Discrimination

Often times Americans are the most likely to discriminate when something tragic happens.  The knee jerk reaction to a tragedy is to point fingers and blame the most blamable party. It happened right before the holocaust in Germany; and American almost let it happen on our home turf. Japanese internment camps almost brought America down to the level of Nazi Germany. The lack of forethought brought people to believe it was morally sound to imprison innocent people. I love America immensely but that was a big mistake on the people’s part. I am sickened at the fact that those camps were thought of as a possible solution to a problem that didn’t exist.

Reading Review #2

Cassia has kept to her word and only told her 80 year old grandfather about the microchip malfunction. Her family visits grandfather for the last time and during the visit he reveals a secret compartment on the compact! Though he warns Cassia that no one else should know about the secret message that has been hidden away for so long. "Always remember that you have words of your own." -pg 60. Cassias grandfather sparks a bit of questioning with that meaningful statement. In the same conversation he tells her that she should never be afraid to question. He passes away at the expected time on his 80th birthday and his family is given 24 hours to mourn before they are expected to continue on with their daily lives.

My inspiration

More often then not I draw inspiration for my writing from my personal experiences. It is so easy to look at myself and write about it. I mean you know your personal experiences better than anyone else does, you feel the emotions of your experiences first hand, and you can choose to make the writing as accurate or as skewed as you would like. Taking inspiration from something internal also keeps you connected to your writing; to me, having a voice is the most important thing.

reading response picture #1



Reading Review #1 (matched)

In the beginning of Matched the reader is introduced to a normal teenager girl named Cassia and her best friend Xander. As the story begins Cassia is describing her beautiful green dress as she is riding the train going to the match banquet. We find out that she has known her best friend Xander since they were children and that they are on there way to meet there mates. Everyone who has been selected to be matched is required to go to the matched ceremony after they turn 17 years of age. Cassia and Xander rely on each other for support as the pull up to the banquet.  
The matching begins after a massive, elegant dinner for all of the candidates and their families. The highlight of the meal is the rich chocolate cake that cassia savors as much as she can. I find this moment in the story very symbolic because just as Cassia is forcing herself to enjoy the cake; she is forcing herself to enjoy the evening. "I understand his enthusiasm when I take a bite of the cake, which is rich but not overwhelming, deep and dark and flavorful." No one can be sure if Cassia is talking about the cake or the matched ceremony with that statement.
When Cassias name is called up to the screen she is completely unnerved, though she doesn't appear to be. She is determined to show her match the most beautiful face she can muster; but the screen never flashes with another young smiling face. Instead it remains black for a long time and the crowd begins to mumble in wonder. Just as Cassia feels like her world is going to crumble an administrator announces that Cassias mate lives in the very same city and that it is a rare but wonderful thing. Cassia looks to her family and Xander for support as the lady is about to begin the announcment of her mate. The announcment is all unclear to Cassia, except for the name,"Xander Thomas Carrow." She was matched to her best friend; perfect, or so it would seem...
Each of the teenagers is given a micro chip that has information about their match on it, though Cassia and Xander both know all the information that will be on the microchip. When Cassia gets home and starts to look at Xanders micro chip somthing strange happens. The micro chip flashes Xanders face for a second and then a second boys face appears! Cassia is thouroughly freaked out and decides not to tell her friends and family and just keep the technological mishap a secret.