Janie

            In my opinion, Janie from "Their Eyes Were Watching God" is a compelling character. She is an older woman who has been through so much in her lifetime. I believe that Janie has this idea of love in her head and she's just having a very difficult time obtaining it. This is a bitter feeling, and although I can't relate yet, I feel sorry for Janie.
            Janie learned at a young age that her Grandmother AND her mother had been raped. Knowing something as severe as that could be so damaging to a person, I personally would be completely scarred to find out something like that happened to any of my family. As a result of her Grandma warning her of the tragedies, she expects Janie to marry Logan Killicks for a sense of security and protection when she can no longer be there for Janie. Therefore, Janie goes through with the marriage and finds herself very unhappy. Seeing this sorrow from Janie, makes me upset with her Grandmother because she doesn't seem to care at all that her granddaughter doesn't love the man that she has married.
             It isn't long before Janie runs off with Jody. As soon as Janie meets Jody, he sweet talks her and wrangles her in. She falls for him fast, but it doesn't take much for him to stop even trying to impress her because it says in the story that, "On the train the next day, Joe didn't make many speeches with rhymes to her," This just goes to show that Joe stopped caring much for her after he got her in his grip. Then, as we read on we just see a digression of their relationship in general. It's painful  to see just how much Janie has to put up when it comes to Joe. He hits her, treats her like a child, and verbally abuses her in front of others. In my opinion, no woman should ever be put down and abused the way that Janie was.
            Seeing that although Janie was put through so much thus far when it comes to relationships yet she is still back for more is actually kind of relieving. It shows that Janie is very resilient. Even though up to now she hasn't been able to find this idea of Love, she still wants it and goes after it. By Janie going for Tea Cake, she shows that nothing will break her spirits for too long. This pleases me because it is depressing to see people ever give up on their dreams or love. A lot of times you see people just plain abandon their dreams of love, but Janie has not quit thus far!

Classmates I am Thankful for in English

            I very much enjoy my English II class with Mr. McCarthy during 5th period. We do a lot of critical thinking in this class and if it weren't for the people in this class that get me thinking, I may never be able to analyze literature the way I do today. There are many people in my class who I believe make me a better analyst, therefore I am very thankful to have them around.
            Firstly I am thankful for Mr. McCarthy himself because he is an awesome teacher! We talk about a lot of ideas in his class and I feel like he asks us deep questions to try to push our thinking skills. Besides it all, he’s a pretty funny guy and makes me laugh a lot!
            Additionally, I am extremely grateful for the many people in my class who have helped me throughout the year thus far. Although I’m appreciative for everyone in one way or another, I especially thankful for a few people in particular. These few are Genevieve, Yaira, Iris, Gisselle, and Kate. These ladies are amazing thinkers and people in general!!
            Firstly, I wanted to thank Genevieve and Yaira because I have worked with them on most of the group work thus far in our class. I am always appreciative that Genevive has her own personal point of view on things and it’s very interesting to hear. Yaira on the other hand gives me more confidence in my thoughts and discusses the literature from class with me during lunch.
             Next, I want to thank Iris, Gisselle and Kate! Iris is always that person I look to in class to share a laugh with when Mr. McCarthy says something funky (which happens often). Further more,  Iris is one of my running buddies and she makes running with her a blast! Also, Gisselle runs with me! But inside the class I am thankful that Gisselle is always participating and letting the class in on her thoughts because she sometimes gives the answers that I cannot think of at the moment. Lastly, I would like to thank Kate because she sees things differently then I do at times. Kate is a very thoughtful person and I like to hear the way she sees things because it's very interesting and different from my own.

Ernest Hemingway

            Ernest Hemingway, unlike some of his stereotypical characters, was a dynamic man. It seems to me as though he was a celebrity and somewhat of a free spirit. Ernest was one of those authors who everyone seemed to constantly look to for new material. Ernest did things naturally and people automatically drifted to him.                
            Hemingway was a huge public figure in his time because he was known as a  local celebrity. It was even said in the documentary that he was even well liked all the way back in high school. Something about Hemingway caused people to just drift to him and his writing increased his popularity even more because he was a great writer. People were always looking for new literature by Ernest and he almost always amazed them with a new work. Except for when he wrote one novel in which was highly criticized and said to be his worst piece of literature. Even though Ernest had one book that wasn't very impressive, he still was loved and soon redeemed himself.
            Although it seems that Ernest Hemingway was a truly extraordinary man, he did have many downfalls when it came to relationships and family. Ernest had five wives throughout his lifetime, one nearly right after the other. This was because Ernest couldn't be alone and he was constantly able to find another woman that he "loved". In addition, he had 3 children in which he was inconsistent in parenting. This leads me to believe that Hemingway must have been a pretty free spirit because he didn't let anyone hold him down, especially not his wives or children. Ernest always seemed to be able to turn around whatever bad situation he was going through, though. Like, the fact that he used his poor athletic abilities as inspiration to write great novels of success.
           

