~Read and Respond: Walden~

In Thoreau's Walden, he tells the story of how he wanted to get away from all the material things in life that take away from the true human being. So he decides to live in the woods in a cabin to try to get as simplified a life as he can possible manage. He manages to do so for two years but then returns to his old life because he realizes that he has been subjected to so many "necessities" of the common world that it becomes hard for one to give those things up entirely.

What appealed to me in this story was how someone was wanting to actually "degrade" themselves, according to what people think is the normal life and what is a lower, poorer life. But it was because Thoreau wanted to live without all these strings attached. He was trying to achieve the simple life by doing what he did. And I'm sure all of you have thought about going out and trying to live off the land. We may think at first it would be really cool and that it wouldn't be that hard to do, but it's the exact opposite. We've lived with so many common necessities that if we had to give those up, most people wouldn't be able to. And the few that could, you probably wouldn't last very long out there.

In the end, you even see that Thoreau came back to his old life. He realized that not only is going and having to do everything for yourself a challenge, but the fact that you have to completely change your lifestyle so you live without commodities you use every day is very taxing. Not many people can stand up and say "I want to be a farmer," and then go off and be a farmer. We've lived with too many things that make our lives easier that giving them up would be next to impossible.

So I commend Thoreau on what he tried to do, because it's something that was not easy in the least. But he found something out for all of us when he tried to live on the land by himself. It proves that there is no simple life: no matter if you live with everything you can imagine, or next to nothing, you will still meet challenges in life that will require you to actually do something about it. If anything, we've learned that what we call "the simple life" is actually way harder than our "pampered" lifestyle.

~Is King Still King?~

Every year when January rolls around, we get out of school for Martin Luther King Jr. day. But do people still think about why we get this day off anymore? I know I still do. King was a great man in our history. He truly believed that for this country to be called the United States of America, we would all have to accept one another for who we were, without any discrimination and segregation. He was one of the few people who wasn't afraid to go out and tell the world what needed to be done. That took great courage and determination from one person. And it proved that you can make a difference if you try hard enough.

I like to believe that people today still remember that what King did had a huge affect on our lives. Without people like him, we probably not be where we are today. Out country would still be horribly racist and everywhere would be segregated. Think about it: some of your best friends wouldn't be your friends or even in the same school as you if things were still the way they were back then. You wouldn't know the same people, and you wouldn't have the same wonderful experiences that you've had because you've been able to get to know so many different people. That's what truly makes us so diverse as a community, a state, and a country. And to think all this spawned from the actions of a few people who truly wished to see, or at least set in motion, a place where everyone's children could play together without being judged by the color of their skin. Really makes you think, doesn't it?

So when Martin Luther King Jr. day comes each year, think back to what he did and how it affects your life and the whole world. It wasn't something that had a big effect when it happened and has since only been written into history, it was something truly radical that changed the life of the country as a whole.

~Read and Respond: Children of the Sea~

The short story that caught and held my attention the most out of the ones we read was Children of the Sea. The story is written in the form of letters written back and forth between two young lovers who were living in Haiti. The boy had made it onto a boat that set sail to America for a better life but the girl  was still back in Haiti with her parents so there was no way these letters could reach the recipients. But it was a touching story nonetheless.
Your typical 'love story' (if you can even call this a love story) wouldn't normally be found in this format, or even surrounding this topic. Most love stories are the classic hackneyed Romeo and Juliet romances. Bleh. But this story was more than just about two lovers; it also majorly focused on what was happening in Haiti and why people were fleeing. During that time, the government was in turmoil and wanted to eradicate all those who spoke out against the government. The people were literally like slaves in their country, forced to do horrible things for the amusement of the soldiers just to stay alive. It was a very hard time indeed, which is partially why I was drawn to this story.
What's also nice about reading a story written in an epistolary style is that we can get two or more (in this case two) points of view. We are able to see what both the boy and the girl are facing on the boat and back in Haiti. It's so touching how they continued to write to each other even though they knew neither one was going to get these letters. And it's interesting how the letters from the boy stopped, leaving us to try and fill in the blank as to what happened to him (did he drown, is he alive, etc.).
All in all this was a very interesting story (from what we read) and a bittersweet one at that. It's nice to see something other than some sappy love story surface in the great sea of literature. And one that I found interesting too.