Category: Summer Reading

I believe this story was good and it went into some detail about the whole story. To me, it was a good story that made me believe that I could do what I truly care about and make my dreams come true.  It tells us about the man who worked through the toughest time like war and continued to plant trees. Even though that hard time he continued to plant trees and in the end he turned a sad, not so beautiful place into an amazingly beautiful looking place that people love to be and when people went back to that place in the mountains they didn’t even recognize it. The people living in the mountains village put up a statue of him as a reminder of who turned the place into an amazing, wonderful place to look at and live, not only that but they counted to plant trees and flowers. This made me believe that even the smallest things that we do can have an impact on other people and made me think that if people wanted to change the world by doing what they love that you could be it would just take time, and soon enough what you have accomplished would have an impact on the world and you’d know that you made that change happen.

Reading this passage made me relate back to my own experience with insecurity. It began when I was around twelve, the toxic world of social media sank its claws into me and refused to relent, dragging me deeper and deeper into its unescapable void. It was then that I quickly realised that other girls who were gaining traction all had something in common, something that I did not have. A small seed planted inside my head started feeding on little moments of vulnerability. The tiny seed tucked away in the back of my head started growing, its roots forcing their way into every thought and moment, thriving on the feelings of shame and embarrassment. Only finding joy in my apparent downfall. So blinded by my own self-deprecating thoughts, I was subjecting myself to an altered reality. Feelings of insecurity and self-consciousness constantly itch the back of my mind, desperate in finding moments to make themselves known. It took me a long time to break away from the harmful cycle, finding confidence in my own self. Every now and then the remnants fight to surface, but with enough self-reassurance, they stay buried down. Having talked to many other teenage girls, I believe that my experiences with insecurity is shared among many. The current beauty standard being pushed onto young girls is extremely harmful for one’s self-image, promoting unattainable standards and unrealistic expectations.

The Slaughterer was probably the story on this list that left the greatest Impact on me. Despite the shortness of the story, the gradual degradation of the protagonist’s sanity is truly visceral, leaving an Impression on me that I can best compare to the first time I watched The Matrix. In all, this Is the most compelling argument in favour of veganism I’ve ever heard.

I think that friendships between the opposite sexes should be more normalized. During pop culture today even there is barely any demonstration of opposite-sex friendships. People still think that because you are of the opposite gender you must be attracted to that person whether you are actually attracted to that gender or not. I believe that platonic relationships between the same gender and different genders are the same and should be treated as such.

As I continued to read Laura’s Blog, It made me reflect on the “given roles” I had been taught because of the cultures around me, which are definitely sexist in their treatment of women and men’s responsibilities. I remembered a specific incident where a boy once told me to clean up his mess and go back to the kitchen where I belonged. Thinking about situations like this really triggered me because of these types of sexist roles. Are we some sort of objects that aren’t capable of living our own lives without the judgement of others? Without the side remarks? Why is it that sexual harassment is spoken about as a regular part of our lives? When in reality, it should not be acceptable. Laura explains in her blog multiple times where she has been talked to sexually, which bothered me. She explains that she had done nothing regarding these situations that had happened to her because she had simply accepted them. Today, women don’t speak up because they accept how they are being treated, which needs to stop. While reading this literature, my eyes opened up to how girls in specific felt growing up as teens with the idea of looking “perfect.” Whether it was having a thigh gap or being skinny enough was a real issue girls now face starting from an extremely young age, simply to meet the expectation of society we live in. Writing or maintaining a blog like Lauras will definitely contribute to raising public awareness into the world about this crucial issue

Turning Pages by Sotomayor motivates me to read more. Her explaining how much books have taught her and how much she enjoyed them makes me want to experience the same thing. It brings the question up, should you read books, or watch movies? I say both. Both are good for gaining knowledge and entertainment.

In a Grove is an interesting short story that is told unlike most. The tale is told through testimonies and confessions of people involved and related to the murder of a man named Takehiko. What’s interesting about the accounts given in the story is none of them fully corroborate with each other, but rather each of them contradicts another account in one way or another. Although there are some things that we can almost be certain are true such as how Tajomaru took Takehiko’s arrows and sword, there are other actions that cannot be proven. The biggest question raised by this story is who actually killed Takehiko.

In an article from a blog, “Enough is enough” by Laura Bates, she shines light on a major problem that every woman faces, sexism. She explains how many unacceptable things happen to women and how they are are now seen as such little instances; she also describes how little significance they now hold. She expresses how women today often look the other way and don’t complain, they’re often just expected to view it as nothing. She states how normalised it is and how every woman has a different experience/story when it comes to sexism. Bates talks about her website and different social media platforms where other women can share their stories. Girls as young as five years old were starting to worry about their appearances. Girls that young should not have to care that deeply about their physical appearance. But, especially now, teen girls are constantly being over-sexualized and put into stereotypes. Social media is impacting and making girls feel as if they need to look a certain way to be considered beautiful or that their worth and value is only about their appeal.

Bates message in the end is the importance of changing the mindsets of people. This makes me think of how important it is to raise awareness on this issue. People often brush it off or say “you’re overreacting” when in reality, it is a real issue.

I knew of the story of Abraham and Isaac beforehand, having heard it from my parents and from the Jewish community that I went to back in California where I used to live. Re-reading this story I now remember that it was a test from God on Abraham to find out if he was faithful enough, or in the text’s words, “now I know that you fear god,-“ (12). The story of Abraham and Isaac may sound cruel however the old testament never made God out to be kind but instead the all-powerful and all-knowing who did what had to be done for the Israelites. Although there are many different interpretations on why God would make Abraham do such a horrific act. One interpretation is that it was a test and a statement showing that Judaism would stop the sacrifice of firstborns, unlike some other religions at the time.

This short text, expand my brain into much more than this doll. First, sometime lying does make everyone’s life better (Santa…), Second, this recalls me of the story Ex Machina, where an A.I. humanoid robot escapes on a trip to see the world.

Turning Pages made me think about how the written word can lead someone’s life as the person is growing and reading all kinds of books. Like Sonia Sotomayor who since she was little, books helped her in her life not only for learning new things, but also in making her fear of needles disappear, cope with sadness, and choose a career. This made me realize that you do not just learn with books, books can help you to make decisions of your life based on the knowledge you acquire and the interests that you discover by reading books. I noticed in the way it is written that the author wrote it in short paragraphs and added some analogies.

To be completely honest I was not able to always fully understand what was happening at all times in this story, but from what I gathered it’s about Bartleby slowly becoming lazier and lazier not preferring to do tasks and eventually ended up living in a Wall Street office, and eventually finding Bartleby dead of starvation because he preferred not to eat. Because this text was very difficult for me to understand I didn’t spend much time inquiring about the meaning of everything more just trying to understand but reflecting on it, I had some thoughts at the end about what Bartleby could have struggled with, or what caused this, because during this time it was written people with mental illnesses weren’t treated the same they are today so maybe that’s why he couldn’t get the help, and even today there Is a huge stigma around mental Illness and people not reaching out so maybe that’s what the text was about, at least that’s what It made me think about.

      Enough is Enough, by Laura Bates, is a blog article about sexism related issues, such as consent and image, that Bates along with many other blog users have experienced. Bates summarizes these accounts in her article explaining how this sexism happens to almost every woman, in almost every situation, and at any age. Bates also touched on the negligence and denial regarding sexism saying how it wasn’t just men who believed that sexism was no longer an issue but also a very significant portion of women. Bates found that the type of sexism varied with age, with women around 18 and above facing a world with less opportunities and more direct sexual abuse, and women 18 and below facing a world with a more passive version of sexual abuse (verbal) and appearance discrimination; there were, however, some sexist issues found throughout all ages of women and that had to do with consent. Her main point through her article is that “enough is enough” and that people need to change, not through any constitution or big change in the law, but change the way they think. This is a very powerful and progressive opinion especially for the time it was written, however, its message is important and has inspired many women to stand up against oppressive sexism both major and minor.