[Feed]
In the book Feed by M.T. Anderson, the main character named Titus narrates the story of him and his relationship with a young girl named Violet. They both live in the future, a world where everything is ran under the feed, a small chip planted in a person’s head. Titus explains how the feed is “the only way to get all this stuff, and it’s no good getting pissy about it, because they’re still going to control everything whether you like it or not” (Anderson 48). Although the feed may be beneficial to those who use it, Violet thinks otherwise. Violet who was known to be Titus’s girlfriend has the feed, though it was planted in her head at the age of seven which makes it difficult for her to use it correctly. Violet can still use the feed, however if the feed malfunctions then she is at a great risk of dying. Because of Violet’s condition, she is able to think against the Feed whenever she pleases. Nevertheless she still has an even greater risk of damaging her Feed by resisting it, causing herself to weaken. Due to her condition and resistance against the feed, it makes her different from everyone else which cause people to look down upon her, making her feel left out. The purpose of the Feed is to advertise the mind by feeding the person with different messages which influence people to do what is being fed. This puts Violet aside from those who follow the Feed because she believes that:
“No one with feeds thinks about it […] When you have the feed all your life, you’re brought up to not think about things. Like them never telling you that it’s a republic and not a democracy. It’s something that makes [her] angry, what people don’t know about these days. Because of the feed, we’re raising a nation of idiots. Ignorant, self-centered idiots” (Page 113).
Violet used the government as an example to show how the feed is manipulative to those who have the feed, similar to how the America is lying to the people of our government is actually a republic and not a democracy as some people may call it. She revealed to Titus that everything the feed received from advertisements were corrupt. Violet failed to persuade Titus the difference between the ‘appearance’ of the feed vs. the essence of what the feed truly does to a person. The appearance of the feed is not necessarily the physical appearance of the chip, but what people perceive of how the feed may benefit to them in a positive way. Those who have the feed believe that it is enough to support a person in any given situation by communicating with others, getting a task done, or shopping. The advertisement alone tries to influence one to buy items that may benefit to him/her. Violet argues that these objects do not benefit to a person, but rather breaks a person apart. The true essence of the feed is how it manipulates a person’s mind through propaganda, persuading him/her to do what ever the feed may tell him/her to do. In Violet’s perspective, it is unfortunate that people depend on the feed, living day by day without natural emotions; being who they are as person.
Later, Violet had the habit of resisting her own feed. Like every other feed, Violet received advertisement from any object she walked/looked at. By processing the advertisement into her feed, she had the choice to reject that response just by ignoring it.
Because of her condition, Violet was allowed to wander in her own mind and freely think about anything, resisting the feed to do exactly what she wants, not what the feed tells her to do. Violet exposes Titus about resisting the Feed, revealing how the Feed is taking over people’s minds in a bad way. Instead of Titus resisting the Feed, he resisted Violet and her revelation about the Feed.
Because of resisting the feed, Violet’s condition degenerates, soon causing her to explain to Titus that the reason behind her slow recovery is she had her feed at a late age of seven. Titus thought that age did not matter when a person had a feed. What he did not know is that the feed will not fit comfortably in a person’s brain if he/she gets it at a late age due the person’s full development after birth. The feed is “more susceptible to malfunction” (Anderson 170). It is out of the ordinary for a person to resist the feed that is providing a person with their needs. Again, Violet tries to recover by going onto Feedtech, though
“Feedtech and other investors reviewed [her] purchasing history, and [they] don’t feel that [she] would be reliable investment at this time. No one could get what [they] call a ‘handle’ on [her] shopping habits, like for example [she] asking for information about all those wow and brag products and then never buying anything. [They] have to inform [her] that [their] corporate investors were like, ‘what’s doing with this?’ Sorry- [they’re] afraid [she]’ll just have to work with [her] feed the way it is” (Anderson 247).
As Violet’s feed continued to malfunction, it became difficult for her to speak. Her feed was badly damaged and was not going to let her survive her battle of a malfunctioned feed. Titus visited Violet for one last time before she passed away. The last time he visited her was a couple of weeks before she was not able to talk. Due to her malfunctioned feed, it prevented her to stop Violet from telling the truth about the feed and how it affected the people when using the feed. As Titus stood over by Violet, Violet’s father stood by and watched him as he tried to talk to Violet. Father tells Titus,
“We Americans,” he said, “are interested only in the consumption of our products. We have no interest in how they were produced, or what happens to them”- he pointed at his daughter- “what happens to them once we discard them, once we throw them away” (Anderson 290).
Titus had previous visits to go to Violet’s house and every time he visited, her father would be there. But as time continued and Violet continued to malfunction, Titus stopped hanging out with her because she was an embarrassment after letting out the truth about a friend. Violet’s father revealed to Titus how America is blinded by technology and products are disrupting what people think, such like the feed, and because people are blinded by technology, they forget the fact that they are hurting themselves by trying to fit in with corporate America; Feednet. At that moment Titus realized that the whole time, Violet had been trying to tell Titus that message, but every time she told, he would ignore.
The revelation that Violet tried to reveal to Titus is to not trust the feed and how tries to persuade ones mind into being somebody they are not. It is unnatural for a person to be genuine when allowing the feed to control his/her thoughts because those who have the feed have the same information, transmitted, into their head. Thus, the feed is telling people what to do by being identical to each other without even noticing the similarities between one another. Violet tried to break that similarity by resisting the feed, and because she resisted, she was unable to fix her feed chip. Not only was she unable to fix her feed because of resisting, but she also had her feed implanted at a late age which gave her the advantage to think for herself, while others who had the feed since birth does not know what it is like to think outside the feed. Violet’s father, who remains unnamed through out the book, is distinct from others who do have the feed because this man does not have the feed at all.
Without the feed, one has the option to think about what ever he/she wants, in comparison to those who have the feed, are set to be one-minded with the feed. Because Violet did not use the feed often, she was thought as to be a kind of outcast who did not accept the feed. Revealers like Violet are not always noticed which makes it difficult for many to understand the message. Titus noticed Violet, but for the fact that she was malfunctioning and acting different from everyone else, Titus ignored her messages. Going against a person who is actually telling the truth is a revelation trope found in other situations similar to Titus and Violet. In the end, Titus came back to Violet’s house, in a way to redeem himself after ignoring her. In relation to the Bible, in the book of Luke, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, betrayed Jesus by giving him in to the officers who were looking to arrest him, in reward, Judas was given money. After judgment with a Roman Governor and harassed by many officers, Jesus was taken away to Jerusalem to die on a cross. In Feed, Titus is similar to Judas by betraying Violet, who is comparable to Jesus, and ignored her for the past few weeks until she was ready to die. Like Judas, Titus tried to beg for forgiveness as she passed away; knowing that Violet was right about the feed, finally accepting the revelation. Violet’s father is referred as ‘the father’, and a revealer, reveals a message to Violet and passed down his message to Titus. Violet’s father having no name can resemble to God and how he preached to Titus about the way the feed has been corrupting people’s minds by soon discarding them after there is no use—what a waste.
In connection to An Enemy of the People it took Dr. Stockmann, a man who became an outcast after revealing to the town about the outbreaks in the baths. Because of the truth that was revealed, nobody in town believed him, as well with Violet who was also viewed as an outcast in which she tried to expose the Truth about the Feed to Titus. Both Stories have their similarities because the Revealers are not always noticed which make it difficult for many, including the reader, to understand the message.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Revelation Story - Diary Entry Add on Part II of Part 5
Quickly I tried to wipe away my tears, but like every mother, she tried to figure out what was wrong. I told her it was nothing, but she did not believe me. I ended up telling her about what happened to me today and how the kids in school were treating me. She asked why and I told her I do not know. She said there has to be some reason they came at me in a negative way.
For five minutes I stayed silent not saying a single word about what was truly wrong with me. I took a deep breath and told her “mom… I am pregnant.”
Astonished by the news, she kept quiet for ten minutes then spoke again. She did not ask me ‘why’ it happened. Common sense that most teens would not plan their early pregnancy. She instead asked ‘how? How did this happen to you?” I was relieved to know that she was willing to listen, so I told her the details of my story and how I ended up in the middle of a mob of students calling me names.
I started off with Jude and how he is most likely the father. But he is not taking the initiative to support me because that same night when I found out I was pregnant; he broke up with me and left the house. She interrupted me and said, “I am not surprised. I never trusted the kid anyway.” I continued the story by telling her that Erin was there to support me for the rest of the night. In my mom’s response she said “Thank God.”
She asked if I have talked to Jude ever since the incident and I told her “yeah a couple of weeks ago. He basically told me if I do not get an abortion then he will not talk to me anymore—and he kept his word.” I have not talked to the guy since our last conversation.
After the conversation I told her I was sorry for putting her in a difficult position. She started tearing up, telling me “its okay, we can work through this, but in one condition.”
I asked her “what?”
“You cannot let Jude part of the child’s life, do you understand?”
“Why not mom, he is the father of the baby.”
“No father of the baby denies his child”
As hard as it was, I agreed to her request. She left out a deep breath of air and gave me a long hug and assured me that everything was going to be okay.
After realizing that my mom knew, I quickly looked at her and asked “what about dad?”
She told me that she would at one point break it down to him. My dad is a tough guy, so knowing that I am pregnant is not going to be easy for him. Surely enough he would kill Jude if he ever sees the guy again in our house.
We ended the conversation by walking downstairs to the kitchen. As I walking down I kept thinking how thankful I am to have a mom like her. I gave her a hug and said “thank you mom.”
“Anything for you Christina. Your dad and I love you and will do anything to provide for you. Remember that”
<3Christina
----------------
For five minutes I stayed silent not saying a single word about what was truly wrong with me. I took a deep breath and told her “mom… I am pregnant.”
Astonished by the news, she kept quiet for ten minutes then spoke again. She did not ask me ‘why’ it happened. Common sense that most teens would not plan their early pregnancy. She instead asked ‘how? How did this happen to you?” I was relieved to know that she was willing to listen, so I told her the details of my story and how I ended up in the middle of a mob of students calling me names.
I started off with Jude and how he is most likely the father. But he is not taking the initiative to support me because that same night when I found out I was pregnant; he broke up with me and left the house. She interrupted me and said, “I am not surprised. I never trusted the kid anyway.” I continued the story by telling her that Erin was there to support me for the rest of the night. In my mom’s response she said “Thank God.”
She asked if I have talked to Jude ever since the incident and I told her “yeah a couple of weeks ago. He basically told me if I do not get an abortion then he will not talk to me anymore—and he kept his word.” I have not talked to the guy since our last conversation.
After the conversation I told her I was sorry for putting her in a difficult position. She started tearing up, telling me “its okay, we can work through this, but in one condition.”
I asked her “what?”
“You cannot let Jude part of the child’s life, do you understand?”
“Why not mom, he is the father of the baby.”
“No father of the baby denies his child”
As hard as it was, I agreed to her request. She left out a deep breath of air and gave me a long hug and assured me that everything was going to be okay.
After realizing that my mom knew, I quickly looked at her and asked “what about dad?”
She told me that she would at one point break it down to him. My dad is a tough guy, so knowing that I am pregnant is not going to be easy for him. Surely enough he would kill Jude if he ever sees the guy again in our house.
We ended the conversation by walking downstairs to the kitchen. As I walking down I kept thinking how thankful I am to have a mom like her. I gave her a hug and said “thank you mom.”
“Anything for you Christina. Your dad and I love you and will do anything to provide for you. Remember that”
<3Christina
----------------
Snow Ball Paper - Feed (still working)
In the book Feed, by M.T. Anderson, is a story taken place in the future. M.T. Anderson created a world where the people of America were under control by a computer network called ‘Feednet’. The Feednet was an upgraded version of the internet, which was directly connected to an implanted chip located in a person’s brain. Implanted at birth, the feed constantly bombarded people with advertisements by sending different pop-up ads into their head. The feed also provides the internet, games, M-chat; an instant messenger, etc. Unfortunately, the feed did have its disadvantages. Because the feed was planted into a person’s brain, it interrupted a person’s thoughts of how he/she might have felt, physically and mentally.
M.T. Anderson revolved his futuristic world around a teenage boy named Titus and a girl named Violet Durn. Violet Durn was a weird girl who was introduced to Titus at a party. They both were partying with a few friends till their night was ruined by a hacker who hacked into people’s feeds. Titus was able to recover from the incident; however it took quite a while for Violet to heal. Their experience of spending time in the recovery room together built their friendship to a whole new level when they started to date. Soon after their recovery, Violet started to complain about the feed and how its way of processing information to a person’s mind was bad. Titus responded to her remark by explaining how the feed controls everything and that there is nothing anybody can do if the information received by the feed were an “evil corporation” (Anderson 48). Even though Titus had said that about the feed, it still did not stop Violet from thinking against the feed. There were various times in the book when she tried to show Titus that the feed was manipulating what people felt-emotionally and physically. She told Titus that “When you have the feed all your life, you’re brought up to not think about things. Like them never telling you that it’s a republic and not a democracy. It’s something that makes me angry, what people don’t know about these days. Because of the feed, we’re raising a nation of idiots. Ignorant, self-centered idiots” (Anderson 113). Violet used the government as an example to show how the feed is manipulative to those who have the feed, similar to how the America is lying to the people of our government is actually a republic and not a democracy as some people may call it. She revealed to Titus that everything the feed received from advertisements were corrupt. Violet failed to persuade Titus the difference between the ‘appearance’ of the feed vs. the essence of what the feed truly does to a person. The appearance of the feed is not necessarily the physical appearance of the chip, but what people perceive of how the feed may benefit to them in a positive way. Those who have the feed believe that it is enough to support a person in any given situation by communicating with others, getting a task done, or shopping. The advertisement alone tries to influence one to buy items that may benefit to him/her. Violet argues that these objects do not benefit to a person, but rather breaks a person apart. The true essence of the feed is how it manipulates a person’s mind through propaganda, persuading him/her to do what ever the feed may tell him/her to do. In Violet’s perspective, it is unfortunate that people depend on the feed, living day by day without natural emotions.
