Classmates I'm Thankful For

First of all, I have to say that I'm thankful in general for everything, especially the fact I get to type this on a laptop in a heated home, and that I go to a school that is accelerated. Related to my classmates though, I am grateful for a couple of people:

I'm thankful for Lauren. Lauren, we've talked about this, but in seventh grade, we were pretty good friends. However, we drifted apart throughout the middle of the year and in eighth grade because we started to make friends that were so different. When I found that you were in my English class, even though I was disappointed like you were that we didn't get to be in a class with one of our actual friends, I was glad I was in a class with you. I would much rather have you than a lot of the other thirsty people in our grade. You seem to be so chill and relaxed all the time and you always know the right thing to say, like you're thinking about what you're going to say. I am not that person, as you already know. I'm glad that we're friends again, and you're just a good person. Also, I always like what you're wearing. You have good fashion taste.

Evan, I looked at a couple people's blogs just to see if they did it or not and then I looked at yours. And I was like, holy crap, how did he do this before I did? I'm really losing my touch.
First of all, I'm really surprised at what you said about me. But I agree. Somewhat. Wait, what does chunk mean? Urban Dictionary didn't really help.
I just knew you as a guy who was in my division and also in my gym class in eighth grade. I still have so many horrible pictures on my phone by the way. I never really considered you my friend until this year. And I'm happy about that, because like Lauren, you're one of the only popular frackies that I actually like. I look forward to English because I get to talk to you, and Lauren. You're just such an easygoing guy and you're also hilarious. Also, you've been getting really good at doing your homework. Better than me. Congratulations.

Happy Thanksgiving to you both, and even though I told Evan already that I don't celebrate it at all, I hope you guys eat a lot of turkey, which I think is disgusting and I feel really bad for those turkeys. The holiday season must be, like, their mass massacre season. Oh, and eat cranberries? Or stuffing? Is chestnuts for Christmas? You know that Costco only sells them right now?

Oh, and I'm sure Mr. McCarthy is reading this and shaking his head in sadness, so happy Thanksgiving to you too!

Hemingway.

I didn't even know who he was, although my mother did always tell me about a book about an old man that goes to the sea. And I did hear bits and pieces about how he was a depressed guy who got married four times and killed himself in the end. I think for a lot of us, after hearing this documentary about his life, we still have that same feeling that he was a depressed guy who got married four times and killed himself in the end.

Ernest Hemingway's life was like a roller-coaster though, and no, there was no Fault in the Stars, let's go on a roller coaster that only goes up, because that's not true, and he is not Augustus Waters. He was a man who thoroughly enjoyed life and at the same time, suffered from it. He had really sucky people who probably made him die the way he did - his dysfunctional family basically is the root for all this, because his mom was too domineering and dad too....suicidal? But he also did have these amazing moments that made him feel like an accomplished writer and person.

He's not the man I would want to meet, let alone have a friendship with. From what I've heard, he's kind of a jerk in general: he doesn't really pay attention to his family, he's jealous and arrogant, and most importantly, he cheats. I can understand if you want to go from relationship to relationship because you feel as though you can't just love one person. But don't marry all those people and then cheat on them. You promised them that you would only love them, and then you're off flirting with another "them". Not just related to marriage, but when you cheat, you're saying that your current relationship with a person is not important, that it's diminished by some chick you met in Paris.

I just have one more statement. He was probably the most accomplished writer ever - he's definitely not my favorite, but he's probably influenced the people I read from today.Hemingway should be considered lucky to have his life. He went through all these amazing journeys - Cuba, Africa, Spain, Paris - and therefore, had so many things to write about and publish and be known for. I am not that person. I do not have oodles of ideas to write from, I have not experienced amazing things that blurt out a story from my fingertips, onto this laptop. However, that is the only aspect of true Hemingway that I enjoy, that he put every aspect of himself and his life into words, into a book - an old man who fishes by the sea, a lonely man who wants to let the cafe be open for an extra hour, a Nick Adams who looks at grasshoppers, a safari hunter who feels courage. He lived through his characters, and that is something that I'd like to do.

