A quotation from my summer assignment

My summer so far has been all work. I work at Zero Meridian as usual, I worked at a youth sailing camp at the yacht club. I worked as a camp counselor at camp winnarainbow. 

Also I have summer assignments. Mostly they are pretty boring. However, I have to write 10 quotations from the book “Black Boy” by Richard Wright. I really like it. Here is one quotation that has an issue that has effected me personally. I also included my response.

 

“I know that not race alone, not color alone, but the daily values that give meaning to life stood between me and those white girls with whom I worked. Their constant outward-looking, their mania for radios, cars, and a thousand other trinkets made them dream and fix their eyes upon the trash of life, made it impossible for them to learn a language which could have taught them to speak of what was in their or others’ hearts. The words of their souls were the syllables of popular songs.” (page 273 full version)

In the minds of some, there is not much more to life than the man made things that commercials and T.V.s sell. Their fixation of the media and consumer products drive their whole personality. Others do not forget that life brings them so much more. In this quotation, Richard describes the feeling of being in the presence of the former, while he, the latter finds himself lost to the conversation. When someone who is in touch with their heart, mind, and senses is in the presence of someone driven by urban life, it is if the two speak different languages, even as both speak with one vocabulary. 

Richard feels this with the white girls because they have lived with hopes and dreams in urban life, and none having to do with intimacy, personal morals, or environment. Richard speaks of how he is surrounded by those who speak the same way as him, but the meaning behind their words mean nothing to him.  

 

 

My point in this quotation is that I have experienced this firsthand, being in the company of those who can go no deeper than “the syllables of popular songs.” I can’t talk to them. We can communicate, but we are unable to truly talk to one and other.

Bread and Cheese?

“Bread and Cheese are like, the fruit of life!”

Kathryn said this. It’s an interesting idea. Every story with traveling involved, the traveler brings bread and cheese to eat.

Well I guess its pretty good. You got your starch and grains, you got your calcium, you got your protein you got a filling meal. Not bad. I wouldn’t bring just bread and cheese though. It doesn’t keep well.

Children

Sometimes I wonder where my childhood went. 

 

I guess I will always be a child through my life, but it was interesting today. I babysat a 5 year old girl, and I realized how much I have grown. She has endless energy. I can only go for so long and then I am exhausted. She however can run and laugh and play for hours! 

Her innocence is amazingly beautiful almost. Her laugh is so different from an adult laugh. A child’s laugh is an amazing thing, and I guess I have been away from kids so much that I have forgotten. I used to go to school with little children everywhere and now I go to high school where no one is under thirteen. 

 

Children are amazing.

Why Do I Blog?

Why do I blog?

I have been thinking this over for a while, I mean, whats the point of writing down all these posts, why do any of you read them? 

I remember when the idea of having a blog first came into my head. My mom and I were in the car and I believe I was talking about George Bush with her. I was giving opinions and facts and just talking and talking, moving on to completely random things. 

My mom looked at me and said, “Audrey, you should start a blog for all these thoughts!”

I guess it was actually a way for me to shut up and quit talking about all these thoughts, but I just got excited and talked about what I could talk about on my soon to be new blog. 

I guess I blog because I can, because I have opinions and thoughts I can express and tell people, and the nice thing about a blog is that you readers can choose whether or not you want to listen.

Insulting a Teenager

Do you know what is one of the most insulting things an adult can say to a teenager? That would be: “Wow you’re so young!” or “Aww you’re just a kid you aren’t mature enough to have experienced the world fully yet.” or “You seem so young! How old are you?”

There are many more ways to phrase this insult but I believe you get the idea. What is horribly insulting to a teenager is that you are calling them “young” and “immature”. I hate that, because it is in moments like these where I am talked down to, and I am not treated as an equal. 

Usually when it happens to me, the person asks me how old I am, which is insulting itself generally unless said in the right context (as this goes with adults too). I usually ask “How old do you think I am?”

That usually stumps them, because they cannot answer without completely insulting me. If they say I am younger than I am, they KNOW they are insulting me. If they say I am older than I am, they are bull shitting because they just said I am so young. If they say my age correctly, they are saying my age is not mature.

While it may be true that  adults have many more years of experience of life than a teen, many times they rub that experience into a teen’s face. We teenagers are not innocent, we face horrible things that adults don’t have to worry about. Many of us are constantly making sure our clothes are just right, that our make–up looks perfect, that we are not dressed in a way that gives people the wrong I idea about who we are. 

Teen face pressure of “what everyone else is doing” and “what people think of”. We also face nasty rumors and cruel people who are not at all polite.

Teens have opinions about life, about politics, about the government, we have our own opinions, but often they are not heard, because people think we are so “young”. 

Dresses

Dresses are awesome. I mean, they make a girl feel like royalty or a princess.

You know, women have always fought for their rights, and they have the right to (no pun intended). I believe however that many women like at some times to be the weaker one and have the man step up and be “a man” so to speak. Dresses and high heels to go with them make us feel dainty, weaker, more vulnerable. It is lovely :).

Julie & Caroline!

Math sucks!!!!!! This is such a stupid, pointless class!!!!!! I know, i agree with Caroline! I hate math because it doesn’t make sense.

These are my friends typing something in math class! Yay for math class!!!!!!(not really)

Best Anti-Smoking Commercial EVER!

Day of Silence

www.dayofsilence.org

A protest that falls on April 25th this year. Check it out.

Peace CAN HAPPEN! Here is the Proof: