“Diary of a Young Girl”- Anne Frank

I personally love reading autobiographies. I chose, “Diary of a Young Girl”- Diary of Anne Frank. She went through, what you could say the worst time period ever, the Holocaust. However, through all chaos and hard living conditions, Anne’s spirt remained the same. She wrote in her diary day after day describing what she did and the experiences she encountered.

Just take a moment and think about your life during school. Busy right? But enjoyable. You go to school, do work, extra activities after school, homework, maybe have a slight crush on that one boy/girl, and hang out with friends. No one infringes on your rights to do so. Now imagine being discriminated because you are a Jew. You have to go to a different school because “your different” then everyone else. Jews were restricted by anti-Jewish decrees: “Jews were required to wear yellow star, turn in bikes, forbidden to use streetcars, shop between 3 and 5 pm, only visit Jewish owned barbershops and beauty parlors, forbidden to be on the streets between 8pm and 6am, forbidden to go to movie theaters, swimming pools, tennis courts, hockey fields, go rowing, any athletics in public and forbidden to visit Christians in their homes.” Seriously, what was there to do!? This was only the beginning.

The book begins on Anne’s 13^th birthday. She describes all the gifts she got one including a diary. She mentions she doesn’t have any true friends, so she decided her diary would be her best friend. She named it “Kitty”. Soon after, the Germans (Nazis) were capitulating a lot more people than usual. On July 8th, 1942, Ann’s father received a “call-up notice” for Margret (Anne’s older sister.) Apparently when girls turn 16, they are sent away to live on their own. Therefore Ann’s parents decided to go into hiding a lot sooner then they originally thought. On July 9^th the family moved into the hiding place which was in her father’s office building behind a series of doors. The employees from Anne’s father’s firm helped hide the Franks and kept them supplied with food, medicine, and information about the outside world.  Anne mentioned that Moortje, her cat, was “the only living thing (she) got to say goodbye too.” Shortly, on July 13^th, the Van Daans moved in. A while later, a friend moved in as well, Mr. Dussel. The Van Daans had a 16 yr old son named Peter. Anne and Peter eventually have a little romance going on by the end of the book. Anne mentions that it wasn’t bad, they “cook themselves, listen to the radio (paying close attention to every development of the war), reading, games and writing.” She also included that they couldn’t look out the windows or go outside. Throughout the 2 years of isolation, Anne often wrote about the depression and loneness she was feeling. She also write about every small thing that happened since nothing really exciting did happen. I cannot image growing up in such conditions as this.  August 1, 1944 was Anne’s last journal entry. It seemed perfectly normal. On August 4^th, everyone that was in hiding was betrayed to the Nazis and arrested. They were all sent to different concentration camps. Anne’s father was the only survivor and found Anne’s diary.

What suppressed me is that Anne was ok with the way she lived for 2 long years of her life. Even with her family and friends got on her nerves, a lot, with the feeling of despair and being Claustrophobic. She wrote in her diary when everything started to go downhill: “It’s as if my whole world has suddenly turned upside down.” I’m still alive, and that’s the main thing.” She had so much spirt and a good attitude towards everything (most days). I admire her for that and her bravery thought all of the hard times.

What You'll Wish You'd Known

I am going to tackle the question most high school kids do not want to answer, especially seniors: What are you going to do for the rest of your life? That’s a hard one, hu? Most adults ask where you want to go to college, what do you want to study, etc. I mean we are only 15-18 year olds. We have our whole lives in front of us and we have to decide now? Through knowing what your options are, not disregarding motives and by being responsible, you will be able to accomplish many things in your life time.

“Know what the options are”. That is a good idea. When we were all younger we all wanted to either do what our parents did, a super hero, doctor, heck I wanted to be a professional ballerina. Kids have huge imaginations, knowing exactly what they want. For some reason, we are told to grow up and think logically. For our whole future depends on what choices we make.

 Don’t ever “underestimate your potential.” I recently took a special test to see what I was interested in. One of the options came up as occupational therapy. Now, many of you, like I was, are like what is that? Basically it’s helping people recuperate from physical or mental illnesses through helping them do basic things that you would do on a daily basis. I personally love to help people, so this naturally sounded like the perfect job for me. When I visited a few colleges, I learned that you have to work on real cadavers. (This is coming from the girl who couldn’t even dissect the pig in 10^th grade). But, that doesn’t mean I can’t achieve my goals of becoming an OT. That’s how that quote comes into play. If you set your mind to something, there’s nothing stopping you from accomplishing that particular objective!

