Author: mizzaries

An Angel Called Home

It was one of the saddest days of my life.  All of my family in the house of  God. All of us were thinking of everything we should have said, but didn’t.  Everything we could have done, but didn’t get the chance to.  All of the moments that are now just memories that we pray we shall never forget.  I remember breaking down before the funeral, and I remember breaking down during the funeral.  I remember finally getting myself together only to see my family in tears and breaking down againg because I hate to see them in pain.  I remember looking through the program and seeing old photos and heartfelt poems.  I remember being held by my mother as I cried and sobbed.  I also remember thinking to myself that I will never forget to say I love you, and I will never forget to cherish the love and family I have been blessed with.  Despite all of the tears and pain, I managed to see the beauty of it all.  I managed to see the beauty of family being there for one another.  I managed to see the beauty of love and understanding.  I managed to see the beauty of everyone letting their guard down and sharing the same emotion.  I managed to see the beauty of my loved one that had passed.  I managed to see the beauty of my loved one’s life and spirit.  I managed to see that God puts people in our life for a reason, and once they have served their purpose, they become an angel that has been called home.

Should Homosexuality Be Addressed in Schools?

Because homosexuality is a prominent topic and affects the lives of many high school students, it needs to be properly addressed to avoid misunderstandings that lead to conflict.

Although homosexuality is a frowned upon by many religions and the discussion of it may cause discomfort, the lack of knowledge and the abundance of stereotypes are leading homosexual teens The lack of knowledge and the abundance of stereotypes are leading homosexual teens down paths of self harm and destruction. According to the academic journal I found on gay bullying statistics and homosexuality in schools because of pervasive homophobia (the irrational fear of homosexuals) in society, lesbian/gay teens are more likely to drop out of school, commit suicide, abuse drugs/alcohol, or get pregnant [sic] than the rest of their peers.  If we started to educate ourselves on homosexuality, these young lives with endless potential could be saved.

Some might say that because the curriculum is constantly changing and teachers’ main focus is to prepare students for the real world, ignoring the existence of homosexuality will not make it disappear. There is no representation of their lives in the classroom, they may suddenly be made to feel different. You can not talk around the subject as if it does not exist by presuming a person’s sexual orientation, reinforcing stereotypes, or speaking of lesbians/gays as “they” or “other.”  According to the academic journal “Homosexuality and the Schools”, teachers often refer to homosexuals and “they”  and “other” to avoid the subject.  When you become an adult, you will have to deal with all kinds of people.  What better way to prepare students for the real world than to educate them on the different types of people they will meet.

Homosexuality and the conflicts that come with it are things that we can no longer ignore.  If we want to prevent the self destruction, prevent the bullying, prevent the stereotyping and prevent the hate, then we need to educate ourselves and our youth.

Chicago

Chicago is the most beautiful city I have ever visited. The chilly, 70 degree weather in Chicago offered us a well appreciated break from the humid, 107 degree weather of our hometown, Houston.  The city was breathtaking.  The people, the stores, the traffic, the restaurants.

The day we arrived, our first stop was the Navy Pier.  The Navy Pier was full of life and a beautiful  view of Lake Michigan.  We explored all of the attractions, which included an art museum.  I wandered the museum with my camera, capturing each beautiful piece of artwork.  After our our day at the pier, we retreated to our hotel that was located in the heart of the city.  We awoke to a day full of fun and surprises.  We walked the Magnificent Mile to window shop at all of the high end stores.  Surprisingly we didn’t spend a dime at the stores (until we reached the HUGE Forever 21) .  We were satisfied with just exploring our surroundings.  On our final day in the city, we finally got to eat Chicago’s famous deep dish pizza.  We waited about an hour for our table, but it was well worth the wait! That was some of the best pizza I have ever had!  My trip to Chicago was one of the best weeks of my life.  The city was beautiful, the people were friendly, and most importantly, I spent it with my family.

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

You can purchase the book here

 

Reviewed by: Vivian Vu, Breanna Spears, and Wilaine Tampo

 

Summary by Goodreads:

“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard back, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his dome-like brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes.”

With this startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first opening, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetle-like insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. A harrowing — though absurdly comic — meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation, The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of twentieth-century fiction. As W.H. Auden wrote, “Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man.”

What we love about this book:

Kafka’s Metamorphosis has taught us that even though humans don’t typically wake up as an insect the next morning, we all go through a metamorphosis/change as we grow. The story begins with an introduction of the protagonist Gregor Samsa who has a terrible nightmare of being a beetle and quickly realizes that it has become a reality. Gregor is a man who works hard to support his family and pays off his family’s debts while at the same time hates his job as a salesman. When he awakes as a beetle, he finds it difficult to adjust to his transformation and struggles to gain acceptance from his family; mainly from his parents. As a beetle, Gregor can’t do much to support his family’s finances, and so they decide to get rid of him. He becomes gravely upset upon hearing this, and eventually disappears. From then on, Gregor’s absence seems to have made his family change for the better as they all find new jobs and a new place to live. The story originally started of as a process of Gregor’s change from a human to beetle and his conflictions between human and beetle. However, it ended up expanding more on Gregor’s metamorphosis by displaying how his change provoked his entire family to change as well. It was interesting how the plot was able to unravel Gregor’s predicaments in a way where they could even turn his family’s misfortunes around. We’re also intrigued by Gregor’s transformation being a metaphor for his isolation from his family and everyone as a whole. Overall, we enjoyed the journey of Gregor Samsa’s tragedy through his own perspective, which allowed us to dig deep into the concept of depression, family roles, and so much more.

