Malcolm X

     So far, The Autobiography of Malcolm X has been one of the most enjoyable books that I have read for school. I really like how brutally honest Malcolm is with us. He is telling us things that seem to be hurting him to have to remember such as when he had a conk and how ashamed he was to have burned his scalp to look more white.
     My favorite part of the book so far has been the part where he started to become self educated in prison and his struggle to get rid of his former uneducated street self. I liked this part because it was his transformation from being on the streets to helping out other African Americans. Malcolm began learning after he conformed to Islam. Frustrated that he couldn't write a decent letter to reply to Elijah Muhammad, Macolm began copying words out of the dictionary to not only improve his handwriting but to allow himself to read anything. I really admired how dedicated he was to learning.

King still king?

Martin Luther King Jr. played an important role in helping to desegregate America. I can't even imagine what America would look like now if it hadn't been for him. Still I don't think he should be called a king, I think that Matin Luther King thought that he was just a normal person trying to help out other normal people.

Meaning in my life

I have been recently struggling with finding a  reason for why I do things in my life. Everyday I wake up at 5:30 just to swim or finish my homework, both of which I would rather not do. For a while I thought that I was just doing this so that I could please my parents but now that I am actually thinking about it, I swim and do well in school because deep down, it makes me happy. I like to learn and I actually do like to swim. I think that everyone should do things that they enjoy doing and those things give your life meaning.

Music Review - Good People by Jack Johnson

A song that I really like is Good People by Jack Johnson. I like this song because it is very relaxing but also has a strong message behind it. Good People is about how there is so much misery in the world today. In the song, Jack tells us about television and why it is bad for society. A few of the things that come to mind when I think of television being bad are news stations and stations that show "children's" shows. The News almost always focuses on the negative parts of society such s natural disasters, people gettng killed/raped, and other sources of misery. This can lead to more people killing and hurting others trying to be worse than the previous stories. Other things that are bad about television are stations that show "children's" shows mainly Disney Channel. Kids are new in the world and don't know a whole lot so they learn by observing things around them. By watching shows such as Good Luck Charlie, Jessie, or A.N.T. Farm they are learning that it is good and funny to not listen to your parents, get in trouble, and not do well in school. Unless they have parents that tell them otherwise, kids can carry these ideas into adulthood and then they cn commit crimes and hurt others and not think anything of it. In order for there to be more good people in the world, there have to be good adults setting good examples for children.

Frankly speaking

I recently read the book Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl and enjoyed it very much. Unlike other holocaust books such as Maus, The Pianist, or Night, Man's Search for Meaning described what his experiences were in a much more graphic way. I think that that is what I liked about the book. When I read Maus, the Pianist, and Night but I felt that they were more for children as they told the stories of the author's lives but didn't descrbe it and cencored out what life was really like. Dr. Frankl wrote whatever he was thinking and didn't spare very many details such as when he talked about the jews turning on eachother such as when they took eachother's clothes or resorted to cannbalism, I hadn't heard of that before and it surprised me.

Thanks

It is near thanksgiving and I have recently been thinking about what I am thankful for. It is impossible for me to pick just one classmate to thank. Almost everyone I know has helped me out in some way before. It could be something simple like giving me something to eat after a swim practice and something to drink during math class, or something a bit more complicated such as helping with chemistry when I don't understand something, or giving me two minute acting lessons to help me with a Brit. Lit. project. I am sincerely grateful for everything you and my other friends have done to help me get through school. Thanks.

Improvements in class?

I think that our philosophy class is running very smoothly and I don't have anything to suggest to change it.