Ashley Buckner
Sept. 27, 2007
English 1010
Textual Analysis of “The Fourth of July”
The short narrative “The Fourth of July” by Audre Lorde is the autobiographical account of a young girl’s first trip to Washington, D.C. and how that trip made her “leave childhood” when she realized exactly what racism was. Her family went to Washington, D.C. the summer of 1947
as a graduation present for her and her older sister, graduating the eighth grade and high school, respectively. Lorde uses many distinct descriptions throughout her narrative, such as color, along with allusion. The tale is told from the first-person point of view, but the author is an adult, looking back on her childhood.
“The first time I went to Washington, D.C., was on the edge of the summer when I was supposed to stop being a child. At least that’s what they said to us all at graduation from the eighth grade.” These opening sentences to the passage give one the feeling of talking to a child, which gives one the feelings of familiarity and innocence, as children usually tell what they observe, in their own view, not what is grammatically correct or proper.
The author mentions that this trip was the first time she had been on a train during the day, because when she was a little girl, they only took the milk train at night because her parents said that it was cheaper. There is an unintentional allusion to the Underground Railroad in this statement. The Underground Railroad was a system of people who would house fugitive slaves on their way to freedom in the free states and Canada. This was done in the night time to prevent the participants from being caught, thus the allusion. However, the trains she is talking about in this statement were going towards the south, not the north.
Lorde uses color when describing the foods that her mother packed for them, and uses white when describing the light and the city, showing the importance of the difference of “colored and white.” She uses the colors brown, green and “violently yellow” to describe the food, while when describing the city, she says that everything was white, including the ice cream that she never got to eat. She observes that “even the pavement on the streets was a shade lighter in color than back [in New York].” This is a bit of an allusion to the fact that they are in a city that is southern, compared to New York City, where they are from. Also, New York is the entrance to our country from Europe and the western side of Africa, so it has more of the various cultures that have entered and made up our country. Therefore, the streets and buildings in New York are more “colored” with the different cultures, as opposed to the very “white” streets and buildings of Washington, D.C. She also describes her parents, and that her father was black, but her mother looked “so much like one of those people [they] were never supposed to trust” (talking about white people). This leads the reader to conclude that her mother was mixed, especially when the author states that her mother’s sisters are the same color as her mother. Lorde then explains that she is dark like her father, and her sisters’ colors are somewhere in between their mother and father.
Lorde is in-between many situations in the passage. She is a color in-between her parents, and she is in the summer in-between eighth grade and high school. She is now becoming a teenager, so she is in-between childhood and adulthood. Her parents have sheltered her as best as they could from racism all of her life, so she is in-between innocence and learning about the real world. She doesn’t quite know what all is going on in the world, so she is undoubtedly quite confused about her life at this point in the autobiography. This trip most likely changed her perception of many things in life. She was a thirteen year-old child who realized that even in the capital city of the country that is based on the foundations of “all men are created equal,” many people are still set back and given the disadvantage of situations, based solely on their skin color. To realize this must be heart breaking to anyone, especially a child on the disadvantaged side. This experience is enough to scar anyone for the rest of their lives, but she uses the experience to tell others the kind of situations she faced everyday from when she was a child until she was in her early forties.
The passage “The Fourth of July” from Audre Lorde’s autobiography portrays how racism is seen through a young girl’s eyes. This experience is what made her “stop being a child.” It showed her things that no one, especially a child, should have to experience: the knowledge that someone cannot accept them for who they are just due to their skin color. Lorde’s use of first-person narration through a child’s view, her use of color, and unintentional allusion, help convey the message that racism was a problem even in the capital of the country that is based on the principle of “all men are created equal.” Apparently, that phrase took a long time to finally catch on.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
paper
Textual Analysis of “The Fourth of July”
The short narrative “The Fourth of July” by Audre Lorde is the autobiographical account of a young girl’s first trip to Washington, D.C. and how that trip made her “leave childhood” when she realized exactly what racism was. Her family went to Washington, D.C. the summer of 1947 as a graduation present for her and her older sister, graduating the eighth grade and high school, respectively. Lorde uses many distinct descriptions throughout her narrative, such as color and light and darkness, along with allusion. The tale is told from the first-person point of view, but the author is an adult, looking back on her childhood.