“Don't disregard unseemly motivations.” If you have an interest that you want to pursue, do it! Don’t think negatively towards it until you try it out. “Curiosity turns work into play.” While you are doing something you love, it won’t seem like that crummy old lab your teacher wanted due Monday. It will be like a “mystery you are trying to solve.” Believe it or not, you find what you want to do by trial and error. One “Path can bend a lot more than you think.”  So why not make the best of it? Learn while having fun. School should be fun, not just some jail you go to everyday. “If you want to do good work, what you need is a great curiosity about a promising question.”

Now, what is the main difference between adults and high school students, without bringing age into the equation? “It's that adults take responsibility for themselves. Making a living is only a small part of it. Far more important is to take intellectual responsibility for oneself.” Being responsible is a huge component in what employers are looking for. Not only that, but your independent, reliable, and trustworthy. “School is like a day time job.” That got me thinking. My parents always told me that running was “my job”, but I never thought of school as my job either. Think about it. We go to a building from the hours of 8 to 3. We are doing work throughout the whole day. If you treat it like a day job, you will benefit most out of it, learning and experiencing more for your future.

Why Running is Important to Me. An essay about running written by a cancer survivor

Honestly this whole essay describes my whole running experience. To pick merely a few quotes will be difficult! To begin, I picked this particular essay for two reasons. Most of you know that I am a runner. I have been running ever since I could walk, to racing the neighborhood boys around the block. Second, my grandpa and aunt died of cancer. I have seen how hard it is for people and their bodies to function doing everyday things. That’s why this women inspired me, still continuing to run when everything was against her.

Just today I ran at the arboretum with my cross country team. Just the fact that I get to run with my friends, while getting better at the same time! All of “the soft surfaces”, “the smell” of all the growing trees, “the high cliffs” all of it is truly amazing to have that rush of running through nature. Not knowing what is around the next bend and always hoping over roots and rocks is an adventure. I remember when I was at cross country camp, we were running next to the river and eventually through it. (It was at my waist!) It’s so much fun when it is “high and rushing like a torrent!” It’s amazing to see “how the river changes.”

“You see, this is where I not only run, this is where I find solace, where I go when I need to escape.” For most runners, running is a way to “be normal” and express ourselves in a sport that takes so much mental and physical pain. After school, yes sometimes I would rather go home sit in front of the tv and eat snacks all day. (Runners can seriously be the laziest people you ever will meet, ironic hu?) But that’s the best part! We are “committed”. We run through “rain, ice, snow, (especially here in great ol Wisconsin…) sleet, hot, warm…all kinds of weather. That is our escape. If we had a bad day at school, you have a good workout that day to look forward to and get all the anger and frustration out. But to non-runners, you all still think we are insane and I don’t blame you for that. We as runners “take a sort of twisted pride in the joke that our sport is every other sport’s punishment.”

My Aunt Susan died when I was still a baby. She was only 18 years old. She had a kind of cancer that built up over time. I do not know the exact reason she got cancer in the first place, but all I know is that she strived to be normal. She was not a runner like this women was, but she loved to sing and play her guitar. That was her “one activity that made, (my aunt) feel normal and alive and like I was still part of this world.” She also had to get a fake wig since all her hair was falling out. She was too “losing weight, (her) face was as white as a sheet and swollen.” She too felt “depression.”

My Grandpa died a few years ago, near my 14^th birthday. His cancer was breaking down his body physically. He too “lost weight” (he weighed less than me) and was “white as a sheet.” This women said that cancer literally “brought her to her knees”, that’s what it did to my grandpa too. Cancer is so hard on one’s body, and that shows how much dedication this women was to her running and to her body, to get better. She mentioned that on one of her runs, she felt as though she “had a spear stuck in the right side of (her) chest.” She had to “kneel on one knee, the other firmly planted on the dirt.” That is a scary feeling, not being able to breath. Obviously that’s something you desperately need is air while running.

All in All, seeing how someone is this dedicated to her running while going through chemo is absolutely amazing. To personally know how hard and draining cancer is on one’s body. I can also relate to her because of our love to running, especially through trails or the woods. She summarized it all up right at the end: “And that is why I love running: nothing makes me feel more alive. I hope I can run forever.”

 

 

 

The Great Lawsuit and If Men Could Menstruate

Discrimination against women has been an issue in our country throughout history.  Both of these articles, a hundred years apart, seem to have the same message: equality for women. Both of these articles were written by feminists, with both of them clearly stating what they believe. Margret Fuller women's rights advocate is associated with the American transcendentalism movement in the mid-1800s. Gloria Steinem was a media spokeswoman for the women's liberation movement in the late 1960s and 1970s. However, I respectfully disagree with the content in Steinem’s article. Instead, I will present you with a passage of Biblical scripture and compare and contrast the roles of men and women in society. I will also compare the Bible to what Fuller spoke of as well, since she made a few good points.

