Last week I responded to Rohksor's blog post about respect and she recently just responded back. This is what she said on her response.

Okay, so I understand what he is saying and it makes sense but I have something to say about that. If they were a close friend to me, why would they disrespect me in the first place? Why would they purposely or even accidentally annoy me? I mean, I think it would be rather pathetic if a friend bugged me and then expected me to forgive them. That to me is considered some 5 star BS.

OK I am Glad that you understand what I was trying to say, but come on you act like all of your friends respect you and never get on your nerves. Here is a question for you, has one of your friends, close or distant, ever said something out of pocket or annoyed you? If so, then have you ever forgiven them or considered forgiving them? If not, do you think did the right thing and do you regret not forgiving them.

It is interesting how you said that if they were a close friend then why would they get on your nerves or disrespect you. I have mixed feelings about this statement because everyone is and should be entitled to make mistakes because we are humans and everybody knows that no one is perfect. If they did something bad by accident and they owned up to it and apologized then you should forgive them because at least they owned up to it. Now if your friend where to have done something bad on purpose the by all means screw them, but hey it is not my life, it is yours, so whatever.

Speak part 3

Yes, I am finally done with the book Speak. The story overall itself was not disappointing it was interesting and I never really lost interest, but me and my group members had some mixed feelings about the ending.

My group members and I agreed that the plot and story was good, but the ending was just like what ever. The book just ended with her standing up against Andy, the boy who raped her at the party, and then receiving an A for her art project, the tree. I just thought the ending was so suttle, like the book just ended. I was very disappointed in this because I felt the ending had much more potential than what was actually written. For example, the scene where she is in the room with Andy could have been so much better and epic, but she just said no, that is it. It is kind of boring when you think about it. She finally stood up for herself, but I don not know I just pictured a much better ending.

While  talking about Andy being the one who raped Melinda at the party, my group members and I discussed why Melinda decided to stay silent and not tell anyone. We agreed that she was scared to say anything because she did not know what other people would say. She also did not really have an idea of how to explain what had happened. This feelings of sadness, fear, and confusion is what lead her to not being able to speak about her rape. She had been having nightmares of him ever since school started and she know that she had to something, but she could not bring herself to talk, but at the end of the day it was Rachelle, her ex best friend, who was first to know what happened. Kind of ironic. All of these feelings built up in her to the point where she could no longer take it anymore. She broke her silence and stood up for herself.

Overall, this is a very good book that I would recommend others to read.

Response to Respect by Rohksor

I saw this quote by Rohksor and I just needed to say something about it.

I hate forgiving, forgetting, and anything of the sort. I get one life and if I waste it forgiving people who do not deserve to be forgiven, then I might as well kill myself and give them my life. If I have to forget what people did to me, I might as well give my self a slow and painful death. So therefore, respecting people would be just as stupid. I will lose respect for people and the point of this blog is to say that if someone gets on your nerves, then lose all respect for them and treat them like the pile of trash that they will become.

Damn I think this is a little harsh. I mean to say that you hate forgiving, forgetting, and anything else like that is one thing, but to say that wasting your time forgiving others is waste of your time and you just kill yourself is just really out there. I understand that forgiving others may be a waste of your time, but really saying u rather kill yourself is just stupid. I also understand that you don't want to forgive or forget what others did, but does that really mean that every person who disrespects you or gets on your nerves you will just lose respect for. For example, if one of your closest friends says something that offends or angers you, then you will not take the time or even consider forgiving them. If that is the case then you will pretty much lose respect for everyone you know because almost everyone you know is bound to disrespect, anger, or offend you in some way or another. I am not trying to tell how to live your life, but I am just saying that you should at least think about forgiving the person. You cant just lose respect for the entire world, but hey its your life so who am I to tell what to do.

Speak part 2

Okay, what can I say, Speak has been a good and interesting book so far. I thought it was going to be a typical high chool book dat was cheesy, corny, and cleshay, but it is not. It is actually something that I can relate to. For example, I can relate to the fact that Melinda has her doubts about herself and her friends because I too have the same doubts and thoughts about my life.