Later, Violet had the habit of resisting her own feed. Like every other feed, Violet received advertisement from any object she walked/looked at. By processing the advertisement into her feed, she had the choice to reject that response just by ignoring it. Violet shows Titus her new hobby of resisting the feed, but Titus did some resisting of his own by disagreeing with the whole concept of resisting the feed. Because of resisting the feed, Violet’s condition degenerates, soon causing her to explain to Titus that the reason behind her slow recovery is she had her feed at a late age of seven. Titus thought that age did not matter when a person had a feed. What he did not know is that the feed will not fit comfortably in a person’s brain if he/she gets it at a late age due the person’s full development after birth. The feed is “more susceptible to malfunction” (Anderson 170). It is out of the ordinary for a person to resist the feed that is providing a person with their needs. Again, Violet tries to recover by going onto Feedtech, though “Feedtech and other investors reviewed [her] purchasing history, and [they] don’t feel that [she] would be reliable investment at this time. No one could get what [they] call a ‘handle’ on [her] shopping habits, like for example [she] asking for information about all those wow and brag products and then never buying anything. [They] have to inform [her] that [their] corporate investors were like, ‘what’s doing with this?’ Sorry- [they’re] afraid [she]’ll just have to work with [her] feed the way it is” (Anderson 247). By first using the feed and then resisting it caused Violet to realize what the feed entailed when resisting against it. Violet was not able to be cured because of her resistance to the feed.
M.T. Anderson revolved his futuristic world around a teenage boy named Titus and a girl named Violet Durn. Violet Durn was a weird girl who was introduced to Titus at a party. They both were partying with a few friends till their night was ruined by a hacker who hacked into people’s feeds. Titus was able to recover from the incident; however it took quite a while for Violet to heal. Their experience of spending time in the recovery room together built their friendship to a whole new level when they started to date. Soon after their recovery, Violet started to complain about the feed and how its way of processing information to a person’s mind was bad. Titus responded to her remark by explaining how the feed controls everything and that there is nothing anybody can do if the information received by the feed were an “evil corporation” (Anderson 48). Even though Titus had said that about the feed, it still did not stop Violet from thinking against the feed. There were various times in the book when she tried to show Titus that the feed was manipulating what people felt-emotionally and physically. She told Titus that “When you have the feed all your life, you’re brought up to not think about things. Like them never telling you that it’s a republic and not a democracy. It’s something that makes me angry, what people don’t know about these days. Because of the feed, we’re raising a nation of idiots. Ignorant, self-centered idiots” (Anderson 113). Violet used the government as an example to show how the feed is manipulative to those who have the feed, similar to how the America is lying to the people of our government is actually a republic and not a democracy as some people may call it. She revealed to Titus that everything the feed received from advertisements were corrupt. Violet failed to persuade Titus the difference between the ‘appearance’ of the feed vs. the essence of what the feed truly does to a person. The appearance of the feed is not necessarily the physical appearance of the chip, but what people perceive of how the feed may benefit to them in a positive way. Those who have the feed believe that it is enough to support a person in any given situation by communicating with others, getting a task done, or shopping. The advertisement alone tries to influence one to buy items that may benefit to him/her. Violet argues that these objects do not benefit to a person, but rather breaks a person apart. The true essence of the feed is how it manipulates a person’s mind through propaganda, persuading him/her to do what ever the feed may tell him/her to do. In Violet’s perspective, it is unfortunate that people depend on the feed, living day by day without natural emotions.
Later, Violet had the habit of resisting her own feed. Like every other feed, Violet received advertisement from any object she walked/looked at. By processing the advertisement into her feed, she had the choice to reject that response just by ignoring it. Violet shows Titus her new hobby of resisting the feed, but Titus did some resisting of his own by disagreeing with the whole concept of resisting the feed. Because of resisting the feed, Violet’s condition degenerates, soon causing her to explain to Titus that the reason behind her slow recovery is she had her feed at a late age of seven. Titus thought that age did not matter when a person had a feed. What he did not know is that the feed will not fit comfortably in a person’s brain if he/she gets it at a late age due the person’s full development after birth. The feed is “more susceptible to malfunction” (Anderson 170). It is out of the ordinary for a person to resist the feed that is providing a person with their needs. Again, Violet tries to recover by going onto Feedtech, though “Feedtech and other investors reviewed [her] purchasing history, and [they] don’t feel that [she] would be reliable investment at this time. No one could get what [they] call a ‘handle’ on [her] shopping habits, like for example [she] asking for information about all those wow and brag products and then never buying anything. [They] have to inform [her] that [their] corporate investors were like, ‘what’s doing with this?’ Sorry- [they’re] afraid [she]’ll just have to work with [her] feed the way it is” (Anderson 247). By first using the feed and then resisting it caused Violet to realize what the feed entailed when resisting against it. Violet was not able to be cured because of her resistance to the feed.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Snow Ball Paper - They Live (Final Edits)
[They Live]
In the Sci-Fi movie They Live, directed by John Carpenter, is a story about a homeless man who discovered how corrupt society was by looking through a pair of sunglasses, which were banned in the city he lived in. John Carpenter, known for his dark cinematography, wanted to show a movie that not only had hideous creatures symbolizing corruption, but a “film [that] addresses the issues of the homeless in our country, social irresponsibility, mass consumption, environmental destruction, corruption, the attractiveness of our capitalistic society and the incredibly strong influence of the communications media.” (http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/). The main character of the film did not originate from the city. He was a hitchhiker who settled in a community of homeless people, welcomed by a man named Frank, acted by Keith David.
In a particular scene, the main character witnessed a blind man preaching about the government which the main character did not know about. The main character watched the blind man as he preached, explaining “Outside the limit of our sight, feeding off us, perched on top of us, from birth to death, are our owners! Our owners! They have us. They control us! They are our masters! Wake up! They're all about you! All around you!” The blind man told listeners to wake up. Wake up from being bombarded by the media and government with manipulating messages.
Unfortunately, the main character did not understand the blind man’s revelation. He instead walked away towards the homeless community. Across the street from the homeless community was a church. The main character was suspicious about the church after a couple of men drove away from the church. The main character decided to investigate the church by entering the back house, discovering a box that was stored in a secret storage area behind a wall. He leaves the church after the same blind man, who coincidently was involved with the church, told him “this world may have blinded me, but the Lord has let me see.” The main character walked away, assuming that the blind man was talking about his encounter with him. One can agree that the blind man was not necessarily talking about the main character and his whereabouts in the church, but about how the blind man was aware of the government and the lies that the government placed in society, blinding individuals by manipulating those who cannot see and are not awake.
After walking away from the blind man’s revelation, the main character finally understood what he meant after finding a box of glasses in a hidden wall of the church. He takes the box into an alley so no person can see him. He took a pair, assuming the glasses were like any other pair and started wearing it. Through the glasses the main character saw things he had never seen before. Using the glasses had shown the main character the true essence behind the billboard adds, magazines, books, television shows, even people. He soon realizes that it is the appearance that fools everybody in the society. The corrupted people in society are reveled as these hideous creatures that nobody can see unless one is wearing these special glasses. The glasses in the movie symbolize the truth, revealing the main character various revelations; everything is a lie and the need to fight the power.
Because of the glasses, it separates the social classes into two groups, between the rich and the poor. The binary opposition, rich vs. poor in comparison to the binary opposition, essence vs. appearance shows the similarities between poor and essence vs. rich and appearance. The two helps the audience go in depth about the poor revealing the essence of the world around them. Not everybody could see the essence of humans, and because everything is not how it is supposed to be, people are often fooled by his/her appearance which tends to attract people, leading them into manipulation, a common revelation trope in most cases. A man is manipulated by society, soon figuring out that everything is a lie, which he tries to gain the support after teaching himself to fight against the power. The ending of the story varies to how the director may want to end the movie. Fortunately, in the movie They Live, the main character was successful to open the eyes of many people after shutting down a machine that hid the truth behind the creatures’ fake appearance.
In the Sci-Fi movie They Live, directed by John Carpenter, is a story about a homeless man who discovered how corrupt society was by looking through a pair of sunglasses, which were banned in the city he lived in. John Carpenter, known for his dark cinematography, wanted to show a movie that not only had hideous creatures symbolizing corruption, but a “film [that] addresses the issues of the homeless in our country, social irresponsibility, mass consumption, environmental destruction, corruption, the attractiveness of our capitalistic society and the incredibly strong influence of the communications media.” (http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/). The main character of the film did not originate from the city. He was a hitchhiker who settled in a community of homeless people, welcomed by a man named Frank, acted by Keith David.
In a particular scene, the main character witnessed a blind man preaching about the government which the main character did not know about. The main character watched the blind man as he preached, explaining “Outside the limit of our sight, feeding off us, perched on top of us, from birth to death, are our owners! Our owners! They have us. They control us! They are our masters! Wake up! They're all about you! All around you!” The blind man told listeners to wake up. Wake up from being bombarded by the media and government with manipulating messages.
Unfortunately, the main character did not understand the blind man’s revelation. He instead walked away towards the homeless community. Across the street from the homeless community was a church. The main character was suspicious about the church after a couple of men drove away from the church. The main character decided to investigate the church by entering the back house, discovering a box that was stored in a secret storage area behind a wall. He leaves the church after the same blind man, who coincidently was involved with the church, told him “this world may have blinded me, but the Lord has let me see.” The main character walked away, assuming that the blind man was talking about his encounter with him. One can agree that the blind man was not necessarily talking about the main character and his whereabouts in the church, but about how the blind man was aware of the government and the lies that the government placed in society, blinding individuals by manipulating those who cannot see and are not awake.
After walking away from the blind man’s revelation, the main character finally understood what he meant after finding a box of glasses in a hidden wall of the church. He takes the box into an alley so no person can see him. He took a pair, assuming the glasses were like any other pair and started wearing it. Through the glasses the main character saw things he had never seen before. Using the glasses had shown the main character the true essence behind the billboard adds, magazines, books, television shows, even people. He soon realizes that it is the appearance that fools everybody in the society. The corrupted people in society are reveled as these hideous creatures that nobody can see unless one is wearing these special glasses. The glasses in the movie symbolize the truth, revealing the main character various revelations; everything is a lie and the need to fight the power.
Because of the glasses, it separates the social classes into two groups, between the rich and the poor. The binary opposition, rich vs. poor in comparison to the binary opposition, essence vs. appearance shows the similarities between poor and essence vs. rich and appearance. The two helps the audience go in depth about the poor revealing the essence of the world around them. Not everybody could see the essence of humans, and because everything is not how it is supposed to be, people are often fooled by his/her appearance which tends to attract people, leading them into manipulation, a common revelation trope in most cases. A man is manipulated by society, soon figuring out that everything is a lie, which he tries to gain the support after teaching himself to fight against the power. The ending of the story varies to how the director may want to end the movie. Fortunately, in the movie They Live, the main character was successful to open the eyes of many people after shutting down a machine that hid the truth behind the creatures’ fake appearance.
Snow Ball Paper - Danny Hoch (Final Edits
[Danny Hoch]
Danny Hoch, an actor, play writer and director, is known for one of his selected works called Jails, Hospitals & Hip Hop, which includes five different monologues of five different characters and scenarios. With his stories, Danny has a unique way of exposing the audience with a revelation. Like most stories, the revelation is figured out in the end when the character announces what he/she had basically learned. What differentiates Danny and his stories from other stories is that his stories keep the viewer engaged on what might happen next. In all five of his monologues, Danny portrays different characters that have the tendency to talk a lot. Whether he talks in a rather slow or fast pace, Danny Hoch wants to make sure that the viewer can feel what he feels when he tells the story of a characters experience. By dragging the viewer to a surreal situation that not many people have experienced draws the audience to learn more about what Danny has to offer about his revelation, allowing people to take a moment and think about what he had acted out.
In one of Danny’s monologues, he acted out a character named Andy who worked in a prison where he explained his issues to his co-worker while working. Andy started the story by talking about his previous job in McDonalds and how there was this one time when he served senior citizens and was impatiently waiting to take their order. He complained how the senior citizens thought of him of some kind of a thief and sarcastically enough, Andy said if he were a thief he would have been on the other side of the counter behind the guy instead. All Andy wanted was to give the senior citizens their order of a cup of coffee and leave him alone. However that was not how the story ended. One of the senior citizens came back and complained about the coffee and how it tasted horrible. Andy, already frustrated, suddenly exploded on the customer telling him to go get some coffee in Starbucks if he does not like the coffee in McDonalds:
“But no, because that's not good enough for them either, cause they got a heart condition or somethin', like I give a fuckin' shit! I got AIDS, you wanna compete with me, you wrinkled fuckin' Sun Maid raisin' motherfuckers? […] [The old man] says, “Oh, you're not treating me like a customer should be treated! What about the rights of the customer? This is America, I'm the customer!” I said, Yeah? Fuck you customer! Fuck-You-Customer! Then he starts complainin' to the manager that I'm a fuckin' asshole. Psst, yeah. For $5.50 an hour I'd rather stay right here in jail, thank you very much.” (Jails, Hospitals & Hip Hop - Danny Hoch).
Andy knew that he was not going to let a little situation about a man and his coffee get to him. He reveals to the viewers that he has his own problems to worry about, like his condition of having AIDS. Andy would have rather worked in the prison, where it is bad enough to be in a place surrounded by prisoners. Unlike prisoners, it is not often to hear a prisoner complaining about a cup of coffee.
