The Knife By Richard Selzer

In the short book of “No Heroes, No Villains” by Steven Phillips On June 28, 1972, a Transit Authority patrolman, John Skagen, was on his way home from testifying at court for an arrest he made a couple of weeks prior. Skagen was taking the train home to the Bronx when he saw and stopped James Richardson who was awaiting the subway train which would take him to work at Lincoln Hospital. Skagen ordered him to “put up your hands, and get against the wall”. Skagen’s actions seem unprovoked and unnecessary. After a short tussle the two men exchanged shots and Richardson fled the scene on foot. Two other officers that were on the main street above the subway station rushed to the scene.

When it comes to the topic of obesity, most of us will readily agree that fast food is one of the main causes. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of readily available cheap food on the go. Whereas some are convinced that only unhealthy foods can be fast food, others maintain that fast food can be healthy too. Someone who believes that is Anthony Bourdain. Anthony Bourdain is not only a widely known chef and TV personality, but he is also an author. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1978. He has traveled often for his various television shows, which has made him well informed about other parts of the world. Since he has traveled all around the world, been added to the New York Times bestseller

The small city of Brownsville is small in both population and mind. Even though there are individuals who commute morning and night from country to country, there is no unity. Growing up, I had never experienced a “diverse” city. In the city of Brownsville, Hispanics are the majority. As a result, individuals who saw somebody of a different race or ethnicity would make negative and offensive comments towards them. At times, these offensive comments were accidental. Other times, the offensive comments were on purpose and intended to appear humorous to friends. Apart from discriminatory remarks to outsiders, this happened amongst people of my Hispanic community.

Howard Thurman removes the window dressing in the African American experience of segregation in America. Thurman in his book, “The Luminous Darkness” paints an obscure portrait that delved deep into the consciousness of Black men, women and children freshly freed from chattel slavery. Two hundred years of slavery and one hundred years of darkness seeping into each soul perpetuated by an evil explained only through the Word of God. Although this book was published in the 60’s, the stigma segregation continues resonate in the souls of those who remember and perhaps even in the souls of those who do not.

Throughout history, the circumstances that people were born into were not equal. While some were born on hospitable lands where people and animals could flourish, others were born on desolate and isolated lands that proved unsuitable for plants and livestock. These uncontrollable circumstances as well as others created the different types of lifestyles that people live by. Through the book Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond illustrates the five themes of world history by explaining a chain of effects stemming from the first people interacting with their given environments. Diamond aimed to show his view that the social and racial hierarchy of the present only developed because of the conditions different groups of people had to cope

From scrap metal hung around necks, to weighted bags worn as often as clothing, a lack of justice without a doubt is a way to describe the story of Harrison Bergeron, told in a twisted and darkly brilliant form by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Vonnegut took the reader through a family’s lifestyle in the year 2081. In six short pages he shattered a mother's heart, and summoned tears to a father's eye. “How?” you ask, well remember you asked: Televised live for the nation to see was the brutal murder of their only son, with no true rhyme or reason. Before death, Harrison stood for everything a society should have; control over your actions, freedom of speech, and the honest truth. Skipping to the end of the story, around page five, the murder itself was

Downfall by Richard B. Frank was a very insightful book about the fall of the Imperial Japanese Empire. The book was centered around the recounts and the opinions of Richard Frank on why the Imperial Japanese Empire had collapse. He got his information from credited sources from some highly classified documents from the time of all of the events had taken place. Throughout the book, Frank made references about some minor reasons and major reasons as to why the Empire had collapsed. His biggest reason was the dropping of the two atomic bombs. There will be more details of that in the essay later on.

