Persepolis

The series Persepolis follows Marjane Satrapi into her childhood when the Islamic government began dominating Iran. She is very young when clashes between civilians and the new strict government begin to form. Her family used to be one of the many families that protested against the harsh laws. Iranians were being taken in as martyrs, forced to wear hijabs on their heads, and stripped of college education for about two years. Due to the war, many areas were being bombed in the country, and unfair arrests were being made. When she is fourteen years old, Marjane's parents decide to send her to live in Austria so that she can be safe. That is where she faces many of life's difficult problems, without the guidance of her family and friends. In Austria, Marjane crumbles under peer pressure.

One example would be when she hangs out with her group of friends and they all smoke marijuana. At
first Marjane is reluctant to try, since she cannot stand the smell and the taste of the smoke. She holds up the blunt in front of her mouth but does not smoke on it. Occasionally, she would take her fingers and rub it in her eyes to appear as if she's high. Later, when her boyfriend Enrique introduces her to a bunch of his hippie friends, she gives the weed a try. That's when she becomes an addict. This shows how Marjane gives into her peers, because before she tried to avoid taking drugs but after a while, she's under too much pressure so she gives it a try.

Another example of her giving into her peers is when she marries her boyfriend of two years, Reza. The two were not planning on getting married at first. But one day they were arrested by Iran's police, since they were walking together in public without being married or related. Another event leading to the two getting married is when condoms fall out of Marjane's bag in front of her whole college class. Half of them judge her immediately, but the other half praises her. Most of the people in Iran were against sexual activities with anyone but your husband, so this made Marjane look like a disgrace. So with society's pressure falling on them, Marjane and Reza give in and get married.

All her life, Marjane and her family have been trying to do things their own way and be their own people. But society always makes things harder for them, causing them to force themselves into smoking substances, wearing veils, and getting married. Marjane gave into peer pressure, only to realize it afterwards. Sometimes she couldn't take back the things that she did.

"Photograph of the Girl" Reading Response

 The poem “Photograph of the Girl” by Sharon Olds shows how one teenage girl struggles through puberty and starvation. In the poem, there is a photo of a tired and defeated looking girl, who is caught in a drought with millions of others. The speaker of the poem made me realize that the poor value their needs far more than their wants. The things that we value are only luxuries to them.

                One example of this would be that the girl in the photograph is not wanting beauty as much as an average girl or guy. She has given up on her appearance to focus on her essentials for staying alive. In the quote, “she cannot be beautiful, but she is starving” proves that to the girl, food is far more important to her than beauty. She will not care what her peers will think or say. Her values are towards her needs.

                Another example would be when the girl in the photograph is described. She appears dehydrated, in the line, “in the drought of 1921, stunned, eyes closed, mouth open, raw hot wind blowing sand in her face”. This description is inserted to show us how dehydrated the girl is. Her body wants and needs water, therefore the girl wants and needs water. Her mouth is open because her body is expecting water, which she cannot provide. Her eyes are closed because she cannot take in any more heat from the sun. The hot wind is blowing sand in her face, causing it to burn. The girl at this point wants what she needs, which are water and a place to cool down.

                The girl in the photograph is also going through puberty. She needs to support her growth and get more nutrition. But she cannot feed herself. The speaker says that “each day she grows thinner, her arms longer, porous”. She needs to support her developing body. Otherwise, she’ll perish in the drought. And the girl doesn’t want to die, she wants to live. She needs to live.

At the end of the poem it is said that the girl will die along with millions of others like her. They are all crumbling under the hardships of the drought. But there are even more than these few million people. There are people all around the world facing hunger and dehydration. They are all putting their needs before their wants in order to survive. Readers of this poem should not overanalyze it, but they should be reading this be getting alerted about social issues that happen all across the world. They should see things from the girl’s perspective and realize how lucky they are to have what they have, because to the poor, they are only luxuries.

I Hate This, I Hate That

When the wifi is down then I am late
Late on twitter which means no online drama
Drama that I sometimes love or hate.

When there's pizza but it gets cold
Cold as a winter day, which it is
Is disgusting like green mold.

And speaking of winter when it's just freezing
The bitter weather and temperature
Dropping and dropping and dropping and dropping.

Ali's Pretty Little Lies Response

Alison DiLaurentis was the most prettiest and most popular girl in school. Everyone wanted to be her, even the older girls. All boys wanted to date her. But the thing was, Alison was a cruel girl. She was the queen bee and had dirt against everyone. If she was the slightest bit intimidated by anyone, she'd get revenge in the most twisted way. But there is a reason Alison is like this. She has a twin.

Alison and Courtney DiLaurentis fought over everything. Courtney was the more popular twin and her sister was jealous of her. Which caused Alison to force Courtney to impersonate her.The tormenting got so bad that Courtney attempted to choke her sister. Here, she crumbles under the pressure of her sister, causing her to go insane.Their parents had her sent to a mental institution, and pretended that they had only one daughter, Alison.

When Courtney comes home to visit, she switches place with Alison by dressing like her and stealing her ring. So Alison ends up getting sent back to the mental institution instead of Courtney, who takes on as Alison. She's the popular girl at school and is friends with everyone. At first, she's nice, but then to portray her sister she becomes a bit more meaner. But once she begins recieving messages from an anonymous stalker and getting threats, she begins to crumble under her lies. It causes her to personally nasty towards everyone, even her friends.

Courtney is actually the nice girl, but because of her twin sister, she becomes a mean and a hateful girl, trying to become Alison DiLaurentis.

Ice Melting in Antarctica

The ice in Antarctica is melting, and the the eastside is now pushing around the westside. Antarctica has been losing trillions of tons of ice per year. The ice mass has been moving at a very fast rate. It's twelve millimeters per year.This is happening because of global warming.

Global warming is a common issue these days because the climate is changing and the Earth's polar ice caps are melting. Now it's become even more serious since East Antarctica can push around the west. New York City is predicted to be underground since the ice melting is causing more water to be in our oceans. There's not enough space for oceans, so it will flood over land.

Now that the ice has started melting and moving, there's not a lot of things we can do to stop it. But some things to slow down the process might be saving energy and not using unnecessary electricity. If we shut down the light even for a few moments when we're not in the room, it could still make a small but important impact.

Cirque Du Freak (revised)

Cirque Du Freak is a fictional book that teaches people to not do things without our parents consent, or illegal things in general. I know that it's fictional, but it can also be related to real life. The main character Darren Shan, is a teenager who sneaks out at night with his best friend to go see a freak show, which is illegal. When they go there, they see a lot of strange things. And they become curious, which leads to dangerous things. It gets so bad that Darren regrets going to the freak show.

One point in the book is when he steals a dangerous spider from its owner, Mr. Crepsley. He plays with it and uses tricks on it, which he saw Mr. Crepsley do at the freak show. The spider seems harmless, but Darren's little sister gets bitten. The spider's poisonous venom paralyzes her. Once again, Darren regrets going to the freak show.

His life becomes so upside down that Darren puts everyone's lives in danger. And he wishes that he had not gone to the freak show. If his parents had known, then they'd have protected him from going. But at the end Darren suffers along with everyone else.

Even though the storyline is fake, it does teach us that lying and doing illegal things always get carried away and that there is no good ending. Many kids do a lot of sneaky things behind their parent's back. Some things are so serious, that we could end ourselves, or another person under a life or death situation.