Danny Hoch tries to portray the revelation that it is all in a person’s head when he/she thinks something is wrong with him/her; having the need of attention in order to gain comfort. He argues against that ‘need for attention’ because other people have their own problems to think about, which does not give people enough time to think about others when they have problems. Danny, acting as Andy, wanted to show that just because he was in working behind a counter in McDonalds looking like a thief to the senior citizens does not mean that he does not have any problems of his own. His story is distinctive in its own way because Danny Hoch expressed a story about a man named Andy who can careless about an old man’s problem by showing the audience how he defended himself by cursing at the old man—does not happen everyday.
The revelation trope that could be found in Danny’s Monologue is the use of excessive language towards the old man and to the audience. From the tone of his voice, the audience can recognize his anger through what he had previously gone through. One can assume that the whole monologue is full of curse words because he expresses his anger in a way that is familiar to most people who do curse when he/she is mad.
One can agree that Andy’s story has a binary opposition of the essence vs. appearance. Andy’s description of the scene taken place in Mc Donald’s is surely the essence of what he had truly felt, but it was the situation itself that represented the essence vs. appearance. Just by looking at Andy’s appearance, the old man already perceived what kind of man Andy was. He easily assumed that Andy did not have serious problems like the old man had. Though, because of the old man’s assumption, Andy argued against him by using his true essence that he did have problems of his own. The essence is not necessarily the soul itself, but it also is the truth behind the person which makes him/her who they are today.
Danny Hoch, an actor, play writer and director, is known for one of his selected works called Jails, Hospitals & Hip Hop, which includes five different monologues of five different characters and scenarios. With his stories, Danny has a unique way of exposing the audience with a revelation. Like most stories, the revelation is figured out in the end when the character announces what he/she had basically learned. What differentiates Danny and his stories from other stories is that his stories keep the viewer engaged on what might happen next. In all five of his monologues, Danny portrays different characters that have the tendency to talk a lot. Whether he talks in a rather slow or fast pace, Danny Hoch wants to make sure that the viewer can feel what he feels when he tells the story of a characters experience. By dragging the viewer to a surreal situation that not many people have experienced draws the audience to learn more about what Danny has to offer about his revelation, allowing people to take a moment and think about what he had acted out.
In one of Danny’s monologues, he acted out a character named Andy who worked in a prison where he explained his issues to his co-worker while working. Andy started the story by talking about his previous job in McDonalds and how there was this one time when he served senior citizens and was impatiently waiting to take their order. He complained how the senior citizens thought of him of some kind of a thief and sarcastically enough, Andy said if he were a thief he would have been on the other side of the counter behind the guy instead. All Andy wanted was to give the senior citizens their order of a cup of coffee and leave him alone. However that was not how the story ended. One of the senior citizens came back and complained about the coffee and how it tasted horrible. Andy, already frustrated, suddenly exploded on the customer telling him to go get some coffee in Starbucks if he does not like the coffee in McDonalds:
“But no, because that's not good enough for them either, cause they got a heart condition or somethin', like I give a fuckin' shit! I got AIDS, you wanna compete with me, you wrinkled fuckin' Sun Maid raisin' motherfuckers? […] [The old man] says, “Oh, you're not treating me like a customer should be treated! What about the rights of the customer? This is America, I'm the customer!” I said, Yeah? Fuck you customer! Fuck-You-Customer! Then he starts complainin' to the manager that I'm a fuckin' asshole. Psst, yeah. For $5.50 an hour I'd rather stay right here in jail, thank you very much.” (Jails, Hospitals & Hip Hop - Danny Hoch).
Andy knew that he was not going to let a little situation about a man and his coffee get to him. He reveals to the viewers that he has his own problems to worry about, like his condition of having AIDS. Andy would have rather worked in the prison, where it is bad enough to be in a place surrounded by prisoners. Unlike prisoners, it is not often to hear a prisoner complaining about a cup of coffee.
Danny Hoch tries to portray the revelation that it is all in a person’s head when he/she thinks something is wrong with him/her; having the need of attention in order to gain comfort. He argues against that ‘need for attention’ because other people have their own problems to think about, which does not give people enough time to think about others when they have problems. Danny, acting as Andy, wanted to show that just because he was in working behind a counter in McDonalds looking like a thief to the senior citizens does not mean that he does not have any problems of his own. His story is distinctive in its own way because Danny Hoch expressed a story about a man named Andy who can careless about an old man’s problem by showing the audience how he defended himself by cursing at the old man—does not happen everyday.
The revelation trope that could be found in Danny’s Monologue is the use of excessive language towards the old man and to the audience. From the tone of his voice, the audience can recognize his anger through what he had previously gone through. One can assume that the whole monologue is full of curse words because he expresses his anger in a way that is familiar to most people who do curse when he/she is mad.
One can agree that Andy’s story has a binary opposition of the essence vs. appearance. Andy’s description of the scene taken place in Mc Donald’s is surely the essence of what he had truly felt, but it was the situation itself that represented the essence vs. appearance. Just by looking at Andy’s appearance, the old man already perceived what kind of man Andy was. He easily assumed that Andy did not have serious problems like the old man had. Though, because of the old man’s assumption, Andy argued against him by using his true essence that he did have problems of his own. The essence is not necessarily the soul itself, but it also is the truth behind the person which makes him/her who they are today.
Snow Ball Paper - V for Vendetta (Final Edits)
[V for Vendetta]
In the movie V for Vendetta by director James Mcteigue, is a film taken place in Britain about a masked man named V who ignites a revolution against a “corrupt and abusive totalitarian government” (www.startplus.com). V was introduced to Evey, a woman he saved in the midst of the night in an alley where two men were going to arrest her for staying out late. Because of the heroic experience, V and Evey turned out as allies, protecting each other from the government. Through out the movie, V was known for his trade mark for wearing a costume, cloves, hat and mask. He wanted to go for the look of a man from the 16th century named Guy Fawkes. Guy Fawkes was known for his oppression towards the tyranny of the Britain government of King James I. On November the 5th, Him and a few citizens plotted against the government by placing thirty-six barrels of gun powder under the British Parliament. Unfortunately for him, his plan was unsuccessful, for the government had caught him before he and the others were able to ignite the gun powder. In modern day, the main character V tried to finish Guy Fawkes’s duty by advocating the citizens of Britain to rise against the power of the government.
In a particular scene of the movie, V trespasses a television station network called BTN, British Television Network. Those who led the government had the advantage of controlling the minds of the people by broadcasting false stories. The people of Britain were not aware of these false stories or the government’s cruelty among the members in society by creating laws that restricted people from doing the ‘everyday routines’. As the government continued to brainwash by using network television, V took the initiative to wake up the people of Britain and its government by demolishing a court building in central London called the ‘Old Bailey’ to remind people of November the 5th, when Guy Fawkes attempted to bomb the Parliament, four hundred years before years ago. With the help of Evey, V was able to hack into the network station to broadcast to the people homes and share with them a revelation, to wake up! And fight against the government and to remember the 5h of November:
“Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. […] I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. […] Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgotten.”
The first couple of sentences of V’s speech started with “Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition.” V indicated how the government was in control of the people’s custom to watching a man on T.V. everybody was familiar with. Though, because V had intruded into the British Television Network, the people of Britain were unfamiliar with the man wearing a mask broadcasting a speech. He follows up the interruption by telling others there needs to be a change by remembering November the 5th. He gives a clear explanation to why the people should agree and commend the holiday by exposing the ‘wrongs’ of Britain’s government. “Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression” were all caused by the high chancellor, Adam Sutler, and to V’s shame that the people of Britain were actually the fuel of all the damage made. As a revelation, V thought it was his duty to wake up the people from the supremacy that was corrupting those below them. His revelation follows up with the lies made and broadcasted to the public. At one point of the movie, V had actually had the chance to kill the chancellor with his bare hands. BTN announced to the public that he had died over a sickness that had killed him in his sleep. The purpose of V’s speech was to make the people of Britain to understand and realize the dominance the government had upon the citizens. By joining V’s revolt against the government on November the fifth of the following year, it would help others to wake up, fight the power and realize that everything was a lie.
A Binary opposition found in V for Vendetta is the “Fear as a management tool allows governments to set up binary oppositions; “us and them scenarios,” where one chooses sides not out of ideological agreement, but out of the genuine concern that failing to choose a side risks condoning the ideological views of the other.” (http://milderweather.blogspot.com). In the movie, the government puts the citizens of Britain in a position where they have to choose to follow the leaders or oppose the government. However, Citizens of Britain do not have much of a choice to go against the government, unless he/she is eager to go to jail for having a second opinion, just like V. V says two binary opposition in his speech by pointing out the viewers, watching his speech, and the chancellor. The differences between the two are the subject of who is higher than the other. V declared that the chancellor is superior for the simple fact he has been leading the people on to believing that he “promised you peace”. The statement contradicts itself as V points out that ‘peace’ is not the equivalence to “silent, obedient consent.” To the chancellor’s advantage, he was able to manipulate the people to believe in him and what he could provide. That is when V breaks the ice by announcing to those who are asleep by the chancellor’s messages to wake up!
In the movie V for Vendetta by director James Mcteigue, is a film taken place in Britain about a masked man named V who ignites a revolution against a “corrupt and abusive totalitarian government” (www.startplus.com). V was introduced to Evey, a woman he saved in the midst of the night in an alley where two men were going to arrest her for staying out late. Because of the heroic experience, V and Evey turned out as allies, protecting each other from the government. Through out the movie, V was known for his trade mark for wearing a costume, cloves, hat and mask. He wanted to go for the look of a man from the 16th century named Guy Fawkes. Guy Fawkes was known for his oppression towards the tyranny of the Britain government of King James I. On November the 5th, Him and a few citizens plotted against the government by placing thirty-six barrels of gun powder under the British Parliament. Unfortunately for him, his plan was unsuccessful, for the government had caught him before he and the others were able to ignite the gun powder. In modern day, the main character V tried to finish Guy Fawkes’s duty by advocating the citizens of Britain to rise against the power of the government.
In a particular scene of the movie, V trespasses a television station network called BTN, British Television Network. Those who led the government had the advantage of controlling the minds of the people by broadcasting false stories. The people of Britain were not aware of these false stories or the government’s cruelty among the members in society by creating laws that restricted people from doing the ‘everyday routines’. As the government continued to brainwash by using network television, V took the initiative to wake up the people of Britain and its government by demolishing a court building in central London called the ‘Old Bailey’ to remind people of November the 5th, when Guy Fawkes attempted to bomb the Parliament, four hundred years before years ago. With the help of Evey, V was able to hack into the network station to broadcast to the people homes and share with them a revelation, to wake up! And fight against the government and to remember the 5h of November:
“Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. […] I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. […] Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgotten.”
The first couple of sentences of V’s speech started with “Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition.” V indicated how the government was in control of the people’s custom to watching a man on T.V. everybody was familiar with. Though, because V had intruded into the British Television Network, the people of Britain were unfamiliar with the man wearing a mask broadcasting a speech. He follows up the interruption by telling others there needs to be a change by remembering November the 5th. He gives a clear explanation to why the people should agree and commend the holiday by exposing the ‘wrongs’ of Britain’s government. “Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression” were all caused by the high chancellor, Adam Sutler, and to V’s shame that the people of Britain were actually the fuel of all the damage made. As a revelation, V thought it was his duty to wake up the people from the supremacy that was corrupting those below them. His revelation follows up with the lies made and broadcasted to the public. At one point of the movie, V had actually had the chance to kill the chancellor with his bare hands. BTN announced to the public that he had died over a sickness that had killed him in his sleep. The purpose of V’s speech was to make the people of Britain to understand and realize the dominance the government had upon the citizens. By joining V’s revolt against the government on November the fifth of the following year, it would help others to wake up, fight the power and realize that everything was a lie.
A Binary opposition found in V for Vendetta is the “Fear as a management tool allows governments to set up binary oppositions; “us and them scenarios,” where one chooses sides not out of ideological agreement, but out of the genuine concern that failing to choose a side risks condoning the ideological views of the other.” (http://milderweather.blogspot.com). In the movie, the government puts the citizens of Britain in a position where they have to choose to follow the leaders or oppose the government. However, Citizens of Britain do not have much of a choice to go against the government, unless he/she is eager to go to jail for having a second opinion, just like V. V says two binary opposition in his speech by pointing out the viewers, watching his speech, and the chancellor. The differences between the two are the subject of who is higher than the other. V declared that the chancellor is superior for the simple fact he has been leading the people on to believing that he “promised you peace”. The statement contradicts itself as V points out that ‘peace’ is not the equivalence to “silent, obedient consent.” To the chancellor’s advantage, he was able to manipulate the people to believe in him and what he could provide. That is when V breaks the ice by announcing to those who are asleep by the chancellor’s messages to wake up!
Revelation Story - Diary Entry Add on Part 5
Friday – Afternoon.
June 25th, 2006
Dear Diary,
What an uncomfortable weekend! The whole time Christy and I stayed in her house, watched T.V., was on the computer and baked brownies. B-O-R-I-N-G. I found myself feeling different around Christy and how I used to be around her. This is the first time in two months that I’ve slept over her house and hanging out with her does not feel the same as before. I don’t know, I just feel that we have been so distant from each other that I have grown out of our friendship and have been talking to other people about my problems instead of talking to her. It’s not that I have chosen the way we are now, I mean ever since the pregnancy we have not talked as much because I am afraid of how she might come out to me about her problems… I do not want to make her feel offended by me, reason why I keep my mouth shut about the baby or Jude.
And speaking of Jude, I talked to him the other day in the court-yard during lunch. He mentioned how he has not spoken to Christina in a while. It is a shame how he is not taking full responsibility of the situation. I told him that he should try talking and work things out again with her, but he refuses to even look at her. He says that he does not want to be involved in a child’s life at this age.
Typical.
-Erin
-------------------
Monday – Afternoon.
