How do class, gender, religion, race, and culture determine our relationships?

The United States of America is known to be the "salad bowl nation", where all cultures and religions unite to form this great country. But ironically everywhere I see people mostly hang out within their ethnic groups, there is no sort of mixture whatsoever. African Americans with African Americans, Asians with Asians, Arabs with Arabs and Caucasians with Caucasians. Its funny how the human mind automatically is most comfortable with a person who we are very similar to by race/religion. Although our personalities maybe different we are somehow "comfortable". So the process keeps on going with all the people with similar race/religion joining together to form a large group in a society ( which could be small as a high school or large as a county). As a result of this process, lets say if a person wanted to maybe want to join a group of another race/religion, he/she would feel intimidated and would be uncomfortable in the environment. But why have it even come to this point? After all every person should not feel intimidated because we are all actually very similar! And when cultural differences intermix with one another, we can greatly benefit from that!

I feel thankful to go to Troy High. I am friends with all kinds of people with different race/religions and I love to learn something new which I didn't know before! In this high school, friendships aren't determined from similar cultures but are determined who we truly enjoy spending time with everyday.

Who is Emily Dickinson?

Emily Dickinson is famous for her poetry and her prolific writing, but during her lifetime she was more famous for the fact that she rarely, if ever, left her house. During her lifetime she wrote over 1700 poems, but few were published in her lifetime; a relative discovered them after her death. When she was alive, Emily Dickinson was not that popular and her writing was unheard of! That is why I admire Dickinson. She wrote poetry for the right reasons; not because she wanted money or fame but because she wanted to express her emotions. This is why I feel her poetry is so strong to us today because of where she was coming from and what women like her faced at the time. It is amazing that an unknown poet inspired many different poets after her. Think about it. Maybe a hundred years from now students will be studying a writer who kept his/her works secret. It even maybe the person who you see everyday!!!!!

The end of the Scarlet Letter.

Quick summary!

The Scarlet Letter follows Hester Prynne as she learns to cope with the conspicuous letter A sewn on her clothing. The letter symbolizes the adultery that she committed in having borne Pearl, her baby girl. Hester refuses to give up the man with whom she committed her sin with.
  Hester raises little Pearl on her own, away from the prying eyes of the extremely conservative Puritan settlement of Boston. She grows as a person throughout this time and eventually becomes someone that people are no longer wary of.

     So here is my take on this classic. The novel starts with Hester's imprisonment and her embarrassment upon the scaffold. I felt so bad for her. The crowd was jeering and the Ministers were prying. I would have wanted to be swallowed by the Earth if I were her.
     As the book continues, I kept waiting to learn more about what really happened. I already knew who Pearl's father was from the movie, so I kept expecting him to step out and relieve Hester. He didn't, of course.  I began to dislike this man; he was a coward in my eyes. When the book finally started describing more about his situation, I finally understood. He was a good man. He cared about Hester more than one might believe.
     Then there was Pearl. The girl kind of annoyed me. She seemed to take pleasure in giving her mother a hard time. Though, if I'm to be honest, she wasn't a terrible child. She just didn't seem to actually care!
     The person I absolutely could not make any excuses for was Roger Chillingworth.He was cruel and malicious. His only concern was for vengeance, and even that was misplaced.
  Most of my classmates didn't enjoy The Scarlet Letter, which I can understand. Hawthorne is a bit long-winded. Nonetheless, I found it to be an interesting book. It didn't drag on too long, nor was it seemingly pointless. Although it was a book with a different style than books that I usually read, I cannot say however, that the ending did it for me. It just wasn't what I wanted to happen.

Rating 7/10

Can Revenge Be A Good Thing?

Picture this. You are sitting in the cafeteria,eating lunch with your friends, and having a good time. BOOM!! Your friend spills water all over you. Do you get he/she back? Or do you move on? Now picture this. Your friend had an affair with your wife. Now do you get he/she back? The second instance does seem more reasonable to get revenge, but I feel it is the worst thing a person can do. Revenge destroys people because it negatively changes who they are. They are the ones being hurt. They are the one who's reputation is being ruined. It destroys the seeker by making them a smaller person. By not taking revenge you have a higher sense of yourself and you are the bigger person. Taking revenge brings you down a level and makes you just as bad if not worse than the person who you are seeking revenge upon.

Roger Chillingsworth in the Scarlet Letter is a great example of the consequences revenge. Although many readers might feel sympathy of Chillingsworth, I absolutely do not. The small idea to get back at the one who had an affair with his wife has infected him so much that he no longer acts like a human being anymore. Torturing Dimmesdale for pleasure just makes me uncomfortable and unforgiving to Chillingsworth and has made me realize that there is no turning back for Chillingsworth now. He can no longer forgive Dimmesdale and will continue to eat himself up over Revenge. 

All in all, revenge isn't a good thing. It just shows that you are as low or lower then the person who wronged you. Why bother wasting your time on revenge while the greatest revenge is actually to just move on?