During my group discussion on Thursday there way many high and low points. One low point my group members and I had was when the conversation was basically dead, but Mr. Sutherlandbrought the conversation back to life by posing an interesting question, "So in talking about Melinda having nicknames for the students and teachers, do you think that all kids give nicknames and judge other people?". I responded to his question by stating that I believe every person is entitled to have their nicknames and thoughts about others, but only so many people actually express out these names and thoughts. Melinda does not actually say these names because she is already viewed as weird at school, so if she were to tell people what she thought of them then people would not like her even more. The people who typically speak their thoughts out tend to have a large group of friends who has his or her back. In the case of Melinda has but only one friend Heather, therefore she is most likely not to speak her thoughts.

Another interesting topic that was brought up during the discussion was the fact that Melinda's parents are usually not home and are not really supportive or care about her. I said that the relationship she has with her parents is one of the main reasons why her grades are so low and why she feels lonely most of the time. Her relationship with them is what also leads to her thinking she is worthless and that she sucks. I connect this to socirty because many kids who do not have a strong relationship with their parents are more likely to commit suicide, crimes, and be depressed.

I am looking forward to finishing the book.

Response to Aleah's response to my post.

While trying to find a good blog post to respond to I encountered a post from Aleah that responded to mine and Luis's post about Oakland.

What the hell Alex, are you stupid. If you didn't notice this Oakland is not as violent as people portray it to be.Honestly. I live in West Oakland where there are shootings every know and again, but I've been living there for five going on six years after moving from Berkeley and I've never been Shot at.

Ok first of all I am not stupid because I am only expressing my opinion on the violence in Oakland. Im not saying that of all Oakland is violent, I am merely speaking about what the media portrays about the city of Oakland. I understand that many people are outraged when other people say that Oakland is a violent city and that it is crap because I am also offended when people say that Oakland is crap and violent. Like Luis said Oakland has very nice areas where you can hang out and have fun. Second of all I have been living in Oakland for ten years and I also moved here from Berkeley. In my ten years here I have not seen a person get shot or been shot at myself, but I have heard of people getting shot on televesion. My neighborhood is relatively calm and peaceful so I have not been a direct witness to the violence shown by the media. The whole purpose of the post was not to anger anybody, rather it was intended to express my opinion on how violence and the media has destroyed the look of Oakland. Im just saying that I am tired of hearing about violence because that is what I mostly hear about Oakland. The violence seems to overshadow the good things and that is getting annoying and needs to stop. I want the positives of Oakland to be shown, rather than negatives. I just want Oakland to be seen for the great City it is, like Luis said.

Speak part 1

I have chosen to read the book Speak by Laurie Halson Anderson. So far its been going smoothly and i have been very engaged through the use of post-its for annotations. The post-its are areas where I can keep track of what is happening in the story, ideas that come to my head, and potential questions for discussion. The discussion my group members and I had on Friday was interesting because we shared many of the same ideas and questions.

For example, Kim brought up the topic of how it seems that the people who used to be Melinda's friends are now b**ches and how Melinda seems to also be a b**ch in her on way. She also asked the very same question I was thinking of, what does it really mean to be b**tch, what factors determine if a person is one.
I responded to this by saying that a b**tch is a person who manipulates or uses others, has a mean attitude, and has the tendency to screw over their friends.  My definition of b**tch relates to a couple of characters. Melinda's former best friend, Rachelle relates to my definition because her Melinda used to be friends, but she has now completely screwed her over and has ignored her since arriving in high school. Melinda also falls into my definition because she is using Heather so she wont look like a loner and loser. If she had a group of friends then she probably would have never been friends with Heather.

Another example of how my group members and I had similar ideas was when i asked about the janitor's closet which Melinda had found. I asked if the closet symbolized or represented anything. John responded by saying that the closet represented an area of silence. calmness, and safety where Melinda could hang out in. He said that this closet would protect from the dirty looks and attitudes of high school. This is exactly what I had thought about. I responded to this by explaining how the fact that Melinda is home alone most of the time and she is not very close with her parents is what leads to her being on her own a lot.

Overall the book has been interesting and has not bored me. I look forward to further discussions about the book.