Writing Style:

Kafka’s style was so impactful that the word “Kafkaesque” came into existence. The term would most likely be synonymous to “surreal” or “unusual.” His pieces are very bizarre and strange and they usually denote the ludicrous situations that occur in life. When it comes to the oddness that takes place in Kafka’s writing, it’s compelling to see how he probes into the complex psychology of a character. He makes his characters significantly more realistic by making them complicated and hard to understand like any other true human being. What makes his writing somewhat unorthodox is that he was often metaphorical and at the same time his thoughts were straight-forward yet difficult to comprehend.

Connections:

The transformation aspect of the Metamorphosis can be relevant to a Japanese comic called, “Real,” by Inoue Takehiko. The comic’s main focus is wheelchair basketball. The few major characters who are affiliated with the sport all have their own struggles with backgrounds that greatly affect and clash with their present existence. Both “Real” and “The Metamorphosis” are categorized in the psychological genre. One of the characters, Hisanobu Takahashi, is introduced as a person with a relatively decent life; being a high school alpha-male and effortlessly smart. After a traumatic traffic accident, he is paralyzed and soon realizes that he can no longer be the cool and popular kid he once was. He becomes depressed, angry, and uninspired to recover. He constantly neglected memories of his childhood, which usually expressed his enjoyment for basketball with his father. After spending long periods of time in the hospital and struggling in therapy, he meets a few people who soon lead to his realization that he wants to get better. Once he realizes all of his wrongs in the past and gains the resolve to embrace his own persona, his current decisions end up influencing those close to him in a much better way than before. He cries and accepts his true self, leading to him being motivated to put more effort into therapy. He gains interest in wheelchair basketball, and begins his pursuit to join a wheelchair basketball team called the Dreams.

As you can see, Takehiko had his own transformation between his own problems. His change was somewhat similar to Gregor Samsa’s, and in the end both characters also emitted a change out of their close ones for the better.

Say What?

This book’s writing style is simple and direct for the most part, however it definitely can get difficult to understand. The story makes you think, and may possibly induce a slight headache. Even so, there is enough interest to bother delving into the depths of Kafka’s power of words.

Rating & Recommendation:

We rate this book with a 4.0 out of 5 stars. Anyone who likes a mix of surrealness and reality and subjectively written pieces should probably check this book out. If not, maybe still check it out if you’re looking for more variety in your choice of books because this book is a MUST read.

“The Pain Behind the Mask”

Behind the smile

Lies the pain

Fighting the tears

Just to appear sane

Fear of judgment

Craving love

The soul feels like hands

In freezing weather without gloves

They feel alone

No one understands

They’re sinking in sorrow

As if it were quicksand

You will never know

Of the troubles from the past

Because they will never let you see

The pain behind the mask.

“Roots”

I believe that you cannot know where you are going if you don’t know where you come from.

Cleveland, Mississippi is where my roots lie.  I was born to a single mother who always did her best to provide for my sister and I.  Despite it being the 21st century, my small, deep south hometown was still racially divided.  Black people lived in one part of town and white people lived in another.  Even at my elementary school, the black kids played with the black kids and the white kids played with the white kids.  Even though we only lived five minutes away from each other, my father and I hardly ever saw one another.  I remember one time I saw him in Wal-Mart and I didn’t recognize him.  A majority of the people in Cleveland were poor, struggling to make ends meet, and hardly had a high school diploma, let alone a college degree.  My mother did graduate from college and used her education as a nurse to take care of her family.  But even with her degree, my mother still struggled in the declining job market.  She had finally had enough when she decided to pack us up and move to Pearland, Texas, a suburb outside of Houston.  That was probably the best decision she could have ever made for us.

Everything in my new city was so much different from my hometown.  It was so big and beautiful, the people were diverse, and the opportunities were endless.  No one was the same.  It was a melting pot of different cultures and backgrounds.  The schools were HUGE compared to the crappy schools back in Mississippi.  Also, there were so many things to do.  I got to explore a world that I never knew existed!  I used to think that I could only grow up to be a nurse like my mother.  But, six years later, I know that I can truly be anything I put my mind to.  I could be a doctor, or an engineer, or even own my own company.

    Moving to Texas gave my family a fresh start and opened my mind to all of the possibilities for my future.  Where and what I come from is what pushes me to succeed.  I want to go to college.  I want to learn about different cultures. I want my children to grow up with a positive and supportive father figure in their lives.   But most importantly, I never, ever want to forget my roots, the roots that got me to where I am today.  The second I forget where I come from is the second I stop moving forward.

Flowers While They Are Living

They don’t need flowers on their tombstone

They don’t need to hear “I love you”  at their funeral

They needed those flowers while they were crying

They needed those flowers when they felt alone

They needed those flowers when they felt there was no where to turn

They needed to hear “I love you” when they were tying the rope

They needed to hear “I love you”  when they picked up the blade

They needed to hear “I love you”  when they were down to their last few breaths

They needed their flowers

Their “I love you’s” before it was too late

They can no longer hear you

They don’t need flowers on their tombstone

They don’t need you to say “I love you” at their funeral

You should’ve given them their flowers while they were living.