My Goals for Writing

Well. It is about that time of season again. To go back and to examine my past past works of writing and also to set up some new goals for my future articles of writing. Looking back, I would say that my writing has gotten more of a casual and almost inviting style to it. It has become more appealing in such a way that it pulls readers in at the beginning so that they will have a good chance at making it through the whole composition without getting sidetracked. I like this style of writing. I feel that it suites me well. But, there are some more components that I would like to factor into my blog. The primary object that my blog seems to be lacking is more exquisite vocabulary (notice how I tried really hard just to use some in this sentence). Hopefully, by using more complex words, people will feel that they are not reading from a blog of a "stupid kid," but rather from a well educated teenager that has a good understanding on how the world works. Another weakness that I currently have is the fact that I simply do not revise my writings before posting them (or turning them in). I still find some various typos and some awkwardly phrased sentences or even paragraphs from time to time. I try not to beat myself up for this, but the fact that it could have easily been prevented, makes me feel terrible.

My other goals that I have right now are mainly for my blog, and what I wish to do with it. I guess that it would be a blog owner's dream for their blog to become famous or just plainly well known throughout the nation and or world. This would be cool, but more likely overwhelming for me. I guess that I can try working my way into writing about more current and popular events such as recent occurrences that are mentioned in the daily news because people of the United States seem to find these the most "interesting." For these events, I will display my point of view as a student and/or teenager and how these events affect me. I will most likely try writing about more of my hobbies and other things that I enjoy doing (i.e. slot car racing at the local track). By undergoing these two improvements, I am keeping high hopes for an increase in "followers" by obtaining a bigger audience and plan on getting more comments and good/bad feedback. I hope that I am able to fulfill these goals that I have set up in this small writing reflection. If not, I think I will be okay. I will not be heart-broken, but I will live. I plan to keep blogging as I am doing so right now. It might even become a small hobby of mine. I do find it quite enjoyable. So, in conclusion, have fun reading my blog.

The Parable for the Future

The science-fiction novel Parable of Talents by Octavia E. Butler tells the story about a young female adult, Lauren Oya Olamina, living in the post-apocalyptic United States of the not so distant future. The book is a sequel to Parable of Sower (also by Octavia E. Butler). In this continuation, Olamina has successfully established a community called Acorn, and has began spreading her religious ideas of Earthseed. This futuristic America is quite frightening as chaos fills the street, wars in almost every nation occur, and Christian extremists enslave the "non-believers." This terrible future continuously takes away numerous lives and begins to break apart families and friendships to the point where one seems physically dead to the other. All that I can say is hopefully, none of this will actually happen.

Out of the whole chaotic story of characters appearing, dying, and vanishing, there was one who seemed to interest me the most. It is Marcos Duran (a.k.a. Marc), Olamina's (the main character) handsome younger brother. Olamina thought that he was dead because of the long time that they have were separated (without any form of contact) for. He has probably the character that suffered the most in the novel. He was shot, injured, robbed, beaten, and used for sex numerous times. Olamina randomly ran into Marc and rescues him by purchasing him from a man involved in terrible business of collared prostitution. These collars force the wearer into unrealistic forms of pain with just the press of a button. Olamina brings him back to Acorn so he can live peacefully as he did before. Unfortunately, Marc has been though so much that he cannot just simply go back to life as it was before. Also, he has become a deeply religious Christian and refuses to be surrounded by all the heathen Earthseed believers. With the failed attempts of preaching to the members of Acorn, he decides to leave the small village. In the end of the novel, he ends up hurting Olamina and tries to apologize. He uses the excuse, "I'm sorry... I had been alone so long..." (pg. 404). It is a shame that this happens because Olamina had tried giving a helping hand out to Marc by bringing him to Acorn. Olamina brought him to Acorn in order for them to be together so he would not have to suffer alone anymore. Even though he had always told Olamina that she was still his sister, and that he loved her, he seemed to just turn his back on her. After he left Acorn, he started preaching all over Christian America, he said stuff about Olamina on how she "...permitted herself to be pulled down by Satan" (pg. 305). Marc also blamed her for his leaving of Acorn by saying, "... through the influence of Satan, done him a great injury" (pg. 305). He did not even make an attempt in believing her stories of the corrupt Christian America. Marc had truly betrayed her.

The topic of the story is a bit difficult to listen to. Its content and little side stories of characters are quite graphic. The novel does use some fine vocabulary words such as "parable" (which just so happens to be found in the title) and some harsh vocabulary (curse words). Because of these two factors, I would say that this story is intended for an audience of readers that are either adults or at least young adults (possibly mature teenagers as well). Gruesome scenes are mentioned countless time about people getting shot, others dying, some getting stabbed, and so on. Olamina even says that cruelty is pretty common in the hectic future that she lives in. She mentions this right after listening to how the young Noyer children and how they arrived to the city of Acorn. Olamina really did care for the children, but her tone sounds as if she were nearly shrugging it off. "It was a familiar sort of story-horrible and ordinary. Almost everyone in Acorn has a horrible, ordinary story to tell" (pg. 56). The novel also involves a lot of situations involving rape and other forms of sexual abuse. Homosexuality is brought up too. This is not really so appropriate for a younger audience. Small children were even being sold as slaves and for other purposes as well. When the town of Acorn had been torn up by Jarret's Crusaders, I am pretty sure all, if not, nearly all the women in the small community of Acorn had been raped and surely abused by their captors. "The way they rape us, the way they lash us, the way they let some of us die-all that tells me that they don't value our lives" (pg. 215). Strangely, I find the gory violence to be a bit worse. Olamina asked her brother Marc about what happened to him and the other members of their family on the day they got separated. Marc's emotions were running high when he told Olamina the story. "Then I saw Mama get shot... I saw blood pouring from her neck... He shot Ben while Ben was trying to get up. Ben's head... just... broke apart" (pg. 118). There are more explicitly detailed events that are within this book.

Parable of Talents by Octavia E. Butler is a book tells the tale of a young African American female, commonly known as Olamina, who lives in this hectic Christian supremacist United States of the future. While I was reading this book, I noticed that the rule of Jarret over his Christian America had caused the nation to be put in to a form of regression. Harsh punishments were all the more common. Brutality and weaponry ran the streets. Women and children were put below men as they were in more primitive cultures. This unfortunate future continues to send a mature vibe for a more adult-like audience. All these terribly horrid events of death and rape are quite occur more often in the time that they live in. They seem to create and tear apart relationships between families and friends. Especially, the old bond between Olamina and her brother Marc. All that Marc has been through while he was away from Olamina seems to shape the story and especially plays a role in the way the novel ends. I am still a bit curious about what happened before Olamina founded the community of Earthseed. I have not read the first book (Parable of Sower) yet. But I am hoping that I will inevitably be able to get to that book before I begin to forget about the story of Olamina and her religion of Earthseed.

Third Reading/Lit. Circle Letter

Dear reading group members,

Well. What can I say? Hmm. This is the final letter I am writing on the Parable of Talents by Octavia E. Butler. It was a pretty darn good book. The ending is quite sad. What Olamina's brother, Marcus, had done to her is terrible. It added to the whole negative/pessimistic mood of the whole book. I was already sad and scared of the whole "ugly future" background going on. So to top it all off, they decide to throw in at the end that Olamina's daughter is not only stolen away from her, but the fact that her own brother ended up taking Asha (a.k.a Larkin) and making her a member of HIS family seems just plain wrong.

This book has shed some light upon me. I am a Christian (Roman Catholic to be exact), and this book did seem to throw some terrible things around about them ruining the world in an attempt to improve the country of America. But, there has been some Christian extremists in real life. They scare me a bit because there are some connections that I see among them and "Jarret's Crusaders." I forgot what American state it was in, but it I believe the people that did it were either Methodist or Baptist. They made up some crap and blamed the school for having homosexuals for the recent suicides that occurred. So, these Christians (I forgot what branch, so please do not get angry with me for naming the wrong one) ended up protesting in front the school. I thought that this was all stupid. God made us all, and Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek when violence occurs. Why must people go amongst themselves accusing each other for who is at fault. If we go on doing this, than we will eventually end up creating a "Pox" (short for apocalypse) similar to the one that Olamina had lived in.

What a Joke XD

Wow. This week went by pretty easy. I guess that I would have to thank the state of California for that. This high school exit exam was quite easy, but took a ridiculously long amount of time to do. I would say that it was worth it. I ended up receiving a bit less of the average amount of homework that I normally have. Some of the homework that I also received was easier too. When I finished certain parts of the exit exam I was able to complete some of my homework so I could get ahead and have less to worry about in the long run. Unfortunately, by doing this, I have more reading to catch-up on. I will just have to worry about that over the weekend.

This exit exam was a "joke." Learning about it in English class two weeks prior to the exam somewhat frightened me. The statistics of it seemed so scary. The fact that this one test was preventing about twenty percent of California's student population from obtaining their high school diploma made me fear for the worst. It kind of made me a bit angry too because the test does not really have a purpose to it. Colleges do not even care about what score a student obtains from said exam. At that moment I felt that it was just one more thing that the government was throwing at us to make us students suffer.

