What's the Deal With Iran? By Patricia Smith

What really hard things are happening in this text? Are they happening in the world now? Where?

        Iran and the U.S. have been rivals since 1953, we have been trying to find a way to make peace between us. The U.S. thinks that Iran has plans to fire nukes, and that is not good. Iran and the U.S. are trying to make treaties and agreements so that doesn't happen. Some people think that this is a bad idea while others support the peacemaking. Young adults from Iran want freedom like the ones in the U.S., so they support this.
        Iran has a problem with the economy that's making living hard. The U.S. put economic sanctions, rules made on another country's economy, on Iran. I guess this is another why Iranian young adults want to go to American. They did this because of the nuclear problems they were having with Iran. I guess they did this for leverage on them or something along those lines.
         This article is happening right now, its about a deal on nukes between Iran and U.S. America thinks that Iran is planning a nuke attack on us and they want to prevent it. The deal is that the U.S. will ease the economic sanctions if Iran pauses their nuclear program for six months. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu does not agree with the deal and called it "a historic mistake." While others such as Asal Khalilpour, think its a miracle. He said "After i read the comments saying a deal was made, tears started rolling down my cheeks in happiness."

Blue by Rachel Duke

Who has power in your text? How does that power get shown?

      In the story "Blue" by Rachel Duke, a blue blop, named Lulu is bullied because of her color. Basically Lulu is able to accept herself the way she is. The other blops realize that they were being mean and unfair to Lulu. Then they all make after Lulu vents in her head and forgives them. 
       At the beginning to the middle, the other blops have the power. They bully Lulu, screaming at her and ignoring her.They don't allow her to play with them just because she is blue. They basically control what she can and cannot do. But that changes toward the end of the book.
       At the end of the book, when Lulu tried becoming like them , she realized that she doesn't look like herself. So she starts to accept herself the way she is, and shes blue. The other blops confront her angrily saying she never asked to be one of them, but Lulu lets them know she didn't like being bullied. When the other blops think it over, they realized she was right so they apologized to her in hopes for her forgiveness. She thinks about it and agrees, so now none of them have power of each other, they are all equal.

The Bravest Girl in the World by Unknown

How different are people allowed to be in this text? Does it assume everyone is happy and good in the same ways?

          In the text The Bravest Girl in the World, a girl is shot in the head because she supports education for girls in Pakistan. Her dad built a school for the girls and according to her description of first day of school, she was excited. She described learning as if it was interesting and that she loved it. The Taliban then came and shot her in hopes to shut her up. It didn't work.
          People, or in this case girls, are not allowed to be very different. To be specific, they are not allowed to learn. So when Malala dared to speak out, they tried to eliminate her. But she survived and is still talking. This is a very sexist topic, women are not allowed to learn because well, they're women.
          This text does not assume everyone is happy, in fact everyone is scared. Girls are scared that they will be next being shot. They are scared that they will not be able to learn anymore. But there is hope, because Malala is now in a different place and still speaking out against the Taliban. She even got a Noble peace Prize or her purpose. And she will keep speaking for as long as he needs to get her point across.

And Tango Makes Three By Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

How different are people allowed to be in this text? Does it assume everyone is happy and good in the same ways?

                People or in this case, penguins, are allowed to be any way they want to be. Roy and Silo, the main characters are gay, and are okay with that. No place in the text suggests that having a different sexuality is frowned upon. If anything, being different is encouraged. This shows that everyone accepts everybody even though they are different.
          The story does assume everyone is happy at first. The authors say "...they did everything together" then later goes on to say that Roy and Silo are in love. And if you are in love, then you are probably happy. They also say that Roy and Silo didn't pay much attention to the girls and vice versa.  This, to me just shows that everybody is content with the way they live.
            But the authors also show a sad side of the story, which is the conflict. Roy and Silo see the other couples laying eggs and getting baby penguins. But they cant do that since they are both males. So the author gives a sense of hopelessness of Roy and Silo's problem. But then the author resolves this problem by letting the penguin keeper intervene and give them an egg. This story shows acceptance and being what you want to be.