“The first time I went to Washington, D.C., was on the edge of the summer when I was supposed to stop being a child. At least that’s what they said to us all at graduation from the eighth grade.” These opening sentences to the passage give one the feeling of talking to a child, which gives one the feelings of familiarity and innocence, as children usually tell what they observe, in their own view, not what is grammatically correct or proper.
The author mentions that this trip was the first time she had been on a train during the day, because when she was a little girl, they only took the milk train at night, because her parents said that it was cheaper. There is an unintentional allusion to the Underground Railroad in this statement. The Underground Railroad was a system of people who would house fugitive slaves on their way to freedom in the free states and Canada. This was done in the night time to prevent from being caught, thus the allusion. However, the trains she is talking about in this statement were going towards the south.
Lorde uses color when describing the foods that her mother packed for them, and uses white when describing the light and the city, showing the importance of the difference of “colored and white.” She uses the colors brown, green and “violently yellow” to describe the food, while when describing the city, she says that everything was white, including the ice cream that she never got to eat. She observes that “even the pavement on the streets was a shade lighter in color than back [in New York].” This is a bit of an allusion to the fact that they are in a city that is southern, compared to New York City, where they are from. Also, New York is the entrance to our country from Europe and the western side of Africa, so it has more of the various cultures that have entered and made up our country. Therefore, the streets and buildings in New York are more “colored” with the different cultures, as opposed to the very “white” streets and buildings of Washington, D.C. She also describes her parents, and that her father was black, but her mother looked “so much like one of those people [they] were never supposed to trust” (talking about white people). This leads the reader to conclude that her mother was mixed, especially when the author states that her mother’s sisters are the same color as her mother. Lorde then explains that she is dark like her father, and her sisters’ colors are somewhere in between their mother and father.
Lorde is in-between many situations in the passage. She is a color in-between her parents, and she is in the summer in-between eighth grade and high school. She is now becoming a teenager, so she is in-between childhood and adulthood. Her parents have sheltered her as best as they could from racism all of her life, so she is in-between innocence and learning about the real world. She doesn’t quite know what all is going on in the world, so she is undoubtedly quite confused about her life at this point in the autobiography. This trip most likely changed her perception of many things in life. She was a thirteen year-old child who realized that even in the capital city of the country that is based on the foundations of “all men are created equal,” many people are still set back and given the disadvantage of situations, based solely on their skin color. To realize this must be heart breaking to anyone, especially a child on the disadvantaged side. This experience is enough to scar anyone for the rest of their lives, but she uses the experience to tell others the kind of situations she faced everyday from when she was a child until she was in her early forties.
The passage “The Fourth of July” from Audre Lorde’s autobiography is how racism is seen through a young girl’s eyes. This experience is what made her “stop being a child.” It showed her things that no one, especially a child, should have to experience: the knowledge that someone cannot accept them for who they are just due to their skin color. Lorde’s use of first-person narration through a child’s view, her use of color, light and darkness as description, and unintentional allusion, help convey the message that racism was a problem even in the capital of the country that is based on the principle of “all men are created equal.” Apparently, that phrase took a long time to finally catch on.
The short narrative “The Fourth of July” by Audre Lorde is the autobiographical account of a young girl’s first trip to Washington, D.C. and how that trip made her “leave childhood” when she realized exactly what racism was. Her family went to Washington, D.C. the summer of 1947 as a graduation present for her and her older sister, graduating the eighth grade and high school, respectively. Lorde uses many distinct descriptions throughout her narrative, such as color and light and darkness, along with allusion. The tale is told from the first-person point of view, but the author is an adult, looking back on her childhood.
“The first time I went to Washington, D.C., was on the edge of the summer when I was supposed to stop being a child. At least that’s what they said to us all at graduation from the eighth grade.” These opening sentences to the passage give one the feeling of talking to a child, which gives one the feelings of familiarity and innocence, as children usually tell what they observe, in their own view, not what is grammatically correct or proper.
The author mentions that this trip was the first time she had been on a train during the day, because when she was a little girl, they only took the milk train at night, because her parents said that it was cheaper. There is an unintentional allusion to the Underground Railroad in this statement. The Underground Railroad was a system of people who would house fugitive slaves on their way to freedom in the free states and Canada. This was done in the night time to prevent from being caught, thus the allusion. However, the trains she is talking about in this statement were going towards the south.
