we would bring it back to what it once was. On almost every block there is at least one one house being renovated, they were all new at one point, and its really cool to see them return to that state.

4. I Interviewed a librarian at the Bedford Stuyvesant public library, the very first public library in Brooklyn. I asked what she felt was good in the world, and what she felt was unfair, for good things she said:

“When different kinds of people with the same beliefs work together.”

I agree, there are lots of people with different religious beliefs, political beliefs, and different amounts of money, who see each other as competition, or think that because of their differences they can’t work together, but in reality, there are issues/ topics that they have the same views on, and if they just worked together, the issues would be resolved faster, and with much less roadblock.

When I asked her about what she thought was unfair in the world she said:

“War, no matter if it’s here in America, or anywhere, there are much better ways of resolving our problems then killing each other”

I completely agree, because in a way the actual logic of a war reminds me of toddlers in an argument, (much more violent obviously). At this point in time, I think we should have more sophistocated ways of resolving our issues. The fact that people feel the need to build armies and go kill other armies to get what they want is awful.

5. Recently there was a case where Macy’s and Barney’s (department stores), were accused of racially profiling their customer. Karen Robbins, an African American shopper, claims that when shopping at Macy’s she had seen a white man shoplifting, and escaping, and yet there were people standing near her making sure she didn’t steal anything just because of her skin color. Another african man was falsely accused of credit card fraud at Barneys. Shoplifting is something that happens a lot, not just by certain races. Instead of isolating one group of people we should focus on the topic of shoplifting as a whole. It doesn’t matter what color skin the shopper has, and its unfair to let people get away with stealing because they don’t look like the “typical” shoplifter, and accuse innocent people of crimes they didn’t commit.

6. Someone who changed the world was my grandma. She passed away over the summer, but she worked until the last few months, and what she did in her job completely changed the world we live in now. She grew up during the great depression, and never went to college, but 35 years ago she created a program in NYU that changed technology. At the time computers were something that people relied on to do tedious unimaginative work. But she saw computers as a tool to help create things that not only made life easier, but helped broaden what your creativity could do. She claimed “Innovation is the response to an excited imagination.” She taught her students how to make art on the computer, along with how to use technology to help modern day issues. She didn’t care if you knew anything about technology, because she believed that with creativity and motivation you could do anything.

She populated her program with scientists, musicians, artists, and mathematicians, so that they could work together and achieve things no one from one particular point of view could exptect. A student from her program designed the kiosk where we buy metrocards which is something we now take for granted in our everyday lives. They invented an app for unicef that can locate lost children in Malawi, and the Philippines. They had two shows every year that I always went to, where students could show what they had created. I remember there was a man who made a toaster where you could draw something on an ipad, and it would get burnt onto the toast. There was a piano that was somehow connected to these pens, and every key activated a different color or motion, to create a really cool drawing. She mixed technology, art, everyday life as well as world problems, and changed the word

7. A song lyric I find meaningful is, “It’s better to be hated, than loved for what you’re not”, from the song “I am Not a Robot”, by Marina and the Diamonds. This relates a lot to teens today. A lot of teens think that they need to act different in order to be friends with certain people. There is a huge difference between being friends with people you’re comfortable with and people you’re not. Acting fake or acting in a way that isn’t you because you’re nervous is awful. It makes you rely on how you think others want you to act in stead of being true to yourself. Being friends with people who you feel comfortable around allow you to act yourself. Those kinds of people can be hard to find, but it is just like Marina said, it’s terrible to be liked for someone that isn’t really you. If you are true to your real personality, there will be people who appreciate you for for it, even if it takes a while to find them.