To start out, I have a question. Honestly, what is the real difference between genders? I know you may be thinking there are tons of differences, but can you name some without referring to biology?  This particular topic is impossible. None of us have a clue or say out loud what we think. The shrillest voice in late feminism genders exist to exploit each other and fighting to gain control over each other instead of “avoiding collision, but to bring forth ravishing harmony.”- Fuller.

Margret Fuller’s, “The great lawsuit” was taking the perspective that women were the “idle” men “live upon” from the “earnings of industrious wives,” meaning that the men depended on and took the women’s money. Nothing belonged to the women in the household. It all belonged to the man. Even to the extent that women were “slaves”, house workers for their husbands, having no say in anything. Fuller states “we wonder why reformers think that measures are not likely to be taken in behalf of women, unless represented by women”. It seems as though there is an enormous good in feminist movement empowering the right for women during this time, and even through today.

Both Steinman and Fuller expressed the truth that women are equal to men. Steinman’s idea behind the discrimination behind women was as compared to African American’s was on the right track. That the “superior group has will be used to justify its superiority, and whatever and inferior group has will be used to justify its plight”.  It’s not in fact to treat women “poorly” and as if we are “weaker.” Steinman even said that men liberals and radicals says that “women are equal, just different.”  Fuller’s knowledge that we have laid every path open “to women as freely as to man.” Also referring to the slave aspect, you cannot hold “another in bondage, on women.” That both a slave and women have a “soul.” There is one master and law that everyone is held accounted for. “If there is to be an interpreter of it he comes not as man, or son of man, but as son of God.” Yes this is all true. God gave a good gift when he gave complementary gender roles for men and women how we should each be treated and to flourish in each other.  The Bible states in Colossians 3:18-19, “Wives, submit to your husband, as is fitting in the Lord.   Husbands, love your wives and don’t be harsh with them.”  The husband is in charge of the household, the head of his wife.  What we hear is that the husband has the ability and authority to exploit his wife.  Instead, God is telling us that the husband is in charge of loving and caring of his wife and household.  Back in the Roman times, which is what Fuller was referring to, there were relationship codes, household rules to go by. The women were not addressed, just the men. It was to provide rules for how the men should run the household. He has the right to do what he had to do in order to keep the household together. There was no limit on violence if the husband thought it was necessary. The Biblical view is different.  It doesn’t say subject your wives to your authority (talking to the men) but wives, are to willingly submit to their husbands.  Husbands, in turn, are to treat their wives with respect and as an equal.  They (husbands) are to guard their families and protect them.   So, men and women shouldn’t have to compete for top spots in society but instead they should build each other up and share the responsibilities as their talents allow.

 

"Is Google Making us Stupid?"

Technology plays a huge role in today’s society. Everywhere you look people are always texting, gaming, listening to music and browsing. On the flip side, technology has also helped improve ways of living through research, curing diseases and even communicate with others across the world. Nicholas Carr believes Google does in fact make us stupid, he does have a slight point on the matter, but not to what we all may expect to hear.

It seemed a bit ironic that Carr was going on and on about how his “concentration started to drift after two or three pages” when this article is seven pages long. I found myself also to be “fidgety, begin looking for something else to do” also starting to scan. This is a point I want to bring up. I believe that most people blame technology for what we are becoming.  Carr mentioned that “deep reading used to come natural has become a struggle,” meaning technology in a way has been “making us stupid.” Maybe not in the sense as many might think.

The internet has many useful websites, recipes, information that you can find in one place: Google. The “advantages,” as Carr said, of having “immediate access to such an incredible rich store of information had been fully applauded.” I personally love having fast access to the internet to find what I need, like most of you as well. However, we choose to use these resources. We elect to have Google help us, therefore making us rely on it. Those are the key words here. As Theorist Marshall McLuhan put it, “media are not just passive channels of information.”  “They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought.” Meaning, they supply the material, but since we rely on all this information given to us, it shapes us to need it and not think on our own.

The world as we know it is changing so fast we can’t comprehend it. Carr believes. "You should be skeptical of my skepticism,” that we should be careful in what we do. We all do need to think on our own and use the internet as a resource, not fully depend on it. I feel as though this argument Carr is making can be about a lot of things, not just technology. It’s just the era we are living in.