Lorde uses color when describing the foods that her mother packed for them, and uses white when describing the light and the city, showing the importance of the difference of “colored and white.” She uses the colors brown, green and “violently yellow” to describe the food, while when describing the city, she says that everything was white, including the ice cream that she never got to eat. She observes that “even the pavement on the streets was a shade lighter in color than back [in New York].” This is a bit of an allusion to the fact that they are in a city that is southern, compared to New York City, where they are from. Also, New York is the entrance to our country from Europe and the western side of Africa, so it has more of the various cultures that have entered and made up our country. Therefore, the streets and buildings in New York are more “colored” with the different cultures, as opposed to the very “white” streets and buildings of Washington, D.C. She also describes her parents, and that her father was black, but her mother looked “so much like one of those people [they] were never supposed to trust” (talking about white people). This leads the reader to conclude that her mother was mixed, especially when the author states that her mother’s sisters are the same color as her mother. Lorde then explains that she is dark like her father, and her sisters’ colors are somewhere in between their mother and father.
Lorde is in-between many situations in the passage. She is a color in-between her parents, and she is in the summer in-between eighth grade and high school. She is now becoming a teenager, so she is in-between childhood and adulthood. Her parents have sheltered her as best as they could from racism all of her life, so she is in-between innocence and learning about the real world. She doesn’t quite know what all is going on in the world, so she is undoubtedly quite confused about her life at this point in the autobiography. This trip most likely changed her perception of many things in life. She was a thirteen year-old child who realized that even in the capital city of the country that is based on the foundations of “all men are created equal,” many people are still set back and given the disadvantage of situations, based solely on their skin color. To realize this must be heart breaking to anyone, especially a child on the disadvantaged side. This experience is enough to scar anyone for the rest of their lives, but she uses the experience to tell others the kind of situations she faced everyday from when she was a child until she was in her early forties.
The passage “The Fourth of July” from Audre Lorde’s autobiography is how racism is seen through a young girl’s eyes. This experience is what made her “stop being a child.” It showed her things that no one, especially a child, should have to experience: the knowledge that someone cannot accept them for who they are just due to their skin color. Lorde’s use of first-person narration through a child’s view, her use of color, light and darkness as description, and unintentional allusion, help convey the message that racism was a problem even in the capital of the country that is based on the principle of “all men are created equal.” Apparently, that phrase took a long time to finally catch on.
Monday, September 24, 2007
concerning my blogs
When I try to indent for my paragraphs in these blogs, it always leaves the indentation out of the published thing..Please consider this when reading. it's really pissing me off that it's doing this, and I dont know if it's doing the same to any of y'all, but if you know a way to fix it to where it will stay, let me know...thanks
blog for 9/18
On the site "Boing Boing" http://www.boingboing.net/2006/01/12/nyt-on-indigo-childr.html , there is a posting about "Indigo children" and how they are mistaken as a child with ADHD, due to their personalities. The link on the blog has the full article that the blog comes from. The author of the article clearly agrees with this belief that there are "Indigo children" and that they have special psychokinetic powers, just by the mere fact that the author discusses this in a sincere tone and has very little about the opinions of the skeptics in his article.
I personally do not believe in this new thought. The "appearance" of the Indigo "aura" did not begin until the 1970's, where as before hand, psychics had seen the other colors represented in auras. If there truely were an Indigo aura, then it would have been noticed beforehand. I believe that people are just trying to find some way to explain behaviors that are naturally caused by chemicals in the brain, or lack thereof, such as ADHD.
I personally do not believe in this new thought. The "appearance" of the Indigo "aura" did not begin until the 1970's, where as before hand, psychics had seen the other colors represented in auras. If there truely were an Indigo aura, then it would have been noticed beforehand. I believe that people are just trying to find some way to explain behaviors that are naturally caused by chemicals in the brain, or lack thereof, such as ADHD.
entry for 9/17
In Slate magazine there was an article titled "Are food additives making your kid hyperactive? And more." This article states that there is scientific proof that the additives in foods, such as food coloring, can cause a child to have ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Link: http://www.slate.com/id/2173911/fr/flyout .
Since I am ADHD myself, well, more ADD, not hyperactive, I can relate to this article. For instance, since I take medication to control my symptoms, I am given a form of Ritalin, which is kind of like a controlled form of speed. The medication, therefore, makes me a bit immune to caffeine, since it is a stimulant, just as caffeine is. However, I have noticed that when I drink sodas, such as Vault or Mountain Dew, I become "twitchy" later on that day when my medication begins to wear off, but the caffeine from the drinks begin to kick in a bit. I have also noticed that if I have drinks or foods with certain food colorings, I will become very "jumpy" and chipper, when I normally am not that hyper.