8. In most movies and TV shows teens are often not taken seriously by the adults because of their age, when often they actually know more than the adults. The adults in the story who are in some kind of trouble act like the teens can’t offer real help because they’re just too silly or don’t know enough. Some examples of this are from the Doctor Who episodes “Human Nature”, and “Family of Blood”.  Something weird is going on but no one knows what it is or what to do. In fact, there is an alien invasion that everyone except for a thirteen year old boy is completely unaware of.  The boy keeps telling the adults about the invasion, but the adults don’t listen to him. The reason they ignore him, isn’t because of they don’t believe in aliens. It’s just because of his age.

Book Banning Essay

Dear Ms. Berner,

Book banning and censoring is a controversial topic that has been affecting the young adult fiction world lately. Parents are putting limits on the books they allow their children to read, as a personal parental choice, and many schools are taking books off of library shelves, and teachers have been removing books from the school’s curriculum. Books should not be banned, because they educate the reader, and can motivate them to turn around their own lives.
Krystyna Slivinski reports that in District 41 Chicago, parents complained about the content of the young adult novel Perks of Being a Wallflower, requesting that it be taken off the shelves of Hadley Jr. High. The issues in this book, of peer pressure, drugs, death, sexual abuse, and relationships, are realistic and could easily affect the reader, soon or in the future. Instead of “protecting” them from the knowledge of these rough situations, we should give teens these books as educational tools about life, because once they see that it is possible to overcome their issues, it will be easier for them to face them. The reporter Mary Elizabeth Williams’ article “Has Young Adult Fiction Become too Dark?” from the Wall Street Journal reminds us,  “They’re not called children’s books, they’re young adult.” This label already hints that the books aren’t for young children, so it is shocking when people act outraged and surprised that the content is different than what you would find in books meant for kids in elementary school. If sixth graders know that YA fiction is too heavy for them personally, then they won’t read it.  There are  kids who are mature enough handle these books, so it’s wrong to make a stereotype claiming that all people of one age are the same.

Williams article “Has Young Adult Fiction Become too Dark?” also reminds us that “Reading about homicide doesn’t turn a man into a murderer.” This brings up a very good point, especially about YA fiction. No young adult book glorifies the bad situations a characters faces. These books explore the struggle characters face, and also how the characters cope with their situations. These stories can show teens how to avoid the same trouble as the characters, but it also shows teens with similar problems that there is hope, and that they are not alone. In the article “Banned Books Week 2010: Anti-Censorship Manifesto”  Ellen Hopkins, the author of many young adult novels about teens going through family problems, serious drug addictions, pregnancy, death, etc. explains how many schools have banned these books so the kids wouldn’t to be “exposed” to the issues in them. Ellen Hopkins was angry.  She understood that the topics in her books are controversial, but  she said, “They show outcomes to choices, offer understanding, and each is infused with hope.” It is important for us to look past the issues themselves, and see how they are overcome. She also claims that “After almost every talk, one or more people wait until the room clears, and tell me their story,” this proves that these kinds of books are inspirational to the readers, not destructive.  

In conclusion, these books should not be banned from sixth grade libraries, because they can be used as a guide or inspiration for kids with similar issues. They also teach readers who don’t know about the topics in the books, how dangerous certain situations might be. They also share understandable reasons why teens should avoid situations that have a negative impact on the character’s lives. Being titled “Young Adult” gives a warning, so if kids know they aren’t ready to handle darker subjects, most likely they won’t pick up those books. I believe that having young adult books available is only beneficial, because they could help educate, and motivate their readers.

Sincerely,

    Olive Forgash

Looking For Alaska, by: John Green

     I recently finished "Looking For Alaska", by: John Green, it had an amazing plot, and was really well written. Many parts stood out a lot to me but there was a quote on page 196 that I really liked.
     "but even now, just weeks later, she was slipping away, falling apart in my memory and everyone else's, dying again"
     I think that this is very true, when someone dies, the next few weeks or months are difficult because that person is all you can think about. Everything reminds you of them, because you still cant believe it's actually true.
     The part about slipping away from people's memory is about how after those months after, you think of them occasionally, but they are no longer the only thing your mind is focused on, even though it will never actually be okay with you, the person's absence as become more normal, and in a way finally accepted.
     The part about dying again also relates to the forgetting, because the person physically dies, and then they die with in our minds, not our hearts, we still miss them, but not in the same way.