         

Terrible Things by Eve Bunting

How does this text deal with individuals and groups? Are the people acting alone and in competition with one another, or does the text help us imagine people working together?

           In the story Terrible Things by Eve Bunting, there is a lesson of standing up for what you know is right. Every time the terrible things come, the animals look out for themselves and not the animals that are getting taken. The big rabbit even tells the little rabbit to, "Just mind your own business..." Every time a animal is taken, the others just say they were annoying and rude anyway, and turn the other way. This story is just and allegory of the Holocaust.
          This text shows that every group is different and the terrible things don't like anything different from them, so they take them. The animals in this story are definitely acting alone and in competition with one another. Every time the terrible things ask for one characteristic everyone else says, "We don't have that" or, "I don't have this". And the animals never try to help each other, they just ignore the ones getting taken away. And just like in Eve Bunting's foreword, the animals ignored their cries for help.
          The text most certainly does not lead us to imagine people working together. The animals are very selfish and don't care about anyone else but their species. It even says in the text that, "The rabbits and porcupines looked everywhere, except at each other." Showing that if one or the other got taken , the free animals would not lift a finger to help. And at the end of the story, all the animals were taken except the little rabbit because they did not work together.

Social Justice Research Project

Choose an Article Dealing With Injustice from a Newspaper, Magazine, or Online News Website.

Justice Denied by Dan Barry, Campbell Robertson, and Robbie Brown. Upfront Magazine pg. 8

I chose this article because it shows how racial prejudice affects people’s lives. These two men, Charles Moore and Henry Dee, were tortured and then drowned because they were African- Americans. Most of the people did nothing except be who they are. Groups such as the KKK and the Nazis are wrong for discriminating against races other than theirs’. Their thoughts and actions are twisted and disgusting. This makes me think, why should I judge people on how they look? Why not get to the person first and then judge them on their personality.

Letter To Ms. Berner About Banning Books

Dear Ms. Berner,

Young adult fiction is just that, young adult fiction. Adults cannot try to understand something that is meant for kids. And if they do read a YA book, they have to get the meaning, not just the "bad references." When these adults want to ban books, they are censoring kids' views of the world. Young adult books that have "inappropriate" content help kids get over their problems, and therefore should not be banned from 6th grade libraries.

Bill Moyers said, "A lie can be exposed, but censorship can prevent us from knowing the difference." Simply meaning, a lie can be discovered; but if the lie is censored, you will never know the truth. If you take away the plot, the improper topics, we will never know the whole story. 6th graders need to read books to get the knowledge of our world. But if we try to read these books without the "dark subjects" we miss the true meaning of the book.

According to Ellen Hopkins, author of several NY bestsellers, her books help people turn their lives around. Hopkins explains in her article, Banned Books Week 2010: An Anti-Censorship Manifesto, "...straight down into the same hell my book represented so well. But one day, she found that book. She saw herself in those pages, and suddenly knew she didn't want to be there.” So this lady read Ellen Hopkins' book, Crank, and turned her life around. Because she didn't want to end up like the character in the book.

             Meghan Cox Gurdon claims in her article, Darkness Too Visible, that, “teen fiction can be like a hall of fun-house mirrors, constantly reflecting back hideously distorted portrayals of what life is.” Basically saying YA books portray life disgustingly and lie about what life really is. But this is not true because the issues in these books happen in real life. William Porter, another person supporting banning books even admitted that, “these darker books reflect what today's faster-maturing teens routinely see in their multimedia world,” in his article, Teen Fiction Plots are Darker and Starker. Confirming that teens see these “horrible” topics almost every day.

            So banning books would not be helpful at all. “I don’t write to protect them. It’s far too late for that. I write to give them weapons–in the form of words and ideas-that will help them fight their monsters.” Sherman Alexie says in his article, Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood. Kids going through traumatic times don’t have to be protected and won’t have anything to connect with. The bad and vulgar topics make the story. The books that are “inappropriate” can help kids get though their problems and shouldn’t be banned from 6^th grade libraries.

                                                                                                               Respectfully,

                                                                                                                               Rachel Duke