The article is written more on a fact basis, but the author's opinion is clear that he agrees with the findings in the final paragraph of this part of the article titled "Remaining Questions." He states "it certainly looks as if we should rethink the additives we put in food and drink." His language is also kind of relaxed, showing that his audience is mostly parents and childcare providers and other normal, everyday people who would be providing children with their foods and drinks, since they are the ones who will have interest in the article.
Since I am ADHD myself, well, more ADD, not hyperactive, I can relate to this article. For instance, since I take medication to control my symptoms, I am given a form of Ritalin, which is kind of like a controlled form of speed. The medication, therefore, makes me a bit immune to caffeine, since it is a stimulant, just as caffeine is. However, I have noticed that when I drink sodas, such as Vault or Mountain Dew, I become "twitchy" later on that day when my medication begins to wear off, but the caffeine from the drinks begin to kick in a bit. I have also noticed that if I have drinks or foods with certain food colorings, I will become very "jumpy" and chipper, when I normally am not that hyper.
The article is written more on a fact basis, but the author's opinion is clear that he agrees with the findings in the final paragraph of this part of the article titled "Remaining Questions." He states "it certainly looks as if we should rethink the additives we put in food and drink." His language is also kind of relaxed, showing that his audience is mostly parents and childcare providers and other normal, everyday people who would be providing children with their foods and drinks, since they are the ones who will have interest in the article.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
group post for thursday
Preface
The theme of our group is family, but I wanted to think outside the box so the group decided to write a story incorporating our experiences and ideas.
“The Family”
The back door of a tidy middle class home slammed shut.
“Oops! Sorry mom. I didn’t mean to do that,” said Peter.
"Oh, Peter. You are something. I’ve made some homemade cookies for you. And don’t forget to do your homework,” said Mrs. Ramses.
“Mom, I’m sixteen,” says Peter.
She smiles and ponders on how fast her only son has grown up.
A couple of hours later Peter walks into the kitchen and grabs a cookie.
“Hey mom, I’m going over to Sina’s to hang out,” said Peter.
“Okay, be home by dinner time,” replied Peter’s mother.
Peter walks over to Sina’s home to find his other friends Heidi and Rita there also. However, instead of finding his friends laughing and joking with each other as they normally do, they were mellow and frustrated.
“What’s going on guys?” Peter asks confused.
“Oh, it’s just our families. We’re so irritated with them,” replied Heidi.
“If it’s okay for me to ask, what’s wrong?” said Peter.
“Well, I’ll start first,” said Heidi. "I just started dating a wonderful guy this past Sunday. He's absolutely great! My mom and most of my family think he's pretty cool, but my dad and his father aren't too happy about his ethnic background. He's half Mexican, half white. My dad and his father are very against interracial relationships. Not only that but also my mother is very controlling. She tries to control most parts of my life. Thus, she doesn't want me to take any risks and follow my heart right now and start a long relationship. We know we don't really have the time and money to do so. We weren't planning to make this relationship serious right away because we are still in high school. My sister said that we should wait until at least after college and then to feel free to do as we please. My mother cannot control me no matter how hard she tries. She holds the fact that she still pays for all my belongings as leverage."
“That’s real unfortunate,” said Peter.
“No, that’s not as bad as my story,” said Rita. "My family works like if my mom says something, it goes. We might as well not ask my dad anything because all he says is 'asks your mother.' And if she isn't home, well we are just out of luck. My mom is being really strict. I think my mother is so strict because she grew up in a family with conservative parents in the Navy. Who knows? But she always has rules and more rules. Call me when you get there, call me when you leave, call me if things change are her most common phrases. I don’t know why I don’t just put my cell phone on speaker so she can pretend like she is with me all day. I hate it when she would ask me how my day was or anything else because her words are meaningless because she doe not show affection. Her rules are really ridiculous, especially being in high school and still having to call my friends’ parents when I went to their house. My brother and sisters area always my saving grace whenever my mom drives me crazy at the end. We have gotten really close lately since they always have some sort of elderly advice for me.