While testing, my whole mind-set had changed. The questions from both halves of the exam were so easy. From the English part, it just was about basic literature and grammar skills that learn in the sixth grade. Hell, I wish that I could have taken that test in the sixth grade just to get it over with. This part made people read prompts and answer questions about the prompt. Some of my friends said they did not even have to read the prompts the majority of the time because hardly any of the questions asked for information from the prompt. The practice questions were way more difficult to answer than the real test. Even the essay portion of the exam was quite simple to complete. It only took me approximately twenty minutes to complete that part.

The math section was not so hard either. It was basic seventh and sixth grade math. I am pretty sure that I got close to, if not all, the questions right. But, from the learning that I obtained in English class, I feel kind of sorry for the people that had failed the test. I think that it could have been the school that they went to in these tough times. If education cannot fund for schools, then where are they getting the money to test us? They should be spenging money on helping the students rather than evaluating and preventing them from succeeding. I forgot who is doing this (I am pretty sure it was the government), then I hope that they do something to change their ways before it is too late.

Second Reading/Lit. Circle Letter

Dear reading group members,

This is the second reading group letter I am writing on Parable of Talents by Octavia E. Butler. Might I just say, it has gotten quite intense ever since the first chunk of reading. Now I am able to keep track of the characters that are coming and going. They seem way much more familiar to me. And to you guys (in my reading group) and to all others reading my blog, please do not call me a wuss, but I slightly find myself growing a bit more emotionally attached to the characters as I read on. I am not to the point where when a character dies (which happens quite often in this ugly future) I cry my heart out. It is more of a distant relationship where I view them dying as more of a stressful feeling, as if I had nearly failed a test. This stress somehow makes me read a bit faster for a while in order to figure out what will happen to the remaining characters and how will they overcome this problem. I am not really use to this strange feeling because I was not that much of a reader in my past years.

There is something else that appears very strange about this book. One of my reading group members convinced me to join him (we needed a minimal of three people in a group which means we would only need to get one more person to read along with us). Pretty much he chose the book and I just went along with it. Now I do not know if he knew that the book would include antisemitism and these "reforming camps," but they seemed to tie in a lot with what we had just learned about genocide and Adolf Hitler in our English class. It also seemed to get a bit involved with recent facts that I just learned from history class. Strangely, the history stuff does not involve anything about genocide, because we have not gotten to that topic yet in history class. In Parable of Talents, Olamina's daughter, Larkin, mentioned something about her growing up in a new "Christian America" era. Because she was taken away from her non-believing heathen parents, she was given to a "good" Christian family. Growing up in this terrible future was strange. Larkin said that children were preferably to be seen and not heard (this means they should be present but must not unless spoken to). That was when it hit me. America was forcing itself into regression. Life was becoming more primitive! That quote of "children being seen, not heard" was in my history book about family and childhood life during the time of the Industrial Revolution! Not only that, but the cruel treatment of women and the witch burnings were a big hint too. I think that I may include this regression of America in my review essay of this book.

Mucho Passion

At school I am usually stereotyped as the "good grade" child. I guess that this is true. People normally tend to get surprised when they find out that I skateboard. Probably because they never see me carrying a board to school. And, it may have to do with the fact that I use to think that I sucked (terribly) at skating. But now, I do not have much of a problem with what other people think about me skateboarding. I have some really good skateboarding friends at school (maybe even some of the best at the school) and they tell me that I am actually a pretty good skater. That gave me a confidence boost and makes me realize why I do it anyways. Its because I love it so much. Some people just do not understand why these "kids" and adults throw away their future to "push a piece of wood." It just brings so much bliss to us who enjoy it. I am not saying that I am trying to get a future in the skateboarding industry (although some of my friends have a fighting chance at getting sponsored), but I skate because it is an activity that relieves me of all my stress and allows me to have wit my friends.

Just this past Friday I landed so many tricks that I thought were extremely difficult and I may never have a chance at landing. Other than that, I really liked just being around my brother and his friends because of all their positive attitudes. His friends are getting close, if not have reached, the skill level my brother and I are at. They (including my brother) are all two grades bellow me. Just seeing them doing some of their tricks makes me wish that I had began as early as they did. I started learning how to do tricks in the eighth grade (but knew how to ride a board before that). They probably started around seventh grade. The tricks that the majority have now are some I did not get for a year. Others have tricks that I may never land. But, thats another reason that I love skateboarding. Everyone has their own "bag" of tricks and individual style. It is just purely fascinating.

