Me Before You, By Jojo Moyes

The Vietnam War was an event with lasting effects. The U.S. troops participated from 1961 until 1975 where over 58,000 Americans were killed according to the U.S Department of Veteran Affairs. This war created a divide amongst the American people with so many opposed to the war because they claim that the cost of war and casualties was too high. Many believed, in addition, that the U.S. should not have involved themselves because the war did not directly affect America. For these reasons and many more, it caused a lot of traumas; not only for veterans but even regular citizens. Due to this, when U.S. involvement with the Iraq War started in 2003 (Riedel), many began drawing parallels between it and the Vietnam War and Anna Quindlen was among them.Anna Quindlen, an opinion columnist with a Pulitzer prize for commentary, wrote an article titled “We’ve Been Here Before.” Her overall goal, in this article, is to convince the reader that the Vietnam and Iraq War are alike as well as catastrophic. Her argument that the two wars are alike is erroneous in nature since there are many significant differences to be listed. Quindlen lacks reputable evidence because she lets her emotions write the article so she spews out personal attacks; there is a clear tone of anger. She accuses the president of wanting the Iraq War to only be about policy without backing this stance and she uses her friend’s statements to support her argument though he isn’t an expert on the matter. Quindlen makes a few good points in the article

Essayist and novelist, Brent Staples, in his essay "Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space" describes the accusatory altering effects of racial profiling and stereotyping occurring within the cities of Chicago. Staples purpose is to express to the reader the shift of the atmosphere when a black man enters a room. He creates an accusatory tone to show that he's an innocent man incriminated of committing crimes due to his ethnicity. Staples states “the ability to alter public space in ugly ways” he builds credibility by allowing readers to speculate on racial profiling through his personal experiences and appealing his readers with both logic and emotion to support his viewpoint.

In a life of poverty, illnesses surround its inhabitant. From poor nutrition to unfit living conditions come afflictions that range from a cough to polio. And as a society we preoccupy ourselves with the short comings of poverty. Creating a revolving door at hospitals treating the poor for their present illnesses, but paying no mind in preventing them for the future. In SAT," Ofri describes her experience as a doctor treating an impoverished unambitious young man, Nemesio Rios. Instead of just following up on Rios' routine check up, Ofri decides to prepare Rios for the SAT so that he could have a chance to go to college. For educational preparation is the preventative medicine for ones future well being because improving ones economical

The piece is classified as Aboriginal Australian literature. It was published in the 1960’s. The purpose of the text is to give hope in a new beginning after the events involving the racial tension between the Aboriginals and the white settlers. The poem is directed to the Aboriginal people of Australia who suffered from these events

In the student essay “It’s Hard Enough Being Me” written by Anna Lisa Raya, the author portrays herself as a credible source for understanding the role of identity in an educational setting. Raya then appeals to an audience of Latinos and other minorities through her emotions such as stating, “I had never questioned who I was or where I was from” (Raya 121). In the end, she resolves the life-longing issues of identity crisis and cultural shock by staying true to herself and “Soy yo and no one else…Punto” (Raya 122). The author asserts the idea of “not only experienced culture shock, but for the first time I had to define myself according to the broad term “Latina”” (Raya 121) throughout the essay. Raya then appeals to her audience through

Under the lights by Abbie Glines. There are three teens that grew up together in a southern small town. Willa’s mom had her when she was a teenager. Willa had gotten into some trouble at a young age and had to stay with her Nonna. Willa’s two best friends were Gunner and Brady. Willa has made some bad choices in her past life which made her go down the wrong path in life. Brady’s a high school quarter back now and with the choices Willa has made Brady sees Willa as a different person. Gunner is also a football star in high school. Gunner is living a good rich life the only matter though he cares about himself only, except for Willa. He understands the person she has grown into over her time. As they were known to be child hood friends secrets start to come out and the truth may be the reason of them losing each other.

In chapter 2 entitled “Living is for Everyone,” Davidson presents Jimmy Teyechea, a cancer fighter who has shown the readers an important yet neglected issue of the life on the border. The health problems found among the people who live in the borderland has raised questions of industrial contaminations since various cases of cancer happened. The waste disposal from the factories has apparently become a big issue and the fact that “properly disposing hazardous waste cost several hundred dollars a barrel” (62) opens an interstice to some irresponsible acts which in the long run pollute the environment and affect people’s health. With LIFE, an organization he formed with other cancer victim, Jimmy tries to look for the answer of the mystery within

Jamie Fader’s book Falling Back which was published in 2013, is based on ethnographic research over three years, from 2004 to 2007, of black and latino males on the edge of adulthood and that were incarcerated at the Mountain Ridge Academy reform school located in a rural area: “within a dense forest in western Pennsylvania, is Mountian Ridge Academy … ninety-acre campus contains eight dormitories, each of which houses thirty-two young men between ages 14 to 18” (p.1). The criminal thinking approach was intended to help young people identify the patterns that had led them to delinquency and replace it with corrective and prosocial thoughts. These young boys had been involved in drug offenses and violence within their suburban communities and were now in the process of behavioral change in order to help them reflect and be able to make better decisions which would lead them to a better life.

In today’s society people assume that when you are a tall black man that walks alone in the dark you could be a mugger, rapist, or even worse. Brent Staples, the author of “Just Walk on By”, has felt this discrimination his whole life. Throughout his essay he explains how others have discriminated against him and judged him based on his skin color and how he walks alone in the dark. As his essay continues, he writes about how after being ran away from and watching others cross the street so they didn’t have to walk past him, he began to hum symphony tones while walking in the dark to make others feel less threatened. He also keeps to his side of the sidewalk when walking past someone so he doesn’t get in their space and so they don’t think he is following them. After reading this essay multiple times, I have concluded that I agree with the main points of how people perceive others in the dark as muggers or rapists and that humming while walking and staying in your space has the potential to make others feel more safe while passing you on a late-night walk.

The book I chose to do an integrated unit on was The Skin You Live In by Michael Taylor with second grade students aged 7-8 years old. The big, colorful pages are vibrant and easy to absorb. This book delivers an important message about acceptance to young readers. It also has a great message that we are all different and the same and we should love ourselves for who we are. I have developed three activities that introduce concept explorations and challenge students to accept all cultures. It is very beneficial to involve learning students cognitively, emotionally, and physically. These lessons demonstrate learning experiences that are beneficial and relevant to children all over the world (Davis, 2011).

There are plenty of ways that life choices affect the way a person grows up. In Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya conveys how growing up affects the mind of a young child by his introduction to different religions, when he questions his innocence, and lastly when he witnesses the death of people that cares for. Through coming of age, Anaya argues that one must lose innocence to fully understand life.

The novel Never Let Me Go, written by Kazuo Ishiguro, is set in a capitalistic, dystopian society in which scientific advancements have greatly relieved society of their medical concerns, all the while, severely damaged their integrity. The exploitation of human clones for the sole purpose of implementing a sufficient number of organs for society has resulted in a change in their ethics, as well as their ego. In Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go, Ishiguro uses characters to illuminate corruption in society, illustrating that greed in the pursuit of progress can negatively alter the mindset of society. By living in a capitalistic environment, one will develop a fatalist mentality in an attempt to come to terms with society and their

Rebecca Stead is fame as an American writer of fiction for children and teens. The achievement of her novels is not doubtful. She was born on January 16, 1968 and raised in New York City. Vassar College was the institution where she acquired her bachelor’s degree in 1989. Moreover, she has started to write since she was a child but she altered her career to become a lawyer. However, Stead started to become of writing subsequent to the birth of her two children. Her inspiration of writing children’s novel was from her son and her collections of story stories on her laptop. One day, her 4-year-old son by chance pushed her laptop out off the dining-room table and destroyed her piece of writing. Stead was very angry with her son and she went to the bookstore to find books which can inspire her to write. From that moment, her motivation and loving in writing began to boost up, and her debut novel was First Light which won The New York Best Times. Due to her great spirit in writing, she won The American Newbery Medal in 2010, Winner of the Boston Globe –Horn Book Award for Fiction, IRA Children’s Book Award for Young Adult Fiction, A Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner and A National Parenting Publications Gold Award for her second novel, When You Reach Me, followed by achieving Guardian Prize in 2013 as the first winner for her third novel, Liar & Spy.

How do you classify rather someone is human or not? A tricky question has many different possible answers, but only a few that could be justified as being human. Kazuo Ishiguro has addressed this topic in his book Never Let Me Go. A reoccurring question throughout the novel is rather or not these clones are considered a human being or just another science project. Suspicious individuals of the surrounding communities in the novel, believed that the students were not human, because they could not reproduce, they did not have any parents, and for the slight fact that what the students were going through was morally unacceptable. In my opinion, Ishiguro shows that the clones are indeed human, because of their artwork, which proves that

For the poem Early in the Morning by Li-Young Lee, it talks about a young child’s family. I believe that this poem is very detailed and descriptive. The poem talks about how the husband is taking care of the wife. How you can hear the sound of the comb while she brushes her hair. It’s like music to their ears.