People's whole lives can be changed from one accident

The driver who will carry the guilt of a death that wasn't even his fault

His parents who lost their son at such a young age

His sister who regrets all the times they fought

His friends who wish they could talk to him just one more time

His other family members who are in shock and denial

The driver who will never forgive himself

His parents who hope he knew he was loved

His sister who isn't ready to go back to school

His friends who will never forget the memories

His other family members who regret not visiting when they had last planned to

Perks of Being a WallFlower

     I recently finished "Perks of Being a WallFlower," and a part that really effected me was when Bill (Charlie's English teacher) invites him for dinner.

    

     The reason I liked this part so much is because even though Charlie knows that his parents love him, they never express it or complement him about anything. All through the year Bill had assigned Charlie book reports on his favorite books, but never to any of the other students. Charlie never really cared or thought much of it, because he loved to read, and write. At Bill's house though, he explains to Charlie what the real reason for these extra assignments was; he told Charlie that he was one of if not the smartest person he had ever met. The way the author described Charlie's feelings was done really well, the mix of surprise, happiness, and confusion, because had had never been told that before.

     In conclusion, "Perks of Being a WallFlower" is a great book will very strong characters, it shows that there are always people there for you, even if it isn't your parents.

Faithful Elephants, by Yokio Tsuchiya

     The short story Faithful Elephants, by Yokio Tsuchiya teaches us that even the right decision can have bad attributes. Tokyo Japan was being bombed, and it was unclear what to do with the animals, (particularly the elephants) in the Ueno Zoo. After thinking long and hard, the elephant trainer decided that it would be best to kill the elephants. 

    Even the right decision can have bad attributes, and example of this is when the trainer is trying to kill the elephants. Over time the trainer had grown attached to the elephants, so he wanted to kill  them in the least painful way possible. The elephant John loved potatoes, so the trainer gave him poisoned potatoes, but John refused to eat them. As a last resort, the trainer had to let him starve. This shows that trying not to harm John, was more difficult than expected. 

     Even the right decision can have bad attributes. It turned out that starving the elephants was the fastest, and most simple way to kill the elephants, so the zoo workers stopped feeding Tonky and Wanly. The trainers felt so bad for the elephants, "Seeing his beloved elephants dying this way, the elephant trainer felt as if his heart would break." because of this he tried to stay away from their cages, so he wouldn't have to see their suffering. When he couldn't take it any more, "he carried food, and pails of water to them, and threw it at their feet". This shows that even though their deaths are for everyone's safety,it was still extremely difficult to uphold.

     I conclusion decisions are hard when protecting other people means harming who you love. In life people have to make sacrifices, and if you are content that what you are doing is right, it is important to stick with it.

Summer Reading- A Long Walk To Water, by: Linda Sue Park

          One of the books I read over the summer was A Long Walk To Water, by: Linda Sue Park. The book consists of two separate stories of children in Africa. Salva's story starts in the 80's, and makes it's way up to meet Nya who lives in present day.
          I think that Linda Sue Park portrayed the feelings, and actions of all the characters very well, she based it on a true story, and was actually helped by Salva! Salva looses his family for many years, when the area around his school is being bombed during the war, and he is told to run to stay safe. After making friends with others who had run, he gets the opportunity to move in with an American family in Upstate New York. That was probably my favorite part of the book, because his reactions to technology, the amount of food, and many more things that were completely new to him were written really well.
          In conclusion A Long Walk To Water, by: Linda Sue Park is a very good book. In the beginning and middle of the book the characters and plot are very interesting, and entertaining, but in the end, I realized how many things I and people around me take for granted. I think its nice how a true story was capable of teaching us such a deep and important life lesson.