Recently, I started dating my boyfriend who is black. I didn't really know how that would go over with my parents. I knew my grandparents would freak out but my parents aren't really as old-fashioned. Well, when my boyfriend came to pick me up for our first date, he walked in the door. Immediately, you could feel the temperature of the room reach the freezing point. My mother at the time was trying to be polite, but it was obvious from her facial expressions that she was bewildered. After that she tried to change my mind and mention things like "maybe you should date someone that's the same color as you". Though, I ignored everything she said. I wasn't going to let color affect the way I felt about someone. She tells my grandparents everything, but she didn't tell them I had a black boyfriend. She seemed ashamed. When she told people about him, she would refer to him as my "friend".
“Phew, that was long, but it’s true. I feel all bottled up and ready to explode,” said Rita.
“I see where you are coming from Rita, but my mom is trying to persuade me what college to attend, what field of studies I should major in, and what occupation I will have,” said Sina. "Being of Persian heritage, I daily encounter the ins and outs of the Persian culture and way of thinking. Persian people are very proud, elegant, and also lazy (who isn’t and the Chinese don’t count). For some reason, having “Dr.” preceding their name or “Mohandis” (which is Farsi for Engineer) gives Persians a sense of accomplishment. However, my mom has a prejudice against engineers, mainly since she is one and so is my father. She always complains that they are too many engineers in the family and not enough doctors. Then she gives me this look of khodahyah, oh my god, I’m going to take you out of my will if you don’t become an orthopedic surgeon. This really bothers me. Oh and I almost forgot to tell everyone about the guilt trap my mom tries to play on me by saying doctors help people so they are automatically going to heaven, which is really a naïve perspective.
Although she has a point that I learn by memorizing information better than working with theories and concepts, I still prefer engineering. I have to admit to that one. Another point that she keeps bringing up is my ability to comprehend material very easily without having to delve too much time into one subject. I hate myself now; truly I would make a great doctor. So that’s the million dollar question, why don’t I just become a doctor.First of all, I don’t like blood. I might be able to get use to it, but come on who likes to cut other people and then sew them back together. If you think about it, medicine has not really changed. Well ok it’s changed but the basics are still there. The doctor cuts up the patient, takes out what the problem is, fixes the problem, and then puts everything back together like a puzzle. It’s a gruesome depiction but it gets the job done."
“I’m sorry to hear you all are having trouble with your families. You know my parents are relaxed about those kinds of situations,” Peter explains. "My parents know that in the end I’ll have to make my choices and their job is to give me advice along the way and support me through the process.”
“I think we can all agree on that one,” said Sina.
“Yeah, thanks Confucius,” said Rita.
THE END
The concept of family is what has brought civilization from the Babylonians to the present. Without a sense of family, humans lose the ability to function. No matter how dysfunctional a family is or is not does not matter; at the end of the day when you’re sick, tired, and demoralized, you can go to your family and talk things over. Additionally, this is for all teenagers, we as offspring from our parents are in a literal sense part of them as they are a part of us. The genes from our parents made us; the blood, nutrients, and bodily functions of our mother all helped to create a child. And to say that they don’t know what they are talking about is absurd, our parents care for us or they would have never put us on the production line. They are trying to make sure “we” don’t make the mistakes they made. They are only trying to help us, so listen.
The theme of our group is family, but I wanted to think outside the box so the group decided to write a story incorporating our experiences and ideas.
“The Family”
The back door of a tidy middle class home slammed shut.
“Oops! Sorry mom. I didn’t mean to do that,” said Peter.
"Oh, Peter. You are something. I’ve made some homemade cookies for you. And don’t forget to do your homework,” said Mrs. Ramses.
“Mom, I’m sixteen,” says Peter.
She smiles and ponders on how fast her only son has grown up.
A couple of hours later Peter walks into the kitchen and grabs a cookie.
“Hey mom, I’m going over to Sina’s to hang out,” said Peter.
“Okay, be home by dinner time,” replied Peter’s mother.
Peter walks over to Sina’s home to find his other friends Heidi and Rita there also. However, instead of finding his friends laughing and joking with each other as they normally do, they were mellow and frustrated.
“What’s going on guys?” Peter asks confused.
“Oh, it’s just our families. We’re so irritated with them,” replied Heidi.
“If it’s okay for me to ask, what’s wrong?” said Peter.
“Well, I’ll start first,” said Heidi. "I just started dating a wonderful guy this past Sunday. He's absolutely great! My mom and most of my family think he's pretty cool, but my dad and his father aren't too happy about his ethnic background. He's half Mexican, half white. My dad and his father are very against interracial relationships. Not only that but also my mother is very controlling. She tries to control most parts of my life. Thus, she doesn't want me to take any risks and follow my heart right now and start a long relationship. We know we don't really have the time and money to do so. We weren't planning to make this relationship serious right away because we are still in high school. My sister said that we should wait until at least after college and then to feel free to do as we please. My mother cannot control me no matter how hard she tries. She holds the fact that she still pays for all my belongings as leverage."