June 28th, 2006
Dear Diary,
What a day. Today was the last day of school, and man, what a way to end the school year. It was early dismissal today and I was standing by the entrance of the school, waiting for a few people to come out. I was with Kevin and his friends while the whole thing happened. People were leaving the campus, students were screaming out ‘slut! Slut!’ A bunch of people was making a scene towards this one person walking out of school. Trash was thrown into the air as this big crowd walked out of school. I did not think that it was a big deal since everybody was hype for the last day of school and it would be the last to see people until two months later, in September.
I then realized that people were yelling at Christina as she left the building. Majority of the people were boys calling her slut and the girls just followed and laughed, even her softball team was there, tossing garbage at her head. She was covered in garbage and nobody was doing anything about it.
Worse enough, Jude was involved in the act.
I ran up to Christy to try to cover her from all the garbage being thrown at her, but she kept on walking, purposely not acknowledging my presence. It seemed like she did not want to get me involved by people throwing trash at me, though by the look in her face she looked like she needed a lot of help.
She walked up to her mom’s car, paused to look at me and did not say one word. In the background, I could still hear people yelling at her, but she just ignored it. She slowly entered her mom’s car and drove away.
That was when I turned around and started yelling at people; “what the hell is your problem! Why are you guys attacking Christy?
One of the boys yelled out “she’s a slut! That bitch is pregnant and doesn't even know who the father is!” Then everybody starts laughing.
Then I yelled “is that any of your business?! And besides, the father of that child is right next to you my friend, JUDE DELIAN!”
Everybody looked at Jude with a confused face. Jude started to deny the whole thing and started to make up a story that she was fucked over by some guy at a party. He started calling her all these names to cover up the fact that he was accused by me, and surprisingly enough, people bought it—they actually believed him.
That was when I walked up to Jude and looked at him straight in the eye and said “how pathetic.” Then walked away.
I felt relieved after letting that out. I don't know why, but it felt good saying that to Jude.
Kevin ended up taking me out to lunch, just to cool me down from anything that happened today—which really helped.
-Erin
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Blogger.com
June 29th, 2006
7:00 AM
I hate my life.
----------------
Blogger.com
June 29th, 2006
3:50 PM
What a night to remember. Yesterday I probably experienced the worse day of my life. It was the last day of school and I walked out of class thinking ‘finally a day I could go home and not go to school for the next two months.’ As soon as I walked out of class, I noticed a whole bunch of kids outside in the hallway, throwing paper around- celebrating that it was the last day of school. I looked at them for a moment, and grinned, then started walking towards the front of school. Suddenly the same crowd of students that were throwing the paper around started yelling “hey slut!” I ignored the call, assuming it was for some other girl that was possibly joking around with some other girl. Then a whole bunch of guys started yelling ‘Christina is a slut!’ Then they all started laughing.
As my response, I immediately started walking towards my mom car that I had borrowed for the day.
I heard the calls getting louder and louder, soon enough the crowd who kept calling me a slut was right behind me. I did not do anything about the people yelling at me. I just kept on walking, trying my best to ignore the people that were all in my face. Trash was then thrown at me. Deep inside I felt this rage. How is this happening to me? What did I do that made them so hectic about me being a slut? I did not doing anything out of the ordinary in the past two month. All I have done was go to school and go home because of my pregnancy.
It came to my attention that Jude was in that same crowd. I felt betrayed. I knew he had something to do with the mess.
Then I see Erin run up to me, trying to protect me from the people who were abusing me. I did not want to ruin her rep, as bad as my rep is ruined already, so I tried to ignore her so she would not get as much damage that I was getting. Even though I did not want her there to get hurt, to my surprise I felt a little better that she was there. I know we have not been close in a couple of days, but it felt good that she was there for me.
However, that was not the end of my day. As I was driving home, I felt this pain inside, as if I were being cut from the inside out. I started crying in the car, just to let it all out. I arrived home around thirty minutes later. Mom was home so it was tough trying to ignore the fact that something had happened to me today in school. I told her I felt sick so I ran straight into the bathroom to take a quick shower and dressed up, leaving no sign that anything happened. After my shower, I went into my room and closed the door behind me. I lied down on the bed, looking at the ceiling, thinking about everything that happened today. I thought about calling Erin to thank her, but I didn't. I started to cry all over again—that was when my mom walked in.
Quickly I tried to wipe away my tears, but like every mother, she tried to figure out what was wrong. I told her it was nothing, but she did not believe me.
June 25th, 2006
Dear Diary,
What an uncomfortable weekend! The whole time Christy and I stayed in her house, watched T.V., was on the computer and baked brownies. B-O-R-I-N-G. I found myself feeling different around Christy and how I used to be around her. This is the first time in two months that I’ve slept over her house and hanging out with her does not feel the same as before. I don’t know, I just feel that we have been so distant from each other that I have grown out of our friendship and have been talking to other people about my problems instead of talking to her. It’s not that I have chosen the way we are now, I mean ever since the pregnancy we have not talked as much because I am afraid of how she might come out to me about her problems… I do not want to make her feel offended by me, reason why I keep my mouth shut about the baby or Jude.
And speaking of Jude, I talked to him the other day in the court-yard during lunch. He mentioned how he has not spoken to Christina in a while. It is a shame how he is not taking full responsibility of the situation. I told him that he should try talking and work things out again with her, but he refuses to even look at her. He says that he does not want to be involved in a child’s life at this age.
Typical.
-Erin
-------------------
Monday – Afternoon.
June 28th, 2006
Dear Diary,
What a day. Today was the last day of school, and man, what a way to end the school year. It was early dismissal today and I was standing by the entrance of the school, waiting for a few people to come out. I was with Kevin and his friends while the whole thing happened. People were leaving the campus, students were screaming out ‘slut! Slut!’ A bunch of people was making a scene towards this one person walking out of school. Trash was thrown into the air as this big crowd walked out of school. I did not think that it was a big deal since everybody was hype for the last day of school and it would be the last to see people until two months later, in September.
I then realized that people were yelling at Christina as she left the building. Majority of the people were boys calling her slut and the girls just followed and laughed, even her softball team was there, tossing garbage at her head. She was covered in garbage and nobody was doing anything about it.
Worse enough, Jude was involved in the act.
I ran up to Christy to try to cover her from all the garbage being thrown at her, but she kept on walking, purposely not acknowledging my presence. It seemed like she did not want to get me involved by people throwing trash at me, though by the look in her face she looked like she needed a lot of help.
She walked up to her mom’s car, paused to look at me and did not say one word. In the background, I could still hear people yelling at her, but she just ignored it. She slowly entered her mom’s car and drove away.
That was when I turned around and started yelling at people; “what the hell is your problem! Why are you guys attacking Christy?
One of the boys yelled out “she’s a slut! That bitch is pregnant and doesn't even know who the father is!” Then everybody starts laughing.
Then I yelled “is that any of your business?! And besides, the father of that child is right next to you my friend, JUDE DELIAN!”
Everybody looked at Jude with a confused face. Jude started to deny the whole thing and started to make up a story that she was fucked over by some guy at a party. He started calling her all these names to cover up the fact that he was accused by me, and surprisingly enough, people bought it—they actually believed him.
That was when I walked up to Jude and looked at him straight in the eye and said “how pathetic.” Then walked away.
I felt relieved after letting that out. I don't know why, but it felt good saying that to Jude.
Kevin ended up taking me out to lunch, just to cool me down from anything that happened today—which really helped.
-Erin
----------------
Blogger.com
June 29th, 2006
7:00 AM
I hate my life.
----------------
Blogger.com
June 29th, 2006
3:50 PM
What a night to remember. Yesterday I probably experienced the worse day of my life. It was the last day of school and I walked out of class thinking ‘finally a day I could go home and not go to school for the next two months.’ As soon as I walked out of class, I noticed a whole bunch of kids outside in the hallway, throwing paper around- celebrating that it was the last day of school. I looked at them for a moment, and grinned, then started walking towards the front of school. Suddenly the same crowd of students that were throwing the paper around started yelling “hey slut!” I ignored the call, assuming it was for some other girl that was possibly joking around with some other girl. Then a whole bunch of guys started yelling ‘Christina is a slut!’ Then they all started laughing.
As my response, I immediately started walking towards my mom car that I had borrowed for the day.
I heard the calls getting louder and louder, soon enough the crowd who kept calling me a slut was right behind me. I did not do anything about the people yelling at me. I just kept on walking, trying my best to ignore the people that were all in my face. Trash was then thrown at me. Deep inside I felt this rage. How is this happening to me? What did I do that made them so hectic about me being a slut? I did not doing anything out of the ordinary in the past two month. All I have done was go to school and go home because of my pregnancy.
It came to my attention that Jude was in that same crowd. I felt betrayed. I knew he had something to do with the mess.
Then I see Erin run up to me, trying to protect me from the people who were abusing me. I did not want to ruin her rep, as bad as my rep is ruined already, so I tried to ignore her so she would not get as much damage that I was getting. Even though I did not want her there to get hurt, to my surprise I felt a little better that she was there. I know we have not been close in a couple of days, but it felt good that she was there for me.
However, that was not the end of my day. As I was driving home, I felt this pain inside, as if I were being cut from the inside out. I started crying in the car, just to let it all out. I arrived home around thirty minutes later. Mom was home so it was tough trying to ignore the fact that something had happened to me today in school. I told her I felt sick so I ran straight into the bathroom to take a quick shower and dressed up, leaving no sign that anything happened. After my shower, I went into my room and closed the door behind me. I lied down on the bed, looking at the ceiling, thinking about everything that happened today. I thought about calling Erin to thank her, but I didn't. I started to cry all over again—that was when my mom walked in.
Quickly I tried to wipe away my tears, but like every mother, she tried to figure out what was wrong. I told her it was nothing, but she did not believe me.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Revelation Story - Semi-Final Draft
Erin has a Diary
Christina has a Blog
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(Early) Friday morning.
April 7th, 2006
Dear Diary,
It’s me, Erin. I am so exhausted. It is 2 o'clock in the morning, just got back from Christy's house. She called me over around ten and said that it was an emergency. When I got to her house I noticed there was no car in the drive way, assuming her parents were not home. I walked into her house finding a bright light leading up the stairs. Everything else in her house was dark. I walked towards the light where I found Christy in her room crying. She told me that Jude had left the house just a while ago to the 24/7 drugstore. I asked her what for? She didn’t answer.
I looked around and all I could see was tissues scattered around her bed and asked her what’s wrong. She told me it’s been a little over a month and she did not get her period yet. I thought she was just over reacting because of the exams we've been getting lately and her activity during softball practice.
Jude came back from the store. He looked miserable... like he hasn’t been sleeping for days. He handed a box to Christy, then immediately left the room. Christy headed into the bathroom and closed the door shut.
Twenty minutes passed and I could hear Christy crying from the other side of the door. I knocked on the door and asked to come in. She slowly opened the door and as I walked in I could see the pregnancy test already thrown into the bath tub.
I tried to comfort her but she couldn't stop crying. She kept repeating over and over again "I can't believe this is happening".
Picking up the Pregnancy test, I put it back into the box and put it on top of the sink. I brought Christy back into her room where Jude, back from down stairs, was nervously pacing back and forth. While Christy was crying, I told him the news.
Jude paused for a moment and just yelled, "I can't do this anymore... I mean this can't be happening!"
That was when I told Jude “Calm down. Things are going to be alright, just relax.”
"Thing’s are NOT going to be alright Erin!” Then he began to stutter, “I...I... I can’t be here... This is just too much.... are you sure it said positive?”
I walked back into the bathroom, picked up the box with the pregnancy test inside and handed it to him. He took the test and started reading the directions on the box, then back at the test.
“We're only 16 years old..... You just can't be happening!" He yelled.
I told Jude he has to help her, but he refused to. He said he wanted no part of her and the baby… and so he left the house.
Christy started crying hysterically. I had to calm her down so I stayed for a while till she was able to sleep. I told her I’d stop on by in the morning because it was already late.
I left her lying in her bed and left the house, with the stereo on to keep her company.
And now I am home. As her best friend, I am always there to support her. It has been a long night, and to be thinking about a baby at a time like this; during out high school years is unimaginable. I mean, if she keeps that baby, will she is in high school?
Well it is too much to think about at 2 in the morning, really late, and I have school the tomorrow.
More to come soon.
-Erin
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Saturday - Mid-day.
April 15th, 2006
Dear Diary,
Alright, it’s Saturday and for the past two weeks it’s been rough for Christy. So far she hasn’t gotten in contact with Jude, nor has he been trying to call her – what an ass –and not only that, her parents do not know the bad news. She said she is not planning to tell anyone until the bump actually appears –totally a bad idea. I think she wants to play it off as if she didn’t know she were pregnant, but no girl can pull off a day without freaking out, knowing that she is pregnant. I’m sure Jude told a few of his friends, knowing how boys are.
Christy didn’t come to school on last Friday, the day I came to her house that morning. She came back to school the following week that passed though and everybody could tell that something was wrong with her by the way she was acting. People knew it had something to do with Jude for the fact that he kept walking right past her when they were in the halls.
Poor Christy, I just feel so bad for her.
Last night I had a talk with her to figure out how everything came to place. She told me it was that party last month that we went to, where she got soooo drunk. Christy, Jude and I came together. Jude drove us to some guys place where he was throwing a party with all these people from school. I knew a few kids there, but everybody else was people probably from Cali heading east of Vegas and just dropped on by. I remember a lot of people got wasted. That night girls were tripping over the coffee tables, guys’ spazzing and cracking jokes on each other. There was this one girl who wouldn’t stop crying too ha-ha - I found that really funny. That place was just a mess when I left.