Six Word Stories

Thunder strikes, branches fall, world silent.

Two birds, nest full, forever love.

Sunday afternoon, tension high, bears win.

Sun high, birds singing, beautiful morning.

Slinking slowly, only whispers, completely hidden.

Waiting long, nervous for arrival, anticipation.

Plane lands, camouflage uniform, daddy's back.

John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

            After reading "The Crucible" I found myself having a lot of mixed feelings about John Proctor. John was definitely a very dynamic character in the story because he shows one of the most drastic changes from beginning to end. In the beginning, I saw John in a pretty bad light for committing adultery with a young girl, Abigail, and not seeming to want to take the entire blame for it. But later in the play, the way I saw Proctor changed quite a bit when it came time for taking the blame for witchcraft. 
          At first we find out that Proctor had a scandalous affair with Abigail which is a terrible sin and if anybody had found out in the town, he would've had an awful reputation. Not to mention, Abigail was very young and John shouldn't have had any kind of relationship like that with a girl of her age in the first place. Soon, we read that John and Abigail were also alone together talking even after their affair was broken off. This probably wouldn't been a huge issue, as long as nothing happened between the two of them, but he neglects to tell his wife Elizabeth at first, which is just plain shady. And through these actions, I can definitely say that John Proctor acted as somewhat a stooge. 
          However, later in the play, John Proctor's wife is taken away by the authorities because she was accused of witchcraft. This is when we finally see that change in John's character. He tries to reassure his wife by telling her that he will make things better and save her. This shows that John really does love his wife, even though his previous actions hadn't really lead us to believe this. He is there for her when she really needs him which is very important. Also, when he is put in court he finally admits that he did cheat on Elizabeth, and that proves the change in John. He then decided to not confess to witch craft because he didn't want to ruin the family name. And so he just takes the punishment of being hung instead of blaming the accusations of witchcraft on anyone else witch was the common thing to do at the time. This in my opinion proves that although John Proctor had made some mistakes in his life, acting as a stooge, he ultimately died a hero.    

There Goes the Neighborhood

            When someone comes in who is new to the neighborhood, there is always mixed feeling. However, when that new person or people come and are different cultures, races, or religion, a lot of times they will be outcast from the rest of the community. Back when the settlers arrived in America, a lot of the time, the Native Americans just ignored then because they didn't speak English. However, some of the Natives looked at the Americans as threats and therefore captured them and tortured them.

            Nowadays the way a person is  treated because of their differences vary. I tend to get excited when I meet people of different cultures and religions than I am. I think it's interesting to learn about the different customs of their religions or cultures because I am so used to my American Catholic way of life that different traditions are very exciting and interests for me! However, although I am very interested in the differences of others, I have heard of others discriminating and treating people poorly because they are different ethnicities, cultures, and religions. Just like there was discrimination of African American's in America, I'm sure there still is. And there's pretty much discrimination of every race in some way or another. 

            Although the Native American's and English settlers didn't always see eye to eye, the Native American's did look up to the settlers at times. They saw these settlers as if they were smarter and more civilized then they were. This is shown by the way that the Natives didn't question the settlers at times and just allowed them to pretty much control them. When trading with the settlers, the Native Americans almost always got cheated. The settlers tended to trade pieces of broken glass for  the native's things that were actually worth something, like gold. This was extremely unfair to the natives, but they had no clue because a lot of times they looked up to these settlers as Gods and didn't question them. And these settlers knew they were being unreasonable, and did it anyways because they didn't look at the Native American's as equals since they were a different culture. 

Me

          My name is Veronica Ortiz, I am 15 years old and I'm a sophomore. This is my 2nd year at Whitney Young and I am really excited for the new school year!! I had a great first year of high school! I also went to a wonderful middle school named Mark Sheridan. And so have my brother and two sisters. All of my siblings have attended Whitney Young as well. 

         Last year I joined many after school clubs because there were just so many that I was interested in! I did clubs like Best Buddies, Smiles Club, Pastry Club, etc. They were all great, but later in the year I found something that I was even more passionate about. My friend told me that she was on track and it struck an interest in me. She brought me with her one day to practice and it was a LOT of hard work!! But...I had no idea what I was getting myself into because it soon became a HUGE commitment in my life. Track basically took over my life and I was soon running every single day after school and on the weekends! I had  no clue that I would love running so much, but I always wondered about it. Now, I'm in Cross Country and Track and I REALLY love it!

          Running makes up and takes up most of my time, but that isn't the only thing I do! I also babysit, like acting, and of course spending time with family and friends!