ELA Argument essay:

Dear Ms. Berner,

Banning books is an extremely important topic and a situation that needs to be fought against. Numerous schools and libraries have banned books that I believe are important for teenagers and children to read. My peers and I have studied this topic in great depth. I have learned that some parents frown upon books that discuss death or grief and believe they should be banned. For example, The Fault in Our Stars is a book that deals with death and cancer, two very rough topics. Some parents don’t think that children should read about death or cancer at a young age. Therefore, parents put pressure on the school administration to make the decision to ban a book such as The Fault in Our Stars. Parents make a lot of great choices but this is not a choice I believe parents should make for all children at a middle school. The administration should not ban a book because two or three families might disapprove of its content because there might be other families who want their child to read it. I think banning books is wrong and children should have the right to read what they feel is appropriate for them.

I think children should be able to have some say in what books they choose to read. I’ve read The Hunger Games, The Fault in Our Stars, and Of Mice and Men and I loved reading all of these books because I learned something about the world today and about how people interacted in the past. But these books are all banned in different schools around the country. I believe that if a parent does not want his or her child to read a book, that family can make that decision on their own. This way, other students will have the freedom to chose whether they want to read a given book or not. Of Mice and Men is an example of a book that parents and administrations have banned. One reason that was given for the banning of this book is that profanity and crude words were used throughout. Further, some schools objected because of racial slurs such as “the N word”. But to me, the themes of racism and segregation in the story make the book essential to read. Crooks, an African-American who worked in the stables, didn’t have a lot of rights and was treated unfairly. He wasn’t allowed to stick up for himself without being threatened and shunned. Crooks was restricted from all of the activities and games played by the white farmhands while they weren’t working on the ranch. The use of language that was spoken at that time period helps the reader enter into that world and if Steinbeck didn’t include this type of language or the character of Crooks in the book, teenagers wouldn’t learn how intense and brutal it was for a person of color in the US at that time. If people do not read, learn, and understand how people of color were treated in the past, then history will repeat itself. Since this book is banned in some school districts, the children who live there will not be able to learn about our history through literature. Jeffery Miller, English professor states, “John Steinbeck’s writing is taken to offense by many people, causing this book to have a negative impression. I think Of Mice and Men should not be banned, but instead be taught in every school, with responsible and mature teachers.” Of Mice and Men gives children the opportunity to learn about the past and specifically about racism.

Reading is a necessary part of our education. Books teach us about life, about the world, about conflict, friendship, love, hate, power and loss.  I don’t believe any school administration should decide for me, whether a book has value or not. For example, you could pick up a book about a family going through deep hardships and it happens that the main teen character finds out that she is pregnant. Even though this might be frightening to some readers, I would still want to read this book to learn how families work through hardships so that I could understand my own life better.  The character who is deciding whether or not to keep the baby would be another way to underline larger themes of the book. Teen pregnancy is not a reason that a book should be banned and yet it is the reason given in certain areas of the country.  To me, banning books is a way of controlling children’s education and literature. Huffington Post states, “Seemingly any reference to sex, drugs, cursing or homosexuality qualifies a book for "bad" status”.   In life, what if there is a young boy or teenager who is secretly gay and doesn’t feel ready to come out of the closet yet.  Reading a book about other boys who are going through the same situation might help this person. Or maybe reading about characters like him could help him feel more comfortable with being himself. I think reading a book about your sexuality is much better than talking to an adult about it if you are afraid of coming out. The administration doesn’t have the right to ban books that could help children feel happier in their own bodies.

However, there is one good reason why parents might want to keep books from their children – to stop them from getting their hands on books that are not age-appropriate or at grade level.  But it’s my opinion that instead of banning books, teachers could put ‘labels’ on the books. Labels are a way that children and teens can know whether a book is age-appropriate. If the label has the word ‘sex, drugs, and cursing’ on it, then the teen can have a discussion with their parents about whether or not to read the book.  John F. Reed Library gives common reasons for banning books. “Although a book may have been banned or labeled a certain way, it is important that the reader makes his/her own judgments on the book.” I think labeling is good because this way children can choose for themselves and/or with their parents if a book is right for them.

In conclusion, I think banning books is controlling. I think children should be given the opportunity to choose what books they read or don’t read.   People who ban books limit my ability to learn about the world, and therefore are basically taking my education hostage. I think no school or library should ban books.  Instead they can use labels to help children, teenagers and their parents make decisions about what books are out there to read.