“That’s real unfortunate,” said Peter.
“No, that’s not as bad as my story,” said Rita. "My family works like if my mom says something, it goes. We might as well not ask my dad anything because all he says is 'asks your mother.' And if she isn't home, well we are just out of luck. My mom is being really strict. I think my mother is so strict because she grew up in a family with conservative parents in the Navy. Who knows? But she always has rules and more rules. Call me when you get there, call me when you leave, call me if things change are her most common phrases. I don’t know why I don’t just put my cell phone on speaker so she can pretend like she is with me all day. I hate it when she would ask me how my day was or anything else because her words are meaningless because she doe not show affection. Her rules are really ridiculous, especially being in high school and still having to call my friends’ parents when I went to their house. My brother and sisters area always my saving grace whenever my mom drives me crazy at the end. We have gotten really close lately since they always have some sort of elderly advice for me.
Recently, I started dating my boyfriend who is black. I didn't really know how that would go over with my parents. I knew my grandparents would freak out but my parents aren't really as old-fashioned. Well, when my boyfriend came to pick me up for our first date, he walked in the door. Immediately, you could feel the temperature of the room reach the freezing point. My mother at the time was trying to be polite, but it was obvious from her facial expressions that she was bewildered. After that she tried to change my mind and mention things like "maybe you should date someone that's the same color as you". Though, I ignored everything she said. I wasn't going to let color affect the way I felt about someone. She tells my grandparents everything, but she didn't tell them I had a black boyfriend. She seemed ashamed. When she told people about him, she would refer to him as my "friend".
“Phew, that was long, but it’s true. I feel all bottled up and ready to explode,” said Rita.
“I see where you are coming from Rita, but my mom is trying to persuade me what college to attend, what field of studies I should major in, and what occupation I will have,” said Sina. "Being of Persian heritage, I daily encounter the ins and outs of the Persian culture and way of thinking. Persian people are very proud, elegant, and also lazy (who isn’t and the Chinese don’t count). For some reason, having “Dr.” preceding their name or “Mohandis” (which is Farsi for Engineer) gives Persians a sense of accomplishment. However, my mom has a prejudice against engineers, mainly since she is one and so is my father. She always complains that they are too many engineers in the family and not enough doctors. Then she gives me this look of khodahyah, oh my god, I’m going to take you out of my will if you don’t become an orthopedic surgeon. This really bothers me. Oh and I almost forgot to tell everyone about the guilt trap my mom tries to play on me by saying doctors help people so they are automatically going to heaven, which is really a naïve perspective.
Although she has a point that I learn by memorizing information better than working with theories and concepts, I still prefer engineering. I have to admit to that one. Another point that she keeps bringing up is my ability to comprehend material very easily without having to delve too much time into one subject. I hate myself now; truly I would make a great doctor. So that’s the million dollar question, why don’t I just become a doctor.First of all, I don’t like blood. I might be able to get use to it, but come on who likes to cut other people and then sew them back together. If you think about it, medicine has not really changed. Well ok it’s changed but the basics are still there. The doctor cuts up the patient, takes out what the problem is, fixes the problem, and then puts everything back together like a puzzle. It’s a gruesome depiction but it gets the job done."
“I’m sorry to hear you all are having trouble with your families. You know my parents are relaxed about those kinds of situations,” Peter explains. "My parents know that in the end I’ll have to make my choices and their job is to give me advice along the way and support me through the process.”
“I think we can all agree on that one,” said Sina.
“Yeah, thanks Confucius,” said Rita.
THE END
The concept of family is what has brought civilization from the Babylonians to the present. Without a sense of family, humans lose the ability to function. No matter how dysfunctional a family is or is not does not matter; at the end of the day when you’re sick, tired, and demoralized, you can go to your family and talk things over. Additionally, this is for all teenagers, we as offspring from our parents are in a literal sense part of them as they are a part of us. The genes from our parents made us; the blood, nutrients, and bodily functions of our mother all helped to create a child. And to say that they don’t know what they are talking about is absurd, our parents care for us or they would have never put us on the production line. They are trying to make sure “we” don’t make the mistakes they made. They are only trying to help us, so listen.