Though, before I left, I was looking for Christy and she was no where to be found. I thought she was in the bathroom or with Jude somewhere so I just waited, talking to this really cute guy who was sober, not too drunk to talk to.
Christy said she doesn’t remember what happened that night, only that she didn’t have any underwear on when she got to Jude’s house. She figured that it was Jude since he brought her home the following day.
I on the other hand got a ride from the cute guy at the party. I left a couple of hours before Christy and Jude because I thought they left without me.
Christy thinks she got pregnant that same night of the party. She thinks that while she was drunk, Jude and she had unprotected sex, which probably explains the stained jeans she was wearing that night.
I mean the last party we went to was not too long ago either and this time I looked out for Christy, just to make sure I don’t leave without her, or she leaves without me.
I just can’t believe this is happening to her, my own best friend is pregnant. We used to make jokes about how I’d be the godmother of her children but I never would have thought that this day would be coming while we are in high school. Who would have thought that Christy would get pregnant? She’s surprisingly a straight A student, and is an amazing soft ball player, though a lot of girls get jealous of that just because she is sophomore playing in a varsity softball team.
I hope her pregnancy doesn’t ruin her rep in school. She a nice girl but a lot of other girls is tough on her because they are jealous! She doesn’t stick up for herself a lot, just lets people walk on her when they criticize her—usually Jude is there to stick up for her. I on the other hand am never there when she gets called on. I wish I were so I could snap at those bitches…. Well I’m going to the movies in a little bit with the cute guy from the party. His name is Kevin. We started hanging out a week after the party and we really hit it off. He’s really nice... and well….
(Phone rings)
Ill gets to the details later!
-Erin
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Blogger.com (on PRIVATE mode)
April 15th, 2006
2:33
Christina here. I haven’t been on my blog in a while. It’s not like anybody reads this thing anyways. But still, I will try to update this blog weekly about by experiences and what not.
Words can’t even describe what I’ve been going through for the past few days. Softball has been hitting me hard lately. There is a lot of pressure on the field with me being the pitcher and all. With the girls on my team and the people in class have been getting on my nerves too. I have been stressed out with classes, with teachers and with softball all at once. I was TRYING, past tense, to make time for Jude—just to hang out with him and what not, but it seems like there is no need for that now that he is not talking to me. It started two weeks ago and still going till this very day.
This is why he will not talk to me—[BRACE YOURSELF]
Last week I found out I was pregnant. I am trying to accept the fact that I am pregnant, though it has been difficult for the past few days. When I found out, it was very dramatic.
Mom and Dad weren’t home that same night so I invited Jude over. We were just hanging out kissing and all, till I realized that I should have gotten my period two weeks ago. I started freaking out and that when I called Erin over to help me, the only girl I can count on. By the time she came Jude was already out, buying a pregnancy test.
Long story short, the test turned out positive and on that same night Jude left the house yelling how this can’t be happening because he was ‘sixteen’. He’s not the one carrying a child inside of him! Well, I’m not sure if we broke up or not, but I plan on calling him later. It has been two weeks and I haven’t talked to him ever since that day. He refuses to talk to me in school, or even look at me. It’s ridiculous how he thinks it’s about himself before me.
Not only is Jude not talking to me, but I also have to break the news to mom and dad. I still am not sure if I should. Erin is suggesting that I tell them sooner rather than later… but I just don’t know.
<3Christina
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Blogger.com (on PRIVATE mode)
April 16th, 2006
10:06
I got a chance to talk to Jude last night. He sounds like he does not care about us anymore and more about himself. I asked him why couldn’t he stay for me, for us? In response, he said that he did not want to have anything to do with me or the baby. I snapped back saying that it he has to deal with it because it was his sperm that leaked into my system.
That was when he paused and said that he has the choice to not support me if he wanted to.
What an ass.
Then he suggested about getting an abortion or else he would not talk to me anymore. I know the affects of having an abortion- mentally and physically and I am not up for that. Not only am I not ready to feel mentally and physically depressed, but I am not going to shove a metal tool up my vagina, into my uterus, to scrape a fetus out of my body. No sir. That is not going to happen to me.
I am totally against abortion!
As much as I would want Jude there for me, I can live without him if it means not getting an abortion because I chose not to.
<3Christina
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Wednesday - Art Elective.
April 19th, 2006
Dear Diary,
I am in art, and the teacher thinks I am sketching in my book or something. So the last time I wrote I was interrupted by a phone call from Kevin. Ironically he goes to Sierra Vista, the same high school as I do. I told him I never see him around school. He says it because he has a different lunch schedule than I do and has football practice after school to prepare for next year’s season. I’m telling you, this guy is such a gentleman. Enough about Kevin… I don’t want to ramble about a guy that I just met.
With Christina, I’ve been trying to help her out lately. Surprisingly she has not cried as dramatic as she cried that night of her pregnancy test discovery. I could tell that she is trying to act as if nothing has happened. But every time she passes by Jude in the hallway she starts tearing up, remembering the trouble she is going through. It is tough, but I know Christy’s a strong girl.
I will write more tonight… Ms. Shelley is telling me to put my ‘sketch book’ away and start painting up a real portrait.
-Erin
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Blogger.com
April 19th, 2006
1:15PM
I can’t take it anymore!!!
Jude is in one of my classes and will not even stop to talk to me after I asked to talk with him after biology. I swear that boy has a lot of balls to be running away from his problems than trying to work it out.
I just don’t understand why he is suddenly turning his back on me. He said he was always going to be there for me. He said he’d never let me go. Even through the tough times with these girls in school he’s been there for me, but now he can’t bear to even look at me. I’ve already asked his friends to talk to him for me, but the same responses keep popping up “He doesn’t feel like talking now Chris, sorry.”
Jude seriously makes me feel like shit every time I walk by him.
Unbelievable how boys act now a days. I thought he would have been the one to help me, but unfortunately he has to be a typical boy who doesn’t give a crap except for himself.
Fuck Jude.
<3Christina
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Wednesday – Late Afternoon.
April 19th, 2006
Dear Diary,
So I’m at home, watching a movie while Christy is in the bathroom, taking a shower. She is sleeping over for the night- said that she needed the time away from her mom and dad because they’re putting a lot of pressure on her about school.
She told me about her conversation with Jude the other day. He told her to get an abortion- obviously to make things easier for him and her, but she told me she was totally against it. She mentioned that before she headed into the shower. I can see where Jude is coming from though, I mean he actually has a point about having an abortion. Even though abortion ‘kills a baby’, it will save Christy a whole lot of money and sacrifice that would have eventually been made, if she kept the baby, which she IS planning to do. To imagine she kept the baby? Things would be very hard on her than it is right now. She would be taking care of the baby, possibly during school and buying clothes, food and diapers-- money that could be spent on her college tuition by the time she graduates. She is only sophomore, and by the time she does have the baby, she will be in her junior year, trying to prepare for college, but because of the baby, she is going to be distracted and is not going to have the time to focus on her studies. I don’t know, maybe I am being too harsh on her situation.
But Christina needs to be rational. I hope she knows what she is doing.
-Erin
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Blogger.com
June 13th, 2006
7:28PM
So it two months have passed and I am exhausted. School ends in about a week or so, and I cannot wait until that day comes. A lot has happened within the two months. For starters, a week or two after my breakdown about Jude in April, I told my coach that I was not going to be able to play softball for the rest of the school year. She looked disappointed though she looked like she knew that there had to be something wrong, so she curiously asked why. I was in her office when I told her, so I closed the door behind me and told her that there was personal reason why I am deciding to quit the team. Looking straight at me, she said that if I need any help that she is always there for me, as my coach or as a friend that I can depend on her for anything. I said thanks, and just left the room feeling terrible about the decision I had made.
After our conversation, I started to feel nauseous. I headed into the girls bathroom and was in front of the sink, in a position where I was ready to vomit. I looked at myself in the mirror, tears forming in my eyes, trying to figure out where all the pain is coming from. As I was looking at in the mirror, I start rubbing my stomach under my baggy sweater. I can feel how it has gotten bigger than it was two months ago. My stomach started irritating me, causing me to cough so much that I dropped my stuff and ran into the stall, leaned against the toilet and started throwing up. It was about 4 o’clock in the after noon, so I figured nobody would be around to hear me in the bathroom.
And so I thought…
That was when this girl walked into the bathroom. I didn't pay her any mind for the simple fact I was dealing with my own problem and did not want her to get involved. I continued to throw up after five minutes, and then finally came to a stop. I cleaned myself up from the sink and started to gather my things until the girl asked me if I were okay. I looked at her for a moment and recognized her from one of my classes. It is a very big class so I wasn’t able to remember her name. I responded to her telling her I “yeah, I’m fine,”
She quickly replied saying, “are you sure? I can get help if you want?”
I told her “it’s fine, it’s fine.”
As I left the bathroom, I told “thanks… for being concerned and all.”
After walking out of the school, I started to feel a little better.
Thirty minutes later, I got myself thinking about this baby and what to do.
I locked myself in my bedroom for the past couple of hours- ever since I got back from school. I took a shower, changed my clothes and started to clean up my room. Cleaning up is an odd way for me to get stuff out of my mind. I just tried to keep myself busy, but every time I passed by the mirror, I couldn't stop looking at my self.
I paused for a moment and started lifting up my shirt. In my head, I’m thinking “I can’t believe this is happening.” I mean for a sixteen year old girl, my stomach has gotten pretty big for the past few months.
Mom and dad do not know about my situation yet. I am too scared to tell them what happened to me. The way they are going to react is going to be too much stress on me, knowing how they might deal with me. They are going tell me how irresponsible I am like how every other parent would tell their pregnant child. Though in the long run I just hope, WISH, they could just help and support me as I am trying to carry this baby….
I mean I am thinking about telling them some time soon. Unfortunately, I know I am going to have to.
<3Christina
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Blogger.com
June 22nd, 2006
4:47PM
You know what I’ve been noticing lately? Is that I haven’t been talking to Erin lately. Of course I see her in school and all, but about me being pregnant and all the personal things? I have not spoken to her about any of that. She is still cool with me, and every other person that I WOULDN’T talk to. I mean she still talks to Jude, which I find disrespectful in some ways, but that would be immature of me to be mad at her over a guy. Anyways, I feel like Erin has drifted away from me, like I lost my touch of being her best friend, and her being mine. I don’t know, I feel like if we keep this distance from each other we might learn to grow apart from each other which I wouldn’t want. I’ll probably call her later tonight or something to come over and have sleep over this weekend. It is officially summer time, so hopefully we can catch up on anything I haven’t told her or she hasn’t told me, yet.
<3Christina
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Friday – Afternoon.
June 23rd, 2006
Dear Diary,
Today in school Christina asked me to sleep over her house. Its pretty random for the simple fact we have not talked in a while. It is kind of awkward bring around Christina because I am afraid to offend her or bring up anything about her and Jude, so I stay shut most of the time when it is about her and her baby.
And did I mention that Christina’s baby is the new talk around school? Most of the girls in our grade have noticed, for the past few months, that Christy’s stomach has gotten bigger. Some of the girls have come up to me, asking if she has gained weight, because from the looks of it, she is hiding that belly of hers under a sweater in the middle of the summer in Las Vegas, Nevada. Now isn’t that weird? It is weird to the students who DON’T know about her situation. Some girls have already guessed about her being pregnant, but dare not to say anything—not just yet.
Well, I am heading to her house in about an hour or so. Not in such a bright mood to be heading over to her house. I hope I can recover from feeling like this.
-Erin
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Blogger.com
June 25th, 2006
10:19PM
I feel like this sleep over did nothing to help Erin and I get closer than what we once were. She’s my best friend and it’s so weird we are not as close as we used to be. She left the house leaving this strange vibe that she didn’t want to be around me anymore.
We stayed home all weekend instead of going out because of my condition and all. The things we used to do are not all that fun when I am about three months pregnant.
This whole weekend, I tried to talk to her as much as I used to, though she had nothing much to respond after I brought up a topic to talk about. Usually Erin would go on and on about what’s on her mind and questions things if she is curious about anything. But now our conversations are so dull. Like yesterday, we were in the kitchen making brownies and it got really quiet. So I asked her about that kid Kevin she was talking to at the party two months ago:
“So Erin, how’s that guy you’ve been talking to?”
“What guy?”
“You know… the guy from the party?”
“um… I haven’t talked to any guy from any party”, that’s when she sounded offended.
“Well, I am talking about the guy from the party two months ago—who brought you home? Kevin? Isn’t that his name?”
“Oh…. Him. Oh yeah he’s fine. We’ve been hanging out here and there.”
“Really? Are you guys dating or did you make it official?”
“…Just dating.”
And that was the end of our boring conversation. It’s like she doesn’t want to tell me about what’s up in her life, or what she’s been going through. I mean she hasn’t asked about how I’ve been feeling or doing to deal with the pregnancy for the past two months. What the fuck is up with that? Maybe I am acting too selfish, but c’mon, a best friend has to be concerned about every once and a while right? This girl has not asked about me in a while, nor did she have anything to say about Softball, Jude, me, my life? Is it a bad thing that she hasn’t asked about me?
Enough about me, it is probably too quick to assume that she doesn’t want to be around me anymore.
<3 Christina
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Christina has a Blog
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(Early) Friday morning.
April 7th, 2006
Dear Diary,
It’s me, Erin. I am so exhausted. It is 2 o'clock in the morning, just got back from Christy's house. She called me over around ten and said that it was an emergency. When I got to her house I noticed there was no car in the drive way, assuming her parents were not home. I walked into her house finding a bright light leading up the stairs. Everything else in her house was dark. I walked towards the light where I found Christy in her room crying. She told me that Jude had left the house just a while ago to the 24/7 drugstore. I asked her what for? She didn’t answer.
I looked around and all I could see was tissues scattered around her bed and asked her what’s wrong. She told me it’s been a little over a month and she did not get her period yet. I thought she was just over reacting because of the exams we've been getting lately and her activity during softball practice.
Jude came back from the store. He looked miserable... like he hasn’t been sleeping for days. He handed a box to Christy, then immediately left the room. Christy headed into the bathroom and closed the door shut.
Twenty minutes passed and I could hear Christy crying from the other side of the door. I knocked on the door and asked to come in. She slowly opened the door and as I walked in I could see the pregnancy test already thrown into the bath tub.
I tried to comfort her but she couldn't stop crying. She kept repeating over and over again "I can't believe this is happening".
Picking up the Pregnancy test, I put it back into the box and put it on top of the sink. I brought Christy back into her room where Jude, back from down stairs, was nervously pacing back and forth. While Christy was crying, I told him the news.
Jude paused for a moment and just yelled, "I can't do this anymore... I mean this can't be happening!"
That was when I told Jude “Calm down. Things are going to be alright, just relax.”
"Thing’s are NOT going to be alright Erin!” Then he began to stutter, “I...I... I can’t be here... This is just too much.... are you sure it said positive?”
I walked back into the bathroom, picked up the box with the pregnancy test inside and handed it to him. He took the test and started reading the directions on the box, then back at the test.
“We're only 16 years old..... You just can't be happening!" He yelled.
I told Jude he has to help her, but he refused to. He said he wanted no part of her and the baby… and so he left the house.
Christy started crying hysterically. I had to calm her down so I stayed for a while till she was able to sleep. I told her I’d stop on by in the morning because it was already late.
I left her lying in her bed and left the house, with the stereo on to keep her company.
And now I am home. As her best friend, I am always there to support her. It has been a long night, and to be thinking about a baby at a time like this; during out high school years is unimaginable. I mean, if she keeps that baby, will she is in high school?
Well it is too much to think about at 2 in the morning, really late, and I have school the tomorrow.
More to come soon.
-Erin
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Saturday - Mid-day.
April 15th, 2006
Dear Diary,
Alright, it’s Saturday and for the past two weeks it’s been rough for Christy. So far she hasn’t gotten in contact with Jude, nor has he been trying to call her – what an ass –and not only that, her parents do not know the bad news. She said she is not planning to tell anyone until the bump actually appears –totally a bad idea. I think she wants to play it off as if she didn’t know she were pregnant, but no girl can pull off a day without freaking out, knowing that she is pregnant. I’m sure Jude told a few of his friends, knowing how boys are.
Christy didn’t come to school on last Friday, the day I came to her house that morning. She came back to school the following week that passed though and everybody could tell that something was wrong with her by the way she was acting. People knew it had something to do with Jude for the fact that he kept walking right past her when they were in the halls.
Poor Christy, I just feel so bad for her.
Last night I had a talk with her to figure out how everything came to place. She told me it was that party last month that we went to, where she got soooo drunk. Christy, Jude and I came together. Jude drove us to some guys place where he was throwing a party with all these people from school. I knew a few kids there, but everybody else was people probably from Cali heading east of Vegas and just dropped on by. I remember a lot of people got wasted. That night girls were tripping over the coffee tables, guys’ spazzing and cracking jokes on each other. There was this one girl who wouldn’t stop crying too ha-ha - I found that really funny. That place was just a mess when I left.
Though, before I left, I was looking for Christy and she was no where to be found. I thought she was in the bathroom or with Jude somewhere so I just waited, talking to this really cute guy who was sober, not too drunk to talk to.
Christy said she doesn’t remember what happened that night, only that she didn’t have any underwear on when she got to Jude’s house. She figured that it was Jude since he brought her home the following day.
I on the other hand got a ride from the cute guy at the party. I left a couple of hours before Christy and Jude because I thought they left without me.
Christy thinks she got pregnant that same night of the party. She thinks that while she was drunk, Jude and she had unprotected sex, which probably explains the stained jeans she was wearing that night.
I mean the last party we went to was not too long ago either and this time I looked out for Christy, just to make sure I don’t leave without her, or she leaves without me.
I just can’t believe this is happening to her, my own best friend is pregnant. We used to make jokes about how I’d be the godmother of her children but I never would have thought that this day would be coming while we are in high school. Who would have thought that Christy would get pregnant? She’s surprisingly a straight A student, and is an amazing soft ball player, though a lot of girls get jealous of that just because she is sophomore playing in a varsity softball team.
I hope her pregnancy doesn’t ruin her rep in school. She a nice girl but a lot of other girls is tough on her because they are jealous! She doesn’t stick up for herself a lot, just lets people walk on her when they criticize her—usually Jude is there to stick up for her. I on the other hand am never there when she gets called on. I wish I were so I could snap at those bitches…. Well I’m going to the movies in a little bit with the cute guy from the party. His name is Kevin. We started hanging out a week after the party and we really hit it off. He’s really nice... and well….
(Phone rings)
Ill gets to the details later!
-Erin
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Blogger.com (on PRIVATE mode)
April 15th, 2006
2:33
Christina here. I haven’t been on my blog in a while. It’s not like anybody reads this thing anyways. But still, I will try to update this blog weekly about by experiences and what not.
Words can’t even describe what I’ve been going through for the past few days. Softball has been hitting me hard lately. There is a lot of pressure on the field with me being the pitcher and all. With the girls on my team and the people in class have been getting on my nerves too. I have been stressed out with classes, with teachers and with softball all at once. I was TRYING, past tense, to make time for Jude—just to hang out with him and what not, but it seems like there is no need for that now that he is not talking to me. It started two weeks ago and still going till this very day.
This is why he will not talk to me—[BRACE YOURSELF]
Last week I found out I was pregnant. I am trying to accept the fact that I am pregnant, though it has been difficult for the past few days. When I found out, it was very dramatic.
Mom and Dad weren’t home that same night so I invited Jude over. We were just hanging out kissing and all, till I realized that I should have gotten my period two weeks ago. I started freaking out and that when I called Erin over to help me, the only girl I can count on. By the time she came Jude was already out, buying a pregnancy test.
Long story short, the test turned out positive and on that same night Jude left the house yelling how this can’t be happening because he was ‘sixteen’. He’s not the one carrying a child inside of him! Well, I’m not sure if we broke up or not, but I plan on calling him later. It has been two weeks and I haven’t talked to him ever since that day. He refuses to talk to me in school, or even look at me. It’s ridiculous how he thinks it’s about himself before me.
Not only is Jude not talking to me, but I also have to break the news to mom and dad. I still am not sure if I should. Erin is suggesting that I tell them sooner rather than later… but I just don’t know.
<3Christina
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Blogger.com (on PRIVATE mode)
April 16th, 2006
10:06
I got a chance to talk to Jude last night. He sounds like he does not care about us anymore and more about himself. I asked him why couldn’t he stay for me, for us? In response, he said that he did not want to have anything to do with me or the baby. I snapped back saying that it he has to deal with it because it was his sperm that leaked into my system.
That was when he paused and said that he has the choice to not support me if he wanted to.
What an ass.
Then he suggested about getting an abortion or else he would not talk to me anymore. I know the affects of having an abortion- mentally and physically and I am not up for that. Not only am I not ready to feel mentally and physically depressed, but I am not going to shove a metal tool up my vagina, into my uterus, to scrape a fetus out of my body. No sir. That is not going to happen to me.
I am totally against abortion!
As much as I would want Jude there for me, I can live without him if it means not getting an abortion because I chose not to.
<3Christina
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Wednesday - Art Elective.
April 19th, 2006
Dear Diary,
I am in art, and the teacher thinks I am sketching in my book or something. So the last time I wrote I was interrupted by a phone call from Kevin. Ironically he goes to Sierra Vista, the same high school as I do. I told him I never see him around school. He says it because he has a different lunch schedule than I do and has football practice after school to prepare for next year’s season. I’m telling you, this guy is such a gentleman. Enough about Kevin… I don’t want to ramble about a guy that I just met.
With Christina, I’ve been trying to help her out lately. Surprisingly she has not cried as dramatic as she cried that night of her pregnancy test discovery. I could tell that she is trying to act as if nothing has happened. But every time she passes by Jude in the hallway she starts tearing up, remembering the trouble she is going through. It is tough, but I know Christy’s a strong girl.
I will write more tonight… Ms. Shelley is telling me to put my ‘sketch book’ away and start painting up a real portrait.
-Erin
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Blogger.com
April 19th, 2006
1:15PM
I can’t take it anymore!!!
Jude is in one of my classes and will not even stop to talk to me after I asked to talk with him after biology. I swear that boy has a lot of balls to be running away from his problems than trying to work it out.
I just don’t understand why he is suddenly turning his back on me. He said he was always going to be there for me. He said he’d never let me go. Even through the tough times with these girls in school he’s been there for me, but now he can’t bear to even look at me. I’ve already asked his friends to talk to him for me, but the same responses keep popping up “He doesn’t feel like talking now Chris, sorry.”
Jude seriously makes me feel like shit every time I walk by him.
Unbelievable how boys act now a days. I thought he would have been the one to help me, but unfortunately he has to be a typical boy who doesn’t give a crap except for himself.
Fuck Jude.
<3Christina
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Wednesday – Late Afternoon.
April 19th, 2006
Dear Diary,
So I’m at home, watching a movie while Christy is in the bathroom, taking a shower. She is sleeping over for the night- said that she needed the time away from her mom and dad because they’re putting a lot of pressure on her about school.
She told me about her conversation with Jude the other day. He told her to get an abortion- obviously to make things easier for him and her, but she told me she was totally against it. She mentioned that before she headed into the shower. I can see where Jude is coming from though, I mean he actually has a point about having an abortion. Even though abortion ‘kills a baby’, it will save Christy a whole lot of money and sacrifice that would have eventually been made, if she kept the baby, which she IS planning to do. To imagine she kept the baby? Things would be very hard on her than it is right now. She would be taking care of the baby, possibly during school and buying clothes, food and diapers-- money that could be spent on her college tuition by the time she graduates. She is only sophomore, and by the time she does have the baby, she will be in her junior year, trying to prepare for college, but because of the baby, she is going to be distracted and is not going to have the time to focus on her studies. I don’t know, maybe I am being too harsh on her situation.
But Christina needs to be rational. I hope she knows what she is doing.
-Erin
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Blogger.com
June 13th, 2006
7:28PM
So it two months have passed and I am exhausted. School ends in about a week or so, and I cannot wait until that day comes. A lot has happened within the two months. For starters, a week or two after my breakdown about Jude in April, I told my coach that I was not going to be able to play softball for the rest of the school year. She looked disappointed though she looked like she knew that there had to be something wrong, so she curiously asked why. I was in her office when I told her, so I closed the door behind me and told her that there was personal reason why I am deciding to quit the team. Looking straight at me, she said that if I need any help that she is always there for me, as my coach or as a friend that I can depend on her for anything. I said thanks, and just left the room feeling terrible about the decision I had made.
After our conversation, I started to feel nauseous. I headed into the girls bathroom and was in front of the sink, in a position where I was ready to vomit. I looked at myself in the mirror, tears forming in my eyes, trying to figure out where all the pain is coming from. As I was looking at in the mirror, I start rubbing my stomach under my baggy sweater. I can feel how it has gotten bigger than it was two months ago. My stomach started irritating me, causing me to cough so much that I dropped my stuff and ran into the stall, leaned against the toilet and started throwing up. It was about 4 o’clock in the after noon, so I figured nobody would be around to hear me in the bathroom.
And so I thought…
That was when this girl walked into the bathroom. I didn't pay her any mind for the simple fact I was dealing with my own problem and did not want her to get involved. I continued to throw up after five minutes, and then finally came to a stop. I cleaned myself up from the sink and started to gather my things until the girl asked me if I were okay. I looked at her for a moment and recognized her from one of my classes. It is a very big class so I wasn’t able to remember her name. I responded to her telling her I “yeah, I’m fine,”
She quickly replied saying, “are you sure? I can get help if you want?”
I told her “it’s fine, it’s fine.”
As I left the bathroom, I told “thanks… for being concerned and all.”
After walking out of the school, I started to feel a little better.
Thirty minutes later, I got myself thinking about this baby and what to do.
I locked myself in my bedroom for the past couple of hours- ever since I got back from school. I took a shower, changed my clothes and started to clean up my room. Cleaning up is an odd way for me to get stuff out of my mind. I just tried to keep myself busy, but every time I passed by the mirror, I couldn't stop looking at my self.
I paused for a moment and started lifting up my shirt. In my head, I’m thinking “I can’t believe this is happening.” I mean for a sixteen year old girl, my stomach has gotten pretty big for the past few months.
Mom and dad do not know about my situation yet. I am too scared to tell them what happened to me. The way they are going to react is going to be too much stress on me, knowing how they might deal with me. They are going tell me how irresponsible I am like how every other parent would tell their pregnant child. Though in the long run I just hope, WISH, they could just help and support me as I am trying to carry this baby….
I mean I am thinking about telling them some time soon. Unfortunately, I know I am going to have to.
<3Christina
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Blogger.com
June 22nd, 2006
4:47PM
You know what I’ve been noticing lately? Is that I haven’t been talking to Erin lately. Of course I see her in school and all, but about me being pregnant and all the personal things? I have not spoken to her about any of that. She is still cool with me, and every other person that I WOULDN’T talk to. I mean she still talks to Jude, which I find disrespectful in some ways, but that would be immature of me to be mad at her over a guy. Anyways, I feel like Erin has drifted away from me, like I lost my touch of being her best friend, and her being mine. I don’t know, I feel like if we keep this distance from each other we might learn to grow apart from each other which I wouldn’t want. I’ll probably call her later tonight or something to come over and have sleep over this weekend. It is officially summer time, so hopefully we can catch up on anything I haven’t told her or she hasn’t told me, yet.
<3Christina
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Friday – Afternoon.
June 23rd, 2006
Dear Diary,
Today in school Christina asked me to sleep over her house. Its pretty random for the simple fact we have not talked in a while. It is kind of awkward bring around Christina because I am afraid to offend her or bring up anything about her and Jude, so I stay shut most of the time when it is about her and her baby.
And did I mention that Christina’s baby is the new talk around school? Most of the girls in our grade have noticed, for the past few months, that Christy’s stomach has gotten bigger. Some of the girls have come up to me, asking if she has gained weight, because from the looks of it, she is hiding that belly of hers under a sweater in the middle of the summer in Las Vegas, Nevada. Now isn’t that weird? It is weird to the students who DON’T know about her situation. Some girls have already guessed about her being pregnant, but dare not to say anything—not just yet.
Well, I am heading to her house in about an hour or so. Not in such a bright mood to be heading over to her house. I hope I can recover from feeling like this.
-Erin
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Blogger.com
June 25th, 2006
10:19PM
I feel like this sleep over did nothing to help Erin and I get closer than what we once were. She’s my best friend and it’s so weird we are not as close as we used to be. She left the house leaving this strange vibe that she didn’t want to be around me anymore.
We stayed home all weekend instead of going out because of my condition and all. The things we used to do are not all that fun when I am about three months pregnant.
This whole weekend, I tried to talk to her as much as I used to, though she had nothing much to respond after I brought up a topic to talk about. Usually Erin would go on and on about what’s on her mind and questions things if she is curious about anything. But now our conversations are so dull. Like yesterday, we were in the kitchen making brownies and it got really quiet. So I asked her about that kid Kevin she was talking to at the party two months ago:
“So Erin, how’s that guy you’ve been talking to?”
“What guy?”
“You know… the guy from the party?”
“um… I haven’t talked to any guy from any party”, that’s when she sounded offended.
“Well, I am talking about the guy from the party two months ago—who brought you home? Kevin? Isn’t that his name?”
“Oh…. Him. Oh yeah he’s fine. We’ve been hanging out here and there.”
“Really? Are you guys dating or did you make it official?”
“…Just dating.”
And that was the end of our boring conversation. It’s like she doesn’t want to tell me about what’s up in her life, or what she’s been going through. I mean she hasn’t asked about how I’ve been feeling or doing to deal with the pregnancy for the past two months. What the fuck is up with that? Maybe I am acting too selfish, but c’mon, a best friend has to be concerned about every once and a while right? This girl has not asked about me in a while, nor did she have anything to say about Softball, Jude, me, my life? Is it a bad thing that she hasn’t asked about me?
Enough about me, it is probably too quick to assume that she doesn’t want to be around me anymore.
<3 Christina
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Personal Experience - Semi-Final Draft
[Family]
Melandro Gonzales Dionisio was born on September 25, 1950, in Manila, Philippines. He has four children, two born in the Philippines and the other two he currently takes care of, born in America, my sister, Esther and me, Melanie. Ironically I was named after my dad, having the same initials and similar first name. He and my mom had me at a fair age of 37 while my dad was 41. My sister was born eleventh months later. My sister and I are the first generation of Filipinos born in America. Unfortunately, we do not speak Tagalog, the main language of the Filipinos, but we do understand it.
When Filipinos come to America, they usually look for a better opportunity to spend the rest of their life. The currency in America is different in the Philippines, so sending money and clothes to the Philippines was nothing new to those who have done it since they have moved here like my grandfather. He provided a lot for my family in the Philippines. We they all moved here, we all had so many family gatherings of my father’s brother and sisters, it was just one big family; the Dionisio’s. My grandfather was a funny man who always teased his grandchildren for fun. He always made each and everyone of us smile. Sadly, he died on March 3, 2000 when I was in third grade. I remember during this one week of April going into March, my parents would bring my sister and I to New Jersey where my grand parents lived. My whole family was there; my cousins and I were in the living room while all the adults were in the bedroom. I asked my cousin David what was going on, he told me that our grandpa, Tatay, was dying. I didn’t believe him until it actually hit me the next day when we were in my aunt’s house again. My mom came to me with tears coming down her face that my grandpa passed away. She told me to see him, in his death bed, to pay our respects. As Filipinos, it was tradition to bless the elderly by putting the back of their hand to our forehead. At the time I was scared because my grandfather was dead, I too afraid to touch him.
The day of the awake, I remember a lot of my cousins younger than me were too young to understand what happened to him. Most of my cousins who had kids told them that Tatay was asleep. All of my aunts and uncles were crying and my sister was crying too, while I did not shed one tear. That was the first funeral I attended to and till this day I still feel guilty that I did not cry for my Grandfather. I remember a couple of days after, I returned to school like nothing had ever happened. I missed my grandfather and realized that people do die in real life. I just never thought it would have been my grandfather. At the time kids my age don’t really think about death as a everyday thing. It was just so sudden when he died that day.
Years after his death, my family went through some complications with my dad. He had experienced several chest pains in the past years of 2002 and 2003, which then lead to his first heart attack. Doctors found out that his arteries were clogged which made him at risk of having a heart attack. Of August 2003, my dad was told to go the hospital for an operation to unclog his arteries. During his operation, my mom, my sister and I were in the waiting room, quietly waiting for his operation to come an end. One hour already passed into his five hour operation, and then lights around the building were starting to shut off. We were not sure what was going on. I assumed some little kid was playing around with the lights at the time so I did not pay any mind to the lights. A couple of minutes later, a few nurses came into the waiting room, announcing that there has been a black out, but the generators were on so everything was going to be fine. Well at a young age of 12, I did not believe ‘things’ were going to be fine. My mom looked worried at the time, while I was just sitting quietly to myself. All three of us soon left the waiting room to talk to doctors and ask when the electricity would turn back on. One person told us that there has been a black out through out the whole east coast and there is no sign to when the electricity will be turning back on. My mom contacted family members, cousins, aunts from New Jersey, My older sister, Emie, and her husband in the Bronx. Two of my aunts came that day, to support my dad, while still in the black out. My mom, sisters, aunts and my uncle and I ended up sleeping in the hospital for the night because there was too much traffic in the city to get home.
Two days after my dad’s operation, he was able to leave the hospital, but in order to recover he was not able to drive or work for a couple of weeks. I was glad that my dada was able to helped my doctors due to his condition, though a couple of years later he had two heart attacks, both of which he survived, but was still difficult to cut down on his food habits which give him those heart attacks.
Three years later after 2003, there was another person in the family was undergoing some health problems. After Christmas in 2005, my grandma was diagnosed with cancer. A tumor found in her right leg was spreading to different parts of her body after refusing to take treatment. She said she could not stand the pain, so she allowed her body to weaken, knowing her time was about to be over. In 2006, I was in 9th grade and I have to say that would have to be one of my toughest years out of all the years I’ve been in SOF. I was going through some problems in school, with friends and enemies, and having to watch my grandma get weaker by the day made things hard for me personally, and my family. I did not know how to handle the issues in school; I tried to deal with it by shrugging off my problems and trying to continue my 9th grade year strong. However, in March of 2006, my grandma had the toughest month of her life.
In the last week of March, the Dionisio family got together to support my grandma as she was ready to pass away. The first few days of our gathering, it was my aunts, my uncles, mom and dad, and I was one of the six cousins that came to visit her. Everybody was in school or at work and was not able to see her. Each day my family tried to nurture her, make her feel comfortable for the time being. My aunts tried to talk and sing to her as my grandma was lying in her bed. Each day of that one week, I walked in her room to look over her. I remember looking into her eyes, and what pain she felt lying in her bed. She looked so weak, and as people tried to talk to her, she would close her eyes.
It was March 31st, 2006 when everything changed. It was about 3:50 in the afternoon, my aunts and my mom were in the Kitchen, My uncles and my dad were in the dinning room and my cousins and I were in the living room. We were all hanging around until me aunts and uncles rushed into my grandma’s bedroom. My cousins and I were confused, so we followed them into the bedroom and found everybody surrounding my grandma. It was about twenty people in one small room, crying, knowing that that moment was going to be her last. Everybody was either to the left or right of her, while my cousin and I were by the end of the bed, standing directly in front of her. Phone calls were made; relatives trying to talk to her for the last time. My grandma couldn’t speak, but she still wanted a call and let him/her know that she loves them.
For the time being, my grandma had her eyes closed. Around four o’clock my grandma started looking up at everybody around her, and then at the ceiling. Everybody knew she was going to be gone any moment now. She took a deep breath in, and let it all out and slowly closed her eyes. Her jaw started dropping, kind of a sign that she was definitely gone. Everybody was crying all over again after seeing her passed away. My Aunts made phone calls to those in California and in the Philippines. Others made phone calls to those who were not able to come. My cousins and I Just sat back down into the living room, shaken of what we had just experienced; death happening right before our eyes.
The funeral took place a couple of days after. It was tough on the family, but we continue to move on strong, knowing she is still watching over us with our grandpa.
Lastly; my dad suffered his fourth heart attack in the summer of 2007. My god-father, my aunt and my god-sister from Las Vegas came to visit my family and I in the Poconos. It was like any other day; we went shopping, went out for dinner, came home to look at the house in Pennsylvania, and slept over. At the time my god-father and his family was staying in a hotel, but we allowed them to sleep over our house for the night, only for the simple fact we haven’t seen them in about seven years.
In the evening, my god sister and I stayed up late watching T.V. My sister was in Binghamton visiting my cousins, while we were all in Pennsylvania. My god-sister and I woke up the next morning finding that nobody was in the house. I looked in my parents bedroom first, finding that the covers of their bed were not made and my dad’s glasses were on the floor. I was suspicious that something went wrong because my mom would never leave the house without the bed made. I looked outside my window and the car was not found in the drive way nor was it in the garage. I didn’t bother calling my mom because I thought my mom, dad, god-father and aunt went to get breakfast.
An hour after my god-sister and I woke up, everybody came home except for my dad. My mom broke down the news to my god-sister and I that my dad had a heart attack in the middle of the night and was rushed to the closest hospital which was a thirty minute ride away. I was so speechless that I did not know how to react. I quickly called my sister, in Binghamton about the news, where she later was drove to PA to reunite with us. Family from New York and New Jersey came to the Poconos all for my dad while he was in the hospital which was unbelievable. My family drove two hours just to see my dad in a hospital bed; amazing.
After my past experiences with death between my grandma and grandpa, and death almost taking away my dad’s life, four times, made me realize to not take my life for granted. Even though I am only sixteen, sitting in that waiting room in the hospital in the Poconos made me realize there is more to life & my family than there is with all these issues I’ve gone through with friends and close friends. I mean, if friendship means that much to me than of course I would take care of it, but with all the gossip in school and what people say about me or any other person should not matter to me at all. What matters the most is what my family thinks of me, and how I carry myself as a person. Who knows when I am going to die; maybe at a young age or at an old age. I just thought how a long lasting life my grandpa and grandma had and how I am grateful to be a part of a family that is not broken apart. My dad is only 57 and he has lived a long life so far and I’m thankful that he is still alive after 4 heart attacks. Just the thought of my grandparents and my dad makes me think about cherishing the time I have left with my family and friends.
Everybody has a personal revelation in some point of their life, maybe everyday, just realizing something he/she has not known before. Off that one revelation I learned about ‘cherishing life’ and ‘not taking life for granted’ branched out to individual revelations about discovering myself and who I am as a person. That I don’t have to be this ‘bitch’ that everybody views me as, because I am not always mean. I am only mean because I am concerned with those who think about me. And now? I could careless of what anybody has to think of me, only to those who I can trust matter, and nothing else. It is just a matter of time to know what else is there to learn when another revelation is taught or recognized when a situation is experienced. I have a whole life ahead of me and I am not one of those girls who go on and start looking for ‘an answer’- aka a revelation. I want to just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride, awaiting any revelation that passes me by.
Melandro Gonzales Dionisio was born on September 25, 1950, in Manila, Philippines. He has four children, two born in the Philippines and the other two he currently takes care of, born in America, my sister, Esther and me, Melanie. Ironically I was named after my dad, having the same initials and similar first name. He and my mom had me at a fair age of 37 while my dad was 41. My sister was born eleventh months later. My sister and I are the first generation of Filipinos born in America. Unfortunately, we do not speak Tagalog, the main language of the Filipinos, but we do understand it.
When Filipinos come to America, they usually look for a better opportunity to spend the rest of their life. The currency in America is different in the Philippines, so sending money and clothes to the Philippines was nothing new to those who have done it since they have moved here like my grandfather. He provided a lot for my family in the Philippines. We they all moved here, we all had so many family gatherings of my father’s brother and sisters, it was just one big family; the Dionisio’s. My grandfather was a funny man who always teased his grandchildren for fun. He always made each and everyone of us smile. Sadly, he died on March 3, 2000 when I was in third grade. I remember during this one week of April going into March, my parents would bring my sister and I to New Jersey where my grand parents lived. My whole family was there; my cousins and I were in the living room while all the adults were in the bedroom. I asked my cousin David what was going on, he told me that our grandpa, Tatay, was dying. I didn’t believe him until it actually hit me the next day when we were in my aunt’s house again. My mom came to me with tears coming down her face that my grandpa passed away. She told me to see him, in his death bed, to pay our respects. As Filipinos, it was tradition to bless the elderly by putting the back of their hand to our forehead. At the time I was scared because my grandfather was dead, I too afraid to touch him.
The day of the awake, I remember a lot of my cousins younger than me were too young to understand what happened to him. Most of my cousins who had kids told them that Tatay was asleep. All of my aunts and uncles were crying and my sister was crying too, while I did not shed one tear. That was the first funeral I attended to and till this day I still feel guilty that I did not cry for my Grandfather. I remember a couple of days after, I returned to school like nothing had ever happened. I missed my grandfather and realized that people do die in real life. I just never thought it would have been my grandfather. At the time kids my age don’t really think about death as a everyday thing. It was just so sudden when he died that day.
Years after his death, my family went through some complications with my dad. He had experienced several chest pains in the past years of 2002 and 2003, which then lead to his first heart attack. Doctors found out that his arteries were clogged which made him at risk of having a heart attack. Of August 2003, my dad was told to go the hospital for an operation to unclog his arteries. During his operation, my mom, my sister and I were in the waiting room, quietly waiting for his operation to come an end. One hour already passed into his five hour operation, and then lights around the building were starting to shut off. We were not sure what was going on. I assumed some little kid was playing around with the lights at the time so I did not pay any mind to the lights. A couple of minutes later, a few nurses came into the waiting room, announcing that there has been a black out, but the generators were on so everything was going to be fine. Well at a young age of 12, I did not believe ‘things’ were going to be fine. My mom looked worried at the time, while I was just sitting quietly to myself. All three of us soon left the waiting room to talk to doctors and ask when the electricity would turn back on. One person told us that there has been a black out through out the whole east coast and there is no sign to when the electricity will be turning back on. My mom contacted family members, cousins, aunts from New Jersey, My older sister, Emie, and her husband in the Bronx. Two of my aunts came that day, to support my dad, while still in the black out. My mom, sisters, aunts and my uncle and I ended up sleeping in the hospital for the night because there was too much traffic in the city to get home.
Two days after my dad’s operation, he was able to leave the hospital, but in order to recover he was not able to drive or work for a couple of weeks. I was glad that my dada was able to helped my doctors due to his condition, though a couple of years later he had two heart attacks, both of which he survived, but was still difficult to cut down on his food habits which give him those heart attacks.
Three years later after 2003, there was another person in the family was undergoing some health problems. After Christmas in 2005, my grandma was diagnosed with cancer. A tumor found in her right leg was spreading to different parts of her body after refusing to take treatment. She said she could not stand the pain, so she allowed her body to weaken, knowing her time was about to be over. In 2006, I was in 9th grade and I have to say that would have to be one of my toughest years out of all the years I’ve been in SOF. I was going through some problems in school, with friends and enemies, and having to watch my grandma get weaker by the day made things hard for me personally, and my family. I did not know how to handle the issues in school; I tried to deal with it by shrugging off my problems and trying to continue my 9th grade year strong. However, in March of 2006, my grandma had the toughest month of her life.
In the last week of March, the Dionisio family got together to support my grandma as she was ready to pass away. The first few days of our gathering, it was my aunts, my uncles, mom and dad, and I was one of the six cousins that came to visit her. Everybody was in school or at work and was not able to see her. Each day my family tried to nurture her, make her feel comfortable for the time being. My aunts tried to talk and sing to her as my grandma was lying in her bed. Each day of that one week, I walked in her room to look over her. I remember looking into her eyes, and what pain she felt lying in her bed. She looked so weak, and as people tried to talk to her, she would close her eyes.
It was March 31st, 2006 when everything changed. It was about 3:50 in the afternoon, my aunts and my mom were in the Kitchen, My uncles and my dad were in the dinning room and my cousins and I were in the living room. We were all hanging around until me aunts and uncles rushed into my grandma’s bedroom. My cousins and I were confused, so we followed them into the bedroom and found everybody surrounding my grandma. It was about twenty people in one small room, crying, knowing that that moment was going to be her last. Everybody was either to the left or right of her, while my cousin and I were by the end of the bed, standing directly in front of her. Phone calls were made; relatives trying to talk to her for the last time. My grandma couldn’t speak, but she still wanted a call and let him/her know that she loves them.
For the time being, my grandma had her eyes closed. Around four o’clock my grandma started looking up at everybody around her, and then at the ceiling. Everybody knew she was going to be gone any moment now. She took a deep breath in, and let it all out and slowly closed her eyes. Her jaw started dropping, kind of a sign that she was definitely gone. Everybody was crying all over again after seeing her passed away. My Aunts made phone calls to those in California and in the Philippines. Others made phone calls to those who were not able to come. My cousins and I Just sat back down into the living room, shaken of what we had just experienced; death happening right before our eyes.
The funeral took place a couple of days after. It was tough on the family, but we continue to move on strong, knowing she is still watching over us with our grandpa.
Lastly; my dad suffered his fourth heart attack in the summer of 2007. My god-father, my aunt and my god-sister from Las Vegas came to visit my family and I in the Poconos. It was like any other day; we went shopping, went out for dinner, came home to look at the house in Pennsylvania, and slept over. At the time my god-father and his family was staying in a hotel, but we allowed them to sleep over our house for the night, only for the simple fact we haven’t seen them in about seven years.
In the evening, my god sister and I stayed up late watching T.V. My sister was in Binghamton visiting my cousins, while we were all in Pennsylvania. My god-sister and I woke up the next morning finding that nobody was in the house. I looked in my parents bedroom first, finding that the covers of their bed were not made and my dad’s glasses were on the floor. I was suspicious that something went wrong because my mom would never leave the house without the bed made. I looked outside my window and the car was not found in the drive way nor was it in the garage. I didn’t bother calling my mom because I thought my mom, dad, god-father and aunt went to get breakfast.
An hour after my god-sister and I woke up, everybody came home except for my dad. My mom broke down the news to my god-sister and I that my dad had a heart attack in the middle of the night and was rushed to the closest hospital which was a thirty minute ride away. I was so speechless that I did not know how to react. I quickly called my sister, in Binghamton about the news, where she later was drove to PA to reunite with us. Family from New York and New Jersey came to the Poconos all for my dad while he was in the hospital which was unbelievable. My family drove two hours just to see my dad in a hospital bed; amazing.
After my past experiences with death between my grandma and grandpa, and death almost taking away my dad’s life, four times, made me realize to not take my life for granted. Even though I am only sixteen, sitting in that waiting room in the hospital in the Poconos made me realize there is more to life & my family than there is with all these issues I’ve gone through with friends and close friends. I mean, if friendship means that much to me than of course I would take care of it, but with all the gossip in school and what people say about me or any other person should not matter to me at all. What matters the most is what my family thinks of me, and how I carry myself as a person. Who knows when I am going to die; maybe at a young age or at an old age. I just thought how a long lasting life my grandpa and grandma had and how I am grateful to be a part of a family that is not broken apart. My dad is only 57 and he has lived a long life so far and I’m thankful that he is still alive after 4 heart attacks. Just the thought of my grandparents and my dad makes me think about cherishing the time I have left with my family and friends.
Everybody has a personal revelation in some point of their life, maybe everyday, just realizing something he/she has not known before. Off that one revelation I learned about ‘cherishing life’ and ‘not taking life for granted’ branched out to individual revelations about discovering myself and who I am as a person. That I don’t have to be this ‘bitch’ that everybody views me as, because I am not always mean. I am only mean because I am concerned with those who think about me. And now? I could careless of what anybody has to think of me, only to those who I can trust matter, and nothing else. It is just a matter of time to know what else is there to learn when another revelation is taught or recognized when a situation is experienced. I have a whole life ahead of me and I am not one of those girls who go on and start looking for ‘an answer’- aka a revelation. I want to just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride, awaiting any revelation that passes me by.
Snow Ball Paper - Semi-Final Draft (Please help wrap up paper!)
[Introduction]
A Revelation is described as a disclosure of which reveals something that was previously unaware of. A revelation can reveal itself in different ways, revealing the truth, a new insight changes a person’s perspective of what one previously have thought compared to what he/she now knows. A revelation is not always revealed at an instant, though it can also be a process in which it takes duration of time. A revelation can take a day or a year to discover that was not recognized before. A trope is a familiar person, place or thing that one may see as repeated, similar to a cliché. An example of a revelation trope would be a realization of one’s sexual orientation after experiencing some form of affection towards the same sex. It is a trope because it is common for a person to recognize his/her own sexual orientation whether one is straight, gay/Lesbian or Bi. Revelation tropes are introduced by a revealer, whom he/she tries to uncover the truth about an unacceptable situation, seen in their own perception. It delivers a message in which a majority of people might not accept because it reveals a fact that most people do not want to hear for it might not have a kind of benefit for ones self. A revelation is usually exposed in this kind of order:
1. The ignorant masses are in a
2. Unacceptable/oppressive situation
3. Prophet/revealer tries to
4. Share the message
5. That connects the dots in a new way
6. And offers a vision of a redeemed world
7. But there is opposition to the _______.
8. Drama Occurs.
A person can recognize a revelation, given in different stories, by trying to figure out what the message the story may be.
[Deconstruction]
By analyzing a Revelation or texts based on other ideas, the reader, rather than the author, is determining the meaning behind what might be a false statement. The fundamental idea of the method Deconstruction brings out the many meanings in a text or a situation. For example; one can find a few contradictions within the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance. According to www.homeofheroes.com, the Pledge of Allegiance is recited to celebrate the “loyalty and devotion to not only a flag, but to a way of life....the American ideal.” In the chart below, www.homeofheroes.com analyzes the Pledge of Allegiance by clarifying to those who do not understand what the pledge of Allegiance actually means.
Pledge Interpretation
I Pledge Allegiance I Promise to be faithful and true (Promise my loyalty)
to the flag to the emblem that stands for and represents
of the United States all 50 states, each of them individual, and individually represented on the flag
of America yet formed into a UNION of one Nation.
and to the Republic And I also pledge my loyalty to the Government that is itself a Republic, a form of government where the PEOPLE are sovereign,
for which it stands, this government also being represented by the Flag to which I promise loyalty.
one Nation under God, These 50 individual states are united as a single Republic under the Divine providence of God, "our most powerful resource" (according to the words of President Eisenhower)
Indivisible, and can not be separated. (This part of the original version of the pledge was written just 50 years after the beginning of the Civil War and demonstrates the unity sought in the years after that divisive period in our history)
with Liberty The people of this Nation being afforded the freedom to pursue "life, liberty, and happiness",
and Justice And each person entitled to be treated justly, fairly, and according to proper law and principle,
For All. And these principles afforded to EVERY AMERICAN, regardless of race, religion, color, creed, or any other criteria. Just as the flag represents 50 individual states that can not be divided or separated, this Nation represents millions of people who can not be separated or divided.
In the Pledge of Allegiance it states “one Nation under God”. One can deconstruct this declaration by understanding that the “50 individual states are united as a single Republic under the Divine providence of God”. However, the truth behind the statement is completely false. One who is a conservative Christian knows not to swear under God. In Matthew chapter 5, verse 34-35, Matthew says “But I tell you, do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.” To the government the Nation may be a ‘divine providence of God’, but to many citizens, America is not all that heavenly for the controversies that have occurred, but that is another story. Making an oath under God is against God’s rule of swearing under him. For many years, politicians and other federal officials swear on the Bible by saying “so help me God” to make a vow of taking the responsibility and part in the United States. In Article II, section 1 of the Constitution the Presidential oath described:
“Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
The oath does not necessitate the politician to pledge on the Bible or say “so help me God”. To the politicians who call themselves Christian, well they have a lot explaining to do when it comes to swearing under God.
Another contradiction found in the Pledge of Allegiance is the “Liberty and Justice”, also described as “being afforded the freedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness and each person entitled to be treated justly, fairly, and according to proper law and principle”. If America is supposed to be the land of the free, then public and private schools and other organizations would not have to force their students to teach them the Pledge of Allegiance. And if America were the land of the free to be “treated justly, fairly, and according to proper law”, then there would not have been any discrimination towards those who are judged by the court because of the color of a person’s skin or the social class from which he/she is located in. Unfortunately certain races of people spend a longer amount of years in jail, compared to other races, due to their skin color. The Pledge of Allegiance seems simple and whole when it is actually complicated and fragment and usually has power plays.
The method of Deconstruction comes from structuralism, a way of seeing and organizing a better understanding of the world and/or statement. “How doe you know reality exists if everything is perceptions?” People who are usually one-minded view situations by what they want to see, not by what is actually happening, reality. Structuralism defines the binary oppositions of what is presented in a text, privileging that one side is better than the other. Examples of Binary oppositions are short vs. tall, male vs. female, or straight vs. gay. Deconstruction is the binary opposition that fundamentally allows the categories is in what they are in, what people fit reality into. In the song “Thieves in the Night” by Talib Kweli featuring Mos Def, Most Def raps:
“I find it's distressin, there's never no in-between/
We either ni**az or Kings/
We either bitches or Queens/”
From his perspective, the binary opposition of a derogatory word for an African American is a king, which roots back to the early centuries when the term ‘Nigger’ was used against those who were black and were described to be low class slaves. The slaves were discriminated against and treated unfairly by those who are superior to them such like King and queens. The term ‘bitches’ used as a offensive word towards women that insults her temper has the binary opposition of a Queen. A Queen is described as a woman who rules over a country by birth or through marriage. She is usually admired and stands out above others, while a ‘bitch’ is considered somebody who is rude and obnoxious and an attitude like that is very low while a Queen is viewed high. The categories that are made by people’s perceptions from back in the early centuries is the terms ‘nigger’, ‘bitch’, ‘Kings’ and ‘Queens’. It is the traits in which fits into the categories of what was created by man.
Genealogy is to trace a development of an idea and mark out how the idea is changed. In another verse of “Thieves in the Night”, Mos Def says,
“Can’t just accept the appearance/
Have to get the true essence/”
The binary opposition is the appearance vs. the essence, the soul. Mos Def wants to get the message across to listeners that “everything you see ain’t really how it be” – (Thieves in the Night). That the truth is not behind the appearance of what we percept, but is behind the essence of the false appearance. In the early days of Judaism, many people believed in different gods, carved into wooden sculptures, which were placed in a temple. Abraham, believed to be the prophet through God