Thank you,

Rosetta McKay

                                                Reading and Writing for Social Justice:

Rose McKay                                                                                                                                808

Prompt one:

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/24/3571699/grand-jury-wont-charge-cops-in-wal-mart-killing-even-as-video-reveals-victim-never-pointed-his-gun/

Choose an article on injustice:

 This article was about a black man named John Crawford who was holding an unwrapped bebe gun in his hand, not pointing it at anyone, in a Walmart. A white man named Ronald Ritchie, who was also in the store, called the police and said Crawford was waving the gun around, pointing it at numerous people, even children. The surveillance video shows a different story. Crawford wasn’t pointing the gun at anyone. The police came into the Walmart looking for him. They immediately shot 3 bullets at him. They didn’t even ask any questions or try to talk to him. In the video, it shows that Crawford put his hands up and shouted “don’t shoot, don’t shoot.” I wonder if it had been a white man holding a gun and the police came, things would have turned out differently. These situations happen all the time in the US. Every week or month there is another shooting, or death of an unarmed black man. There are many articles that talk about this injustice. There are articles about Trayvon Martin and articles about Michael Brown. There was an article about a woman who got in a car accident and was injured and went up to a white person’s house to ask for help and he brought out his gun and shot her. These are all examples of racism and cruelness. In this case, peoples choices are guided by their fear and prejudice against people of color.

Prompt two:

List of unfair situations in Park slope and at MS. 51:

·      Why is the basketball team, boys only?

·      Why do girls always get dress coded for wearing leggings when boys don’t get dress coded for wearing provocative logos on their tee shirts?

·      In park slope there are many woman and men who go through garbage cans to collect bottles and cans that are worth only five cents each

·      At union market, they throw out fruits and vegetables that have tiny scratches on them or tiny bruises instead of giving them to homeless shelters or a soup kitchen.

Sometimes when I am walking down the street, I see elderly Asian women and men digging their hands into garbage cans, searching for bottles or cans. Once they collect a heavy bag of them, they will bring them down to a recycling plant. They usually only earn 5 cents per bottle. This is an extremely small amount of money considering that these people have been working very hard to earn it. The living conditions that these people might be in are probably very harsh. If the uber-rich were taxed more and the taxes went to help the poor, these people wouldn’t have to go picking through the trash to earn enough money to buy food for dinner. The government takes care of the rich by not taxing them enough.  At the same time, the government is not taking care of the poor.  Why is one person’s life more valuable than another person’s life? The people I see in the neighborhood don’t have enough money to buy dinner while the super rich have so much money, they can’t possibly spend it in their entire lifetime.

Prompt three:

INTERVIEW with Matt Weyer-

Rose: what do you think is good about our world, and what are some flaws or things that are unfair about the world?

Matt: From the perspective of the soul, everything is good about the world. And the things that are “unfair” are really opportunities for people to grow spiritually.

Matt: when anything bad happens or gives us a choice, we can either choose to be a victim or we can choose to create something or move in the direction of something positive.

Rose: I agree but I think it might be hard for people to move on sometimes because many objects or sounds or people will remind someone of the tragedy.

Rose: What are some unfair things plainly without the coping part?

Matt: Anything when you are intentionally harming someone else. When your intention is to inflict harm.

Rose: What are some instances of this flaw that you have heard of in the news in another country?

Matt: Like, civil wars in Africa. Isis. The civil war in Syria. Rape and murder is a big issue.

Matt: Putting down woman’s rights in India and Iraq and Iran.

Rose: What about here (in the United States)? In New York, 3 kids that went to my school got hit by a car and died. This is really sad. Also, all of the stories about police officers “accidentally” shooting unarmed black teenagers is an issue.  

Matt: I agree, in Arizona, police officers have been stopping Hispanic people in cars who have lived in Arizona for years. Adriana has a newer nicer car so she never got pulled over because she is Hispanic but looks rich.

Rose: Thank you Matt!

Matt: You are so very welcome. Thank you!

I just interviewed my uncle Matt and we were talking about what is wrong with the world and what is good about the world.  He said that anything that had to do with intentionally hurting someone else (verbally or mentally) was what is wrong with the world. He was also discussing his opinion about how to deal with the terrible things that happen in the world. One of the things he said was that people have a choice to be a victim or they can “move in the direction of something positive”. I thought this was a great interpretation of a coping process. I am usually the type of person that will stay sad about something or say “why me?” instead of trying to deal with the situation and think positively. What Matt told me, made me think that I should start becoming the person that copes with a bad situation by creating something positive out of the situation.

Prompt four:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/president-obama-calls-for-calm-in-ferguson-2716048

This program on ABC News shows how people reacted when the grand jury made the decision that the police officer who shot Michael Brown had not committed a crime.  If I lived in Ferguson, I would be furious at the jury’s decision. The people who were rioting were also furious. They were burning buildings and police cars. I understand why they were doing this. If I were in their shoes, I would definitely be in that crowd rioting for what I felt was an injustice. I would feel so hurt and angry.    Several different people witnessed the shooting death of Michael Brown and each one had his/her opinion of what happened. The district attorney presented all of these different interpretations of what happened to the jury. The district attorney gave so much different information that the jury was put in a position to be conflicted over what happened to Michael Brown. The picture was muddy for them. This was an advantage for the police officer because the jury needed to be completely certain about what happened and couldn’t because of all the differing information. 