6 word Stories:

Wanted: Queen Sharkeisha. Dead or alive
His tears became my River Styx.
Your eyes glistened, your heart stopped.
Without a song, what's my life?
They see your grades, not you.
She left her ring beside me.

John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

First of all, what is a stooge?
I always think of the Three Stooges, obviously, when I hear this term. So I'm just going to assume from this point on that "stooge" means someone foolish, or a guy with an awful haircut.
John Proctor in the Crucible was supposed to be some crusty old man, but for some reason, I liked him from the start. Yeah, he cheated on his wife, and I hate him for that, but he seems to be one of the more reasonable characters: he doesn't jump to witchcraft as a conclusion for an action, he just seems to be his own honest self.

Proctor's character doesn't change, but rather gains my trust as the Crucible moves on. Yes, there is some tension between him and his wife in Act II, and yes, we're all wondering why she didn't throw him on the street along with Abigail, but you have it imprinted in your mind that he loves Elizabeth, especially during Act III. He makes it clear how having Elizabeth executed would hurt him very badly, and her living for a year is not enough for him. Not just Elizabeth, however, does he make himself good for. Him confessing to having an affair with Abigail makes me really admire him. Because he's giving up his image for the good of Salem, although it doesn't get him far. And he keeps his morals over his life when he refuses to confess, and he keeps his soul pure by not telling a lie.

Let's go back to the question. If a stooge is someone foolish, this wouldn't be John Proctor. He may have committed a mistake, but this is not foolish, it's something that is a mistake, and proves that John Proctor let his lust rule over his mind just for a moment. Which is horrible, but not foolish. However, is John Proctor a hero? Sure, during good moments during Act III and Act IV, and also some parts of Act II, but his affair is truly one to remember. I cannot see him as a hero in that sense. So I'm going to have to say he is hero nor stooge

There Goes the Neighborhood

The only way to sympathize with this situation is by looking at it like this:
Imagine that you've lived in your home for a very long, long time. You've worked hard to build it from the ground up, providing a safe shelter for you and your family, and you've always been happy the way you are. You earned it, after all. Then, a couple guys just trample inside, claiming that you can "share" the home that is yours, but soon, you find yourself kicked out, diseased, sold into slavery, or horribly, dead.
That is what has happened to most Native Americans who used to live in America before they were literally run out of their homes. Sure, it's not like the Native Americans were all good: there must've been a couple bad people, because not every single person in the world has a good heart. Yet, most of the Native Americans only tried to help the settlers into their new ways of life, and what did they get in return? Influenza. And you, who may be reading this and not believe a person of your own race could do something like this, could think of a weak excuse to pardon yourself and your ethnicity. "Oh, well, the Native Americans were too nice." So what are they supposed to be? Too mean?
We ask ourselves, how could this even happen? Is this real, what Europeans did? The answer is a big YES that stares us in the face, but yet we don't see it. We go on to celebrate Columbus Day, a holiday honoring a man who wasn't even the first guy to find America (It was Amerigo Vespucci, by the way), and who also sold young girls into prostitution and forced men to work in gold mines until their hands literally fell off. And there's Thanksgiving, which is when all the Indians and Pilgrims sat down together and ate a huge meal! Oh yay! But wait, who was shooting the Indians a couple years later?

Intro to Jan

Hi, my name is Jan Balan. I recently turned fifteen and I am half Korean, and half Indian. I go to Whitney Young High School as a freshman, but I've attended the Academic Center for two years. I have two parents and a brother who is a junior. Besides trying to survive school, my interests include reading and writing, swimming (I used to swim competitively), and photography. I also play Intermediate Guitar in school.
I love to travel. Not travel as in, let's go to McDonalds!, but travel as in to different countries. If I ever get to, I will travel all around Europe, and go to Korea, which is one of my favorite places in the world.

Apart from all these basic facts about myself, I believe the most important thing in my life and really what defines me is music, especially piano. I probably listen to music more than anything else. But I started playing piano when I was seven years old, and I don't think I will ever stop. I've participated and won in many piano competitions and currently go to People's Music School for lessons. My dream is to become a concert pianist and then teach it to aspiring learners.