Well, back to last Friday. I landed some serious tricks and I landed some silly tricks that I simply put together that suited the surrounding. We went to a local public park that had a little wave/wedge good for skating. My brother told me that one of his friends just learned a few tricks last weekend that I wanted to land involving that concrete wave. I had been working on them before (not seriously) but always ended up falling because I lacked the ability of shifting my weight to the slope of the wave. Strangely, the trick that I had been going for (for all you fellow skaters out there it was a rock fakie) I landed it on my first attempt. Then on all tries after that I landed it. I was so happy. That I decided to go for other stuff too. I went to the waxed ledge to the side of the wave (the people at the park don't get mad at us for using it because it is not a part of any of the nearby buildings). By just fooling around I landed two frontside feeble grinds. And this is only one week after learning how to grind. Hopefully, I can continue my passion for recreational skateboarding (I don't have a big dream of getting sponsored and going professional) and get better over time. Well, at least for a few more years. Before my parents tell me to grow up and get a job. So, I will enjoy whatever is left of my youth while I can.

First Reading/Lit. Circle Letter

Dear reading group members,

Parable of Talents by Octavia E. Butler seems to be quite the appealing book (to me). I am not sure if you guys have caught up to the fist checkpoint mark (first chunk or third of the novel), but I will begin giving my opinion on it whether you have or not. At first I was a bit confused in what tense the book was taking place in. All that I knew for the first few days of reading this book was that there was a women living in a post-apocalyptic world. The next time I decided to continue reading, I reread/skimmed over what I read on the first day (including the prologue). That helped me a lot. Now I know that the main character is Lauren Oya Olamina Bankole. She is the one that is telling her first person views and narrating in the sections that are given a date. The bold sections of the book are like little annotations or opinions written by "Olamina's" daughter. She gives a little bit of background information from time to time to help the reader out. Usually Olamina's daughter would give a little background history when a new character was introduced. After I started to understand the cycle of how this works, it benefited my understanding of the plot.

The story gets pretty intense and dark at some points. I sometimes relate the carnage and gore that is displayed in this book to some sort of violent rated "R" film. The only one that really comes to min right now is Children of Men. It is a movie that takes place in a world where the human race is threatened due to human infertility. But, I guess that means wherever there is chaos, there is violence. I am pretty sure that Olamina mentioned something about it being easier for humans to fight than to make peace.

P.S. If you guys have any questions, please leave them in the comment section so I can try my best in giving an answer of my own.

Chaotic Week

Well. I am writing this because I am preparing for the worst of what will happen today and tomorrow. Boy have I chosen the worst night to experience insomnia. I am pretty sure that I did not fall asleep until two o' clock in the morning. This is absolutely terrible. I have a history test and a pre-calculus quiz today. I am hoping for the best that I am prepared enough to do well on one (most likely the history test). Tomorrow is going to be Friday, I am going to have a physical education test on a worksheet about bones we received on Monday and I have a chemistry test about a topic we have covered for only a week. My chemistry teacher just told my class yesterday (Wednesday) that the test was going to be on Friday. Normally he gives us a heads up a week before an event (such as a test or a lab). Uhhhh. Why could I not sleep? This is bad. I only got four or maybe even less hours. Maybe it has something to do with all this stress. And to top it all off, this crappy, unpredictable weather is not helping my mood. And to make it even worse, my whole family (including me) have an eye appointment to go to after school. You all know what that means. I will be working late into the night to prepare myself for the tests comming up on Friday (tomorrow). I just hope that I can fall asleep tonight.

Oh yea. I almost forgot to mention that I have to read about a hundred more pages in my reading group book by next week. It is called Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler. The book is somewhat interesting. It is a darn shame that I am a pretty slow reader. I am only forty pages through this four hundred page or more behemoth, which means that I have only taken a small glimpse of what is yet to come. Currently, all that I know is that the story is about a girl (or was it her mother) who lives in a post-apocalyptic world of the not so distant future (around 2030 A.D.). I do not really know what caused the Apocalypse, but the book did mention something about world-wide natural and economic disasters occurring at the same time, and this medicine that killed a lot of people and left their children with terrible mental (and possibly even physical) ailments.

Oh well. All I can hope for is that I can keep my grades up. That is all that matters in the eyes of my parents. GRADES, GRADES, GRADES!!! Then after that I go to a good college. And then what? I have no idea what I want to do with my life. Forget it. All that I want to worry about now is the present. The distant future scares me. I hope that the weekend will make up for the crap that I have to deal with this week. It rarely ever does. But, last weekend was amazing. I made some new friends/acquaintances on Saturday. And on Sunday, I had a pretty good slot car session. It is a small hobby of mine. I think next week I will blog about it.