Monday, September 10, 2007
writing topic for tuesday
I have five older cousins on my father's side and a stepsister who is only a few months older than me. All are married or have already been married. My stepsister was the most recent one to get married, just five months ago. We all thought that I would've been the next to marry instead of her, based on her personality and past "relationships." Well, as one can easily tell, she married before I did, and quite frankly, at every wedding that I've been to in in the past three years I've been jealous. Especially when my sister ( as I consider her) got married. I was not able to go to the wedding, since she had a small ceremony in Texas, nine hours away from Memphis, where her now husband was stationed for training in the Air Force. I had prom that previous night and told her that if she wanted me at her wedding, to have it some other weekend, since prom was planned a long time before her wedding was. Needless to say, I was not able to go to her wedding.
Well, now, it's my turn. I just got engaged this past Sunday to a wonderful guy. He's absolutely great! My mom and most of my family think he's pretty cool, but my dad and his father aren't too happy about his ethnic background. He's half Mexican, half white. My dad and his father are very against interracial marriages, so you do the math. Which, i find kind of funny considering the fact that my mother is the one that is not wanting me to get married until after college. My mother is very controlling and tries to control most parts of my life,so she doesn't want me to take any risks and follow my heart right now and get married, like he and i really to do. We know we don't really have the money to do so, and this is fine. We weren't planning to get married right away, anyways, but she says that we cant until after college. My sister said that we should wait til at least after we get enough money, and then to "feel free to do as [we] please." Well, if we get enough money to do so before college is over, we will. My mother cannot control me no matter how hard she tries. She holds the fact that she still pays for some of my college stuff that my scholarship doesn't cover over me as leverage. Well, we will do what we must to make sure that we can get by and do what we want to do and what we feel is right.
Well, now, it's my turn. I just got engaged this past Sunday to a wonderful guy. He's absolutely great! My mom and most of my family think he's pretty cool, but my dad and his father aren't too happy about his ethnic background. He's half Mexican, half white. My dad and his father are very against interracial marriages, so you do the math. Which, i find kind of funny considering the fact that my mother is the one that is not wanting me to get married until after college. My mother is very controlling and tries to control most parts of my life,so she doesn't want me to take any risks and follow my heart right now and get married, like he and i really to do. We know we don't really have the money to do so, and this is fine. We weren't planning to get married right away, anyways, but she says that we cant until after college. My sister said that we should wait til at least after we get enough money, and then to "feel free to do as [we] please." Well, if we get enough money to do so before college is over, we will. My mother cannot control me no matter how hard she tries. She holds the fact that she still pays for some of my college stuff that my scholarship doesn't cover over me as leverage. Well, we will do what we must to make sure that we can get by and do what we want to do and what we feel is right.
the list of options to write about
our "general" topic is Family stuff
-mother is controlling
-cousin is one of my best friends, and we used to fight constantly
-younger half brother was born with a heart murmur and eczema
-father's family has a lot of parties
- used to share birthday parties with my cousin
-lost uncle is a wreck
-blame myself for the eventual death of my great aunt
-Grandfather was in a war
-cousin had a baby at 16
-all of my other cousins are married or have been married
-sister got married this spring and i wished it was me
-my mother's cousin is sick with Leukemia
-Parents divorced when i was very young
-love all of my cousins' babies
-only two people in my family know everything about me
-my stepsister and i have the same first and middle name
-my fiance's family is huge
-I'll be becoming part of his family soon
-Have an ancestor named Odie (like the dog from Garfield)
-over half of the grandchildren on my father's side look like his mother
-my grandfather and I share a close bond
-mother is controlling
-cousin is one of my best friends, and we used to fight constantly
-younger half brother was born with a heart murmur and eczema
-father's family has a lot of parties
- used to share birthday parties with my cousin
-lost uncle is a wreck
-blame myself for the eventual death of my great aunt
-Grandfather was in a war
-cousin had a baby at 16
-all of my other cousins are married or have been married
-sister got married this spring and i wished it was me
-my mother's cousin is sick with Leukemia
-Parents divorced when i was very young
-love all of my cousins' babies
-only two people in my family know everything about me
-my stepsister and i have the same first and middle name
-my fiance's family is huge
-I'll be becoming part of his family soon
-Have an ancestor named Odie (like the dog from Garfield)
-over half of the grandchildren on my father's side look like his mother
-my grandfather and I share a close bond
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)