Prompt five:

My aunt is a very inspiring person. She runs Physicians for Human Rights. She also used to work at ACLU. Donna changes the world in small ways by making a space for doctors to get training on how to document and record war crimes. One story that she told me was that she helped train a doctor who had fled Syria during the civil war. He needed to get to Turkey to meet my aunt who was working with a group of doctors to train them to record war crimes. Not many people were allowed to travel out of Syria or into Syria during this time. He went to the airport and they wouldn’t let him go through customs. He went another time to a border crossing pretending to be his father but they still wouldn’t let him leave the country. So he and his friends went down to the river between Syria and Turkey.  His friends put him in a barrel, sealed it, and pushed him down the river to get across into Turkey. My aunt didn’t help him escape, but he explained the story to her.

Interview:

Rose: What have you done that you are proud of?

Donna: Well, I work with doctors and nurses from around the world to help them document war crimes. My job is to raise money to help them accomplish this task. I feel honored to work with these doctors. Sometimes during the training sessions, doctors tell me about their experiences in the war zones.

Rose: Can you tell me one story that they told you?

Donna: Well one story that a doctor told me was when he was trying to cross the border from Syria to Turkey. After getting rejected by the border guards twice, his friends helped him get into a barrel and float across the river into Turkey.

Rose: How did he float across the river?

Donna: The barrel was attached to ropes. And he was pulled to the other side but this took many hours.

Rose: How many hours?

Donna: I think he told me he was inside the barrel for about 8 hours.

Rose: Whoa, that is along time. Was he okay?

Donna: Yes, he actually found the story funny and bizarre.

Rose: Thanks Donna! That was very inspiring.

Prompt six:

"Shake It Off"

I stay out too late

Got nothing in my brain

That's what people say, mmm-mmm

That's what people say, mmm-mmm

I go on too many dates [chuckle]

But I can't make them stay

At least that's what people say, mmm-mmm

That's what people say, mmm-mmm

But I keep cruising

Can't stop, won't stop moving

It's like I got this music

In my mind

Saying, "It's gonna be alright."

'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play

And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate

Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake

I shake it off, I shake it off

Heart-breakers gonna break, break, break, break, break

And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake

Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake

I shake it off, I shake it off

I never miss a beat

I'm lightning on my feet

And that's what they don't see, mmm-mmm

That's what they don't see, mmm-mmm

I'm dancing on my own (dancing on my own)

I make the moves up as I go (moves up as I go)

And that's what they don't know, mmm-mmm

That's what they don't know, mmm-mmm

But I keep cruising

Can't stop, won't stop grooving

It's like I got this music

In my mind

Saying, "It's gonna be alright."

'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play

And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate

Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake

I shake it off, I shake it off

Heart-breakers gonna break, break, break, break, break

And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake

Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake

I shake it off, I shake it off

Shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off

Hey, hey, hey

Just think while you've been getting down and out about the liars and the dirty, dirty cheats of the world,

You could've been getting down to this sick beat.

My ex-man brought his new girlfriend

She's like "Oh, my god!" but I'm just gonna shake.

And to the fella over there with the hella good hair

Won't you come on over, baby? We can shake, shake, shake

Yeah ohhh

'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play

And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate (haters gonna hate)

I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake

I shake it off, I shake it off

Heart-breakers gonna break, break, break, break, break (mmmm)

And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake (and fake, and fake, and fake)

Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake

I shake it off, I shake it off

Shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off

Shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off

Shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off (you've got to),

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,

I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off

In this song, Taylor Swift is actually speaking to the “haters” and letting them know that she doesn’t care about their opinion. It is okay to be goofy. It is okay to not be perfect. It is okay to have flaws. “Shake it off” is about saying let go of negative opinions and be yourself. Taylor knows that she can’t dance; she knows that she can’t twerk, but she doesn’t really care because she has this different amazing talent that people love and that makes her feel good about herself. What this song really means ( and I know this sounds very cliché) is that you shouldn’t care what people say about you and you don’t have to change who you are to fit other peoples idea of “normal”. You have to find a way to like yourself.

Prompt seven:

Pretty Little Liars is a TV show about four girls who are being threatened by a person who goes by the name of  “A”.   When the first episodes begin, you learn that their best friend, Alison, died a year ago.  She is the person who linked all of them in friendship.  The four main actresses are very pretty with long, shiny, wavy, and almost always perfect hair. This is not what normal girls look like on a daily basis. Three of the girls are white. Emily is half white, half Asian. They are all skinny with nice figures. They live in a small town. They all live very close to each other. Their families seem pretty well off, although one family does go through money issues. Also there are a lot of family issues the girls face as well, such as a separation, coming out of the closet, and sibling rivalry.   All of the main characters’ moms are also very pretty and always have on nice clothes and shoes. All of the men and boys in the show are attractive as well.   All of this adds up to a feeling that show doesn’t really depict a true reality.  These images of teenagers make me think that maybe some teen viewers who don’t have these features will feel bad about themselves. These depictions become a stereotype that teens might take as the ‘norm’ and try really hard to achieve. Just remember, nobody has a make artist and costume designer walking around you, “fixing” you 24/7.