We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks

Not everyone is a criminal just because they have a criminal past. People can change through time and experience. Individuals are capable to recognize this through pieces of writing which shows the characters from the beginning through the end. In We Were Here written by Matt de La Pena in 2009, there were three main characters which are Miguel, Mong, and Rondell. Miguel committed a horrible crime and got sent to a group home for a year and was obligated to write in his journal, so the judge can understand his way of his thinking. Miguel meets Rondell and Mong at the group home. Then Mong decides to come up with a plan to escape the group home, run off to Mexico to be free with Miguel and Rondell. The three boys did not know each other that well, they were basically strangers who eventually became best friends threw their journey of escaping to Mexico. In We Were Here shows a major theme which a theme is the moral of the story. Within that journey ,Matt de La Pena, the author of We Were Here shows symbolism which created the theme even though you might have a bad past everyone has the chance to change.

“We don’t really care about diversity all that much in America” (132). In “People Like us” David Brooks takes a logical approach through examining the demographics of our neighborhoods, our educational institutions, and he touches on an emotional approach by having his audience examine their values; he does this with hopes of having his audience question their word choice for the American value diversity, and question if the way they are living their lives invites diversity.

In Danielle Allen’s essay, Our Declaration, she argues that all people should understand and recognize that the Declaration gives all people in the United States the undeniable freedom to self-govern. One person has the power to change the government; although this is not specifically stated, the freedom to self-govern implies every voice matters. She guides the reader to this idea by using simple and easy to follow examples to show the reader that they have the power to invoke a change the government. Allen also uses credible sources in order to give her reasoning credibility as well as using arguments that elicit an emotional connection.

The poem “We Real Cool” is a very powerful poem, although expressed with very few words. To me, this poem describes the bottom line of the well known “ghetto life”. It describes the desperate and what they need, other than the usual what they want, money. Without actually telling us all about the seven young men, it does tell us about them. The poem tells of the men’s fears, their ambitions, and who they think they are, versus who they really are.

Since the day we entered the school system we all looked forward to summer break but dreaded Labour Day because that symbolized the end of freedom. In the essay titled Labour day is a dreaded bell in the schoolyard of the mind by Harry Bruce, Bruce showcases how many students feel about Labour day through the use of literary devices. He sheds a light on how Labour day ends summers and brings you back to reality and how everyone eventually has to circum to the reality of life. Bruce uses similes within the essay to relate school being like prison he relates prison guards to teachers essentially saying that jail is equivalent to school. Some kids would agree with what Bruce has said because you are in school for about 6 hours a day you go to

Within the poem “Schoolsville” by Billy Collins, the author describes his career as a teacher, highlighting the relationship with his students and how they have impacted him. Collins executes this through his creation of an imaginary town, intertwined with the reality of his profession and the real world. Through the frequent use of exaggerations, humorous imagery, and critical diction, Collins captures his weakening grasp on reality. The speaker captures himself in a dark moment where he realizes how detached he has become from his students and reveals his sense of hopelessness as a teacher.

The story “Way too cool” by Brenda Woods is an outlandish story because the main character Aston James changes twice. Before the change he was a teenage norm, trying to comprehend where he belongs and who he really is. The change occurs when he realizes that not being yourself is not cool but foolish. However in the end he changes back to Mr. Cool due to peer pressure and to maintain his stature. Through this last change the author helps me understand that peer pressure negatively affects one’s decision-making skills and self-esteem. This story also gives me an insight into why students give up or even commit suicide due to their peers.

“When you have the kind of disability that Aston has, there’s only one way to handle it.” In the beginning of the short story, “Way Too Cool,” by Brenda Woods, the main character Aston James is portrayed as a short-sighted, single-minded, and image-conscious asthmatic teen. Aston experiences two changes throughout this short story. The first change comes when he realizes there is more to life than being cool. But he immediately returns to his original state of mind of “being cool is everything,” when the second change occurs. At first I thought that he had changed for good and he would remake himself and his life. After the second change occurred, I realized that social stature and being cool meant way more to him then his health or anything else. His changes left me to think about the effects of negative peer pressure and acceptance.

Universal healthcare is known to be a luxury in most counties. However, in North Korea where the economy is continually struggling, universal healthcare is a disaster. The communist country has major commitments to education and healthcare which both failed once the economy crumbled. The health of North Koreans suffered dramatically with a declining economy because it created famine, malnutrition, absence of medication, and ultimately extremely limited healthcare. A recent documentary, called Inside North Korea, allowed a foreign physician to come in the country and perform cataract surgery to countless individuals. This physician was needed to not only to bring modern surgery equipment, but also education North Korean medical professionals

In this article the author, Howard Rheingold, describes his experience when he decided to visit the amish communities. There he discussed why they put self-imposed rules upon themselves. He realized it was not because they resented technology, the Amish love fancy barbeques and electric saws, but they saw that in the “english” world, people are being separated from their community. The amish decided they would try their hardest to avoid this separation caused by technological advances, “Look Who's Talking” by Howard Rheingold, convinces the reader to analyze the pros and cons of technology; to decide whether or not certain devices are beneficial towards people and their community.

“We real cool” penned by Gwendolyn Brooks is an excellent creation that describes the nature of youths in their young life. The poem is written in a very simple manner, which gives us a clear picture of the youth’s considering themselves as a real cool and involving in a fun as well as risky activities. The poem is the perfect example of what can be accomplished in a very short space with a simple everyday language using only few well-placed words. The simplicity of the language gives us the feeling that it is a real time creation of an author when she was having fun with friends, drinking gin, staying out late at night, enjoying jazz and so on. Also the simplicity of language points the fun, excitement, and carefree moments with no burden

In her work, “This is Our World,” Dorothy Allison shares her perspective of how she views the world as we know it. She has a very vivid past with searing memories of her childhood. She lives her life – her reality – because of the past, despite how much she wishes it never happened. She finds little restitution in her writings, but she continues with them to “provoke more questions” (Allison 158) and makes the readers “think about what [they] rarely want to think about at all” (158).

There seems to be a clear and concise message that Hellen Zenna Smith tries to get across in her novel Not So Quiet. That message implies no matter the war, it is a grizzly and destructive force and it can shake free even the deepest-rooted forms of social norms and values. Smith emphasizes this idea straight from the first part of the novel when Tosh shaved off all of her hair (14). She described how necessity took over in these women’s lives. This necessity caused most of the women to look at their roles in society differently. Some of the values and norms that are questioned in the text are, nationalism, femininity, sexual morality and social standing.

The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls reveals one look into a dysfunctional family. This personal memoir is full of lessons of redemption and reliance for all. Jeannette and her siblings thrived with parents whose beliefs and stubborn ways of life, changed their children’s’ lives forever. Though their parent’s dreadful actions, the children tried to fend for them. Rex, a very brilliant man, when sober and Rose Mary, an inspirational artist, when not a panhandler risked their own lives daily. Even though Rex and Rose Mary’s lives were unstable at times, they would instill lessons into their children. Their philophies in life I believe relied on one another, which taught their children some

Justin Torres Novel We the Animals is a story about three brothers who lived a harassed childhood life. There parents are both young and have no permanent jobs to support their family. The narrator and his brothers are delinquents who are mostly outside, causing trouble, causing and getting involved in a lot of problems and barely attending school, which their parents allowed them to do. The narrator and his brothers were physically abused by their father, leading them to become more violent to one another and others, drinking alcohol and dropping out of school. Physical abuse is an abuse involving one person’s intention to cause feelings of pain, injury and other physical suffering and bodily harm to the victim. Children are more