May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

       Human suffering is as old as time. In Giovanni's piece, she describes how human suffering is seen everywhere in history- from the Holocaust to the Native Americans to just everyday crime in cities. She brings out this fault in the world and makes a call to action for us all to escape this labyrinth.
       She criticizes the fact that Harry Potter is merely just a boy who lived. His story is similar to many people's lives today. He was simply one out of millions who "[bloomed] in the noise of the whirlwind" Giovanni makes fun of the fact of how modern day people praise Harry Potter for the magic, wizards, etc, and often overlook the important moral lesson hidden behind the plot. His mom's unconditional motherly love prevails and sets a platform for him to live on. He seizes this opportunity as he grows older to bloom through the suffering. Giovanni criticizes Harry Potter as well because his story isn't that spectacular. Why don't people give Neville any recognition? He was an orphan who suffered just as much as Harry.
       The point is that suffering is everywhere. Even the elephant story showed the struggle in the savannah but the motherly love protected the infant so he could have a chance to bloom. Blooming means finding your identity, but Giovanni shows how in this world of chaos it is often very difficult to do it through all the suffering. "I am neither the white man you think I am nor the Black man I hope to be."
        After watching Catching Fire this weekend, I realized that the morals of human suffering and "blooming through the whirlwind" are also prevalent in this story. Katniss blooms in the whirlwind as the Capitol casts suffering to the districts. Just like Harry Potter and the elephant, Katniss shows "motherly" love towards her sister as she sacrifices herself. She becomes the hero of the story who serves as a symbol of hope. Another point worth noting is that people are often only consumed and concerned about the love triangle that surrounds the story, and often overlook the deep moral lessons- such as the corruption of the capitol and how much the poeple are suffering. The Hunger Games isn't just a story about some heroine with some hot boys, it's about love, hope, sacrifice, and suffering. That's just like how people are often only drawn into the magic, wands, and wizards of Harry Potter.
       Just as Giovanni is trying to say- there is hope for change before the savannah completely vanishes but humans need to take action now.

!?!?!?! *P [_] |\| ( + [_] /\ + ! O |\|* ?!?!?!?!

         If there's one thing I learned this week, it would be that debating is hard-very hard. As both sides argued back and forth, both had really good rebuttals.
        For the anti-side, our strongest rebuttal was probably just that the standard conventions of punctuation would limit individual style(especially in the 21st century with Twitter, etc) and how punctuation is ever-evolving.
       The other side makes a good point about how it is important for clarification, especially in academic or professional settings. Even though I was on the anti side, I find myself still debating whether the standards of punctuation is necessary. I understand how it's important in academic settings, but I find that most teens disregard punctuation on social networks or texting just because they assume people can understand them through the context.
       An example of the "individual style" of punctuation is seen when teens choose to use a period or not. It's kind of funny that "Ok","Ok." are interpreted differently. A lot of people automatically assume that the period means, "Uh oh this person is pissed!" Also it is very, very rare to see correct punctuation on twitter. Most people just want the freedom of expression without having to worry about some "standard" that they have to follow. Punctuation not only puts in areas where there should be a pause-nowadays it also shows the tone, mood, and attitude.
   
Argument for punctuation:

A wonderful song regarding the oxford comma:

Marked for Life?

        Alas, time for another blog post. When I read There Is No Unmarked Woman, a sadness came upon me as I realized that women were trapped in this horrible game of marking. We are judged by every action, every word, every movement. Throwing back to a previous topic, I think all of this started back in the day when men started to stereotype women as weak. Being seen as weak, the only way that women had an chance of gaining power was against other women, so they compared each other in the aspects of beauty, wealth, status, etc. As time progressed, although women have gained more rights than the past, this "default setting" of judgment and competition among women has stayed. I think that part of this marking by men has started from women. 

          So, I think the only way to get rid of this "marking" is when women stop the marking first. If even women can't stop labeling each other by their sexuality, how can the rest of society? Even just in high school there isn't a day where I don't hear a girl go "Look at what she's wearing! She's such a slob; Wow she talks to so many boys, she's such a flirt!" We need to start the change and serve as an example. 

      Relating to The Scarlet Letter, I think Hester serves as a prime example. Instead of conforming to what society expects her to act like, she uses her marking as a slap back in their face by remaining strong. Contrary to what many men would think, Hester(THE WOMAN) is stronger than Dimmesdale(THE MAN) in this case. She defies the stereotype of women being the weaker sex. 

Lesson of the day: listen to Rosie!

 My reaction to the end of The Scarlet Letter:

The Truth Will Set You Free

       Lies on lies on lies. It's an inevitable part of our lives. There comes to a point where your pile of lies will consume you. You are your lies, your lies are you. You'll reach a breaking point, and your guilt will eat you from the inside out.
       This week as we read The Scarlet Letter, we saw two different ways of dealing with sins. Hester, being found out, confessed her sin and was harshly judged by all the townspeople. Although she was condemned to a lifetime of judgement, she could live her life freely with Pearl since her sin was already out there. She doesn't have the guilt of her sin eating her out anymore. Also, as the years passed, the townspeople have somewhat forgiven her and now view her differently. Instead of the letter A representing adultery, they now think it stand for able. They think she's a very kind woman who helps out the poor. Although she is still shunned, the judgement on her has decreased.
       On the other hand, Dimmesdale cannot bring himself to confess his sin. As a minister, the townspeople would go insane if they found out that he also confessed the sin. As he holds his sin in, it is eating him alive not only emotionally and mentally, but also physically. His guilt will pile up until he reaches his breaking point.
       I think this applies to real life because it teaches us that we can never run away from our sins. They will always be with us but if we confess and don't let it pile up, then it's okay. This kind of relates to the statement of how you tell so many lies that you don't even remember the truth anymore. This is the same with sins. If you let them pile up then it will drive you insane. You will lose your identity and sanity. More concisely: the truth will set you free.