The story of the "Tooth and Claw" by T.C. Boyle was definitely not something I would choose to read if I were picking something myself. The story is told by Jimmy, and contains what I perceive to be three main characters Jimmy (the protagonist), Daria (the love interest), and a serval cat. In summary, Jimmy moves to California in the hopes of rediscovering himself. He is a young man who is dealing with the death of a father he did not like, trying to create a new life. He indicates his intentions when he said, "The whole reason I’d moved out to the Coast to live, first with my Aunt Kim and her husband, Waverley, and then in my own one-bedroom apartment with kitchenette and a three-by-six-foot balcony with a partially obscured view of the Pacific, half a mile off, was so that I could inject a little excitement into my life and mingle with all the college students in the bars that lined State Street cheek to jowl, but here I was hanging out in an old-man’s bar that smelled of death and vomit and felt as closed in as a submarine, when just outside the door were all the exotic, sunstruck glories of California." (206) This statement really summarizes Jimmy. He is seeking excitement and wanting to find happiness with someone his own age, and recreate his existence. Whether it is because he is unable to break out of old habits or because of his fear of doing something new, Jimmy is failing miserably at his task. Instead of seeking out what he desires he is in affect

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is fiction, specifically fantasy, adventure, and humor. In the beginning of the story, Percy Jackson, a twelve-year-old boy, is taken to Camp Half-Blood, a safe haven for children of the Greek gods and goddesses like himself, and then, it is soon revealed that Percy is the forbidden son of the sea god, Poseidon. Later, the camp’s counselor and centaur, Chiron, explains to Percy that Zeus suspects that Poseidon had Percy steal his master bolt during the meeting of the Winter Solstice, which Poseidon argues that Hades has it to backstab them both, and in order to prevent any war between the Greek gods and goddesses, Percy is assigned a quest alongside Grover and Annabeth to retrieve Zeus’s bolt from Hades in Los Angeles and return it to Zeus as a peace offering by the Summer Solstice or by ten days. The morning after, the three travel from New York City to Denver surviving attacks by the Furies, Medusa, Echidna, and Chimera, and fortunately, with the help of Ares, the war god, they hitch a ride to Las Vegas in an animal transport service along with receiving a backpack filled with clothes and money. When there is only one day until the quest ends after Percy, Annabeth, and Grover overstayed their break in a time-delaying casino, they race into DOA Studios, the entrance to the Underworld, to confront Hades about the master bolt, which results in Hades’s outrage of being excused, claiming that Percy not only stolen Zeus’s master bolt, but

w. Whilst Emily thinks it will prove to Damon that it was her dad (at this point, Emily is doubting even her own father), Damon

This book review is on Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond. The book was very interesting but a lot of the information could have been cut because it’s a bit too long. Jared Diamond is a scientist, not a historian and he’s American. He upset many historians around the world by the way he bashes Europeans. However, he did win a Pulitzer Prize for the book so that says something.

“Codex Alera” is a fantasy series written by Jim Butcher, and there are only six books to the series. Unlike Butcher 's “Dresden Files”, “Alera” is swords and horse fantasy that is set in the realm of Alera, a place that is a lot like Rome. It focuses on Tavi, a boy in the first book, as he grows up and becomes a man.

The play Trifles by Susan Glaspell displays a bizarre twist about a murder case. Mrs. Wright the suspect was being held until her trial being accused of killing her husband. Throughout this play, many pieces of evidence have been found, but some end up being hidden by the women in this “male dominant” society.

The “The Circle” is a novel written by an American author, Dave Eggers. The novel revolves around a social construction and deconstruction of private life and the effects they have on the lives of individuals and corporate firms. Eggers unfold a story of a young lady, Mae, at a top technology firm, which is headed by three giants he describes as “Three Wise Men”. The technology firm, which he calls The Circle, is in the business of making life transparent through its sophisticated technological innovations. It’s a fascinating story, suggestively telling how internet technology has led to loss of private information to corporate firms and internet giants. The three wise men, possibly alluded to by Eggers are Twitter, Facebook and Google. Through

The perfect job would have to be doing something that I love doing. Something that you would do for free. For example, I play football been playing since I was 5, years old for free it would be the perfect job if I could get paid for it millions of dollars to do a sport/job that you enjoy doing. Also over the years, I’ve taken the time to step outside my sport to not only learn about how to help football athletes improve their game. But how to help other athletes from different sports get better with strength and conditioning. Anything that has to do with athletes helping them get better, healing, and recovering from injuries would be a great job. In ten years from today, I can see myself doing something that I love doing.