Social justice project

Astor Meredith-Goujon

November 29, 2014

Reading and Writing for Social Justice

1.     My article is an example of injustice because it’s the Michal Brown case. In this case an unarmed black male was shot by a white police officer. The police officer came up to Michal Brown and Michal brown retaliated and got shot. Michal Brown was protecting him. How can the police officer say he thought he was in danger when that’s what he was doing to Michal Brown? He was putting him in danger. If the tables had been turned and Michal Brown had killed the police officer he would be in jail and be serving a huge sentence. It just shows how the racial unfairness in our society. This case sort of scared me because I am also black and I feel like I am in danger as well.

2.      

·      Woman glares at me with her kid.

·      People look nervously as a group of black kids biking down the sidewalk.

·      Kid is pushed around in his group. He is Asian. All the other kids are white.

One of the things I notice while walking to school is sometimes people will look at me nervously. One time when I was walking down Fourth Avenue there was this white women taking her kid to school and he was five or six. When she looked at me she sort of glared for a second. I usually walk closer to the edge of the sidewalk. So she then took her kids hand and walked to the other side of the sidewalk completely all while still sort of glaring at me. This took me completely by surprise. Especially because I wasn’t doing anything to look intimidating or threatening. I think it was really showing how much people judge just by looking they don’t want to take the time to find out anything about that person. If you don’t like me because I did something really mean to you or you don’t like my personality I’m ok with that because you actually took the time to know me. But if you don’t like me for my skin color then we have a problem.

3.     Interview for my mom:                                                                                        What is good about our world? What’s good about our world is that compared to the past many more countries are democratic which is good because people have a bigger role in deciding how they will be governed compared to a couple hundred years ago. There used to be dictatorships and monarchy where people had no power.                                                                                                                    What is unfair about our world? Is that for a lot of problems in the world and there are some relatively simple solutions. Getting people food and water because people are dying of starvation and thirst. Getting people vaccines for disease that can be cured. Malaria and polio are some examples. We have the recourses for every one to have what they need to live we are rich enough. But we don’t do it. People who have no power really suffer the most and are the people that are dying.                                                                                                                  What unfairness have you experienced? The greatest unfairness as a professional woman it’s much hared to be taken seriously than it is for a men it’s harder to advance. It’s harder to find mentors. It’s not worth to train women lawyers because they will leave for marriage or a baby. Unfairness is relative and it depends on the context. Women are expected to put kids first and also have jobs and be great at the jobs and it’s hard to mange both if you have a commanding career. People judge that your children aren’t the priority.                                 What do you want to change? Fundamentally for things to change everyone needs to understand that we are one people and are deserving of the same things. We have the same obligation and the reason for being on this planet. If people understood that ones they can look past ethnic and gender differences. A person suffering affects you to and makes the world less of a good place.  I thought what my mom said about people getting food, water and vaccines. She was right though. People have enough money to get people food and water. There is a lot of water in the world so it can be distributed. There are so many doctors in the world and so much medical equipment it would be so easy to treat people with disease. If people went to places in need of the medical treatment a lot less people would be dying in the world.

4.     One of things I saw on CNN was Trevon Martin’s mom getting interviewed about the decision to not convict Darren Wilson. She said she wasn’t surprised that he isn’t going to be charged with anything. If I was in that situation where my son was killed by a white police officer and it had happened again I would be very angry. Because another black teenager was killed and the police officer wasn’t convicted. I would also be extremely sad because another family had to go through losing a son to the police. I would also be thinking about how many cases are like this and don’t get any attention even though they are the same.

5.     What is your job? I am a Message Therapist.                                                                  What kind of people do you encounter? Most of the people are on hospice, which is someone in the process of dying, or their health is declining or they have a terminal illness. One lady who is very old and had an accident had some form of brain damage and it is affects her muscles. They are living in homes with their families. Her colon doesn’t work anymore one guy has autism works with autism. One woman has high blood pressure.                                                                     Do you enjoy your job? Absolutely I help with relaxation. It helps lower blood pressure. Helps people not break down when they are bed ridden. It helps relive muscles for the woman who had a stroke. Kid with autism has a messed up sleep schedule so me massaging him is good time for him to rest.                                                              Why did you choose this job? The thing that planted the seed in my mind was when my mom was dying I would watch my mom getting rubbed and how much it helped relive her and bring her joy. I wanted to do this for other people because of how much joy I saw it bring her.                                                                                              How do you feel while you are doing your job? I feel positive. I try to give them positive energy and bring them comfort. And I want to bring them to have relief even if it’s only for a short while.

Do you think you have a positive impact on the world? I think I have a positive impact on people in a small way. I feel I help take pain out of the world and bring people so much comfort. Often the elderly or the disables are over looked and we forget about them and they get less than second thoughts. We are going to be them one day so we can’t forget about them because if we do we know we will be forgotten when we are old.    

While I was interviewing my aunt I thought her job was so amazing. That fact that she brings so much joy to these dying people is so helpful to them. She’s removing so much pain from these people. I also thought the reason that she became a massage therapist was also really interesting. Just from seeing someone who was going to die feel pleasure and feel relaxed from a massage. The thing she said about the elderly was also really interesting because it is so true. It made me realize that I don’t think about the elderly at all. That proves her point even more. The elderly are still there and they deserve as much love as anyone else.

6.     The savages song in Pocahontas actually talks a lot about race and is very racist. One of the lines is, “They're different from us which means they can't be trusted.” That line basically sums up why people are racist. It just shows how long people have been racist. In todays society people will judge you based on the color of your skin. They will judge what type of person you are. A lot of people assume that white people are boring because they’re white. But I know plenty of interesting white people. A lot of people think that because you are black you are really cool. I know a lot of annoying and boring black people. So obviously there are people who don’t fit stereotypes and you can’t judge them because you think you know them by their skin color.  

In the shows that I have watched the teens are usually very attractive. They are usually white and live in fairly big houses. They have a lot of money and are pretty spoiled. They have nice parents who take care of them and try to do their best as parents. These shows make me think about how people are portrayed as these rich white families. It sort of adds to the whole thing about needing to be white to do well and have a perfect body. It makes people really self-conscious. It makes me feel sad to know that people think that they have to look and be like the people on TV. That they think that these people are perfect and are the right type of people to be. They don’t want to be themselves. The portrayals of teens are accurate in some cases but for most people they have a different experience in their life. They’re not white or they’re not rich. There are stereotypes in these shows. Usually the parents can’t control their kids and they are white. There is the stereotype that white parents can’t control their kids. Another stereotype is that everyone is rich in the suburbs. In the shows everyone is rich and they live in the suburbs in these shows. When I think of the suburbs I think of a bunch of rich white people living in big houses and all the kids are stuck up. I have stereotypes in my mind and I’m not perfect. It shows how much shows can affect how a person thinks.

Finished book

Subtle knife on 11/13

"Subtle Knife" essay

Astor Meredith-Goujon

November 16, 2014

The Subtle Knife

            The Subtle Knife is the second book in the “His Dark Materials” trilogy. The series is about a girl named Lyra and a boy named Will. In her world everyone has something called a daemon. It is an animal that is tied to a person. If a person is too far away from his or her daemon they will die. A daemon is like a soul. The big aspect of this trilogy is something called Dust. Dust is when matter becomes aware of it self and can communicate with people in certain ways or tell them things that would be extremely hard to find out. One of the biggest things that effects what the characters do and ultimately the story is love if it’s friendly love, romantic love or love for an object.

            One example of this is when a group of kids try to kill the main characters because they indirectly killed the bother of two of the kids. In the book it says, “ Will managed to make out Angelica’s voice high over them all 'You killed my brother and you stole the knife! You murderers! You made the specters get him!! You killed him, and we’ll kill you! You ain’ gonna get away! We gonna kill you same as you killed him.'” This shows how much they want to kill Lyra and Will. It shows the love that this kid has for her brother. It also shows how much Angelica’s friends love her and her brother because they will kill people for their friends. Also these kids didn’t even kill the brother they should find a way to get revenge on the specters not kill these kids. This event even help Will to learn how to use the knife better which changed the story.

            Another example of love effecting what people do and ultimately effecting the story is at the end when it says, “But in that same moment, as the lantern light flared over John Parry’s face, something shot down from the turbid sky, and he fell back dead before he could say a word, an arrow in his failing heart… But will was there before she could find her foot, and the subtle knife was at her throat. ‘Why did you do that?’ he shouted. ‘Why did you kill him?’ ‘Because I loved him and he scorned me’” the person that she killed was a big character. He was the father of Will, one of the main characters. In the story you never learn anything about this character. He just died. He was really important. You know this because he was mentioned many times thought the story as an important character. So him dying is a huge deal and deprives you of a lot of information. This affects the story a lot.

            The last example of love affecting the story is when Lyra’s alethiometer got stolen. The guy who stole it wants the subtle knife. This makes Will end up getting the subtle knife and changing the entire story. It even helps them get the alethiometer back while still retaining the knife. Lyra’s love for the alethiometer changed the story in a huge way. The most important object in the story is the subtle knife. Now that Will has it he has a lot of power which means that people will want to kill him or take the subtle knife which in turn does effect the story. He also can control people with the subtle knife if they really need it. He can offer himself and get reward from having the subtle knife and knowing how to use it.

            Love is a very big deciding factor in what we do as humans. It can give us the drive to kill or change our lives in a huge way. It can affect other people in big ways. Love is what we live for. Love defines us as people and can change our lives in ways we can’t imagine. Love is the most powerful thing in life.

           

Finished book

Finished "Identical october 20th

Finished Book

Finished "Burned" on September 29th

finished book

Finished "The Golden Compass" on October 13th

finished book

Finished "The Blood of Olympus" on november 4th

Golden Compass Essay

Astor Meredith-Goujon

October 28, 2014

Essay of “The Golden Compass”

            The book the Golden compass is about a girl named Lyra in a fictional world. She lives in oxford. In this world every one has something called a daemon. They are complaining are tied to a person from birth. If they get too far from each other they will die. Lyra doesn’t have any parents. Daemons are animals and they can change into any animal when the people are kids but they settle on one animal. I think that a Daemon is like someone’s soul. The Daemons change because kids have a lot of emotions and act a lot of different ways. But when a kid grows up they sort of settle on a personality and who they want to be and how they want to act so the Daemon doesn’t need to change to fit the person anymore.

            One of the reason I think this is because in the book it says, “‘Ah, they always have settled and they always will. That’s part of growing up there’ll come a time when you’ll be tired of his changing about, and you’ll want a settled form for him.’” One of the key things in this quote is that he says that settling is part of growing up. Which means that they are somehow related. It also shows how the child grows and only wants their daemon to be in one form. It also shows how Daemons always settle and everyone grows up so this is an important fact.

            Another reason I think that this is true is because when it says in the book, “‘Why don’t you just make some more armor out of this metal here Iorek Byrnison?’ ‘Because it’s worthless. Look,’ he said, and, lifting the engine cover with one paw, he extended a claw on the other hand and ripped right through it like a can opener. ‘My armor is made of sky iron, made for me. A bear’s armor is his armor is his soul, just as your daemon is your soul. You might as well take him away’-indication Pantalimon-‘and replace him with a doll full of sawdust. That is the difference.” This confirms that a Daemon is the soul of a person and that they are connected to them. It also shows how important a daemon is because it is connected with the person. Someone cannot live without a soul. A soul is something that represents you as a person.

            The last reason I think that daemons represents people’s emotions is because at the end of the book it says, “ His hands, still clasping her head, tensed suddenly and drew her toward him in a passionate kiss. Lyra thought it seemed more like cruelty than, love and looked at their daemons, to see a strange sight: the snow leopard tense crouching with her claws just pressed in the golden monkey’s flesh and the monkey relaxed blissful, swooning on the snow.” The people had bitter love between them. The Daemons interacting this way toward each other shows that Daemons represent emotions. The fact that the snow leopard had its claws unsheathed shows the bitterness and the monkey being relaxed and blissful shows the love between them. Also the snow leopard it’s cut the monkey with it’s claws which show that they don’t hate each other.

            A daemon is like how a person would be in their animal form.  They are the complete representatives of that. They are companions and they are tied to you. They are just like a soul in a real person. The point of the daemon is to show that you can’t live without a soul and how important emotions and feelings are. They are the most important things just like emotions.     

Reading Resopnse

Astor Meredith-Goujon

September 14, 2014

UnSouled

            “UnSouled” by Neal Shusterman is the third book in the Unwind trilogy. The first two books were “UnWind” and “UnWholly”. The trilogy is about three kids: Conner, Levi (who goes by Lev) and Risa. In the second book a fourth kid is introduced: Camus Comprix (who goes by Cam). They live in a world where kids that are not wanted are “unwound” which is when all of the their body parts are dismantled but kept alive and are transplanted into other people. It’s called living in a divided state. The book takes place a little farther into the future. There are two types of kids who get unwound; AWOL unwinds and tithes. Tithes are kids who’s parents decided they would be unwound from birth and AWOL unwinds who’s parents sign an unwind order when they’re usually a teenager and it was on a whim. Usually this happens when the kid is acting up and causing trouble. Cam is made up of all unwinds and is the cause of much conflict. Conner and Lev are trying to find the wife of the man who created the technology for unwinding so that they can get information on how to end unwinding. Risa is hiding with one of the people that Lev met on his journey to meet Conner in the first book. This book was a real cliffhanger and I’m not sure what happened. At the end of the book the kids found who they were looking for and she gave them an organ printer and that was the end. The events after could have gone two ways: one that the organ printer was rejected and: two it was accepted and unwinding stopped.

            One of the reasons the first scenario could have happened is because it had already been rejected. The woman they found was the widow of the guy who created the technology to make unwinding possible who is. Originally the technology wasn’t for unwinding. So when that’s what it was used for the guy immediately wanted to change that. So he made an organ printer to replace unwinding. But there was already a system set up so that unwinding could happen. The government didn’t want to change so they rejected the organ printer. This could happen again. Even more so because it’s a kid who is proposing that it is used and that kid is one of the most infamous people in the country.

            But on the other hand it might work. This kid has a lot of influence on unwinds and probably people who are afraid of getting unwound and that is a lot of people. So there might be another teen uprising like there was in the events leading up to the first book of the series. There are a lot more kids then there are grown ups that would fight the kids. But they were taken out last time so I don’t know if it would work if it was tried again. Another reason it might work is because there are a lot of grown ups who are against unwinding and they might help the kids who are unwinds.

            In the end I think that the organ machine would be rejected and an uprising would fail because the government is just too powerful and they already shut down one uprising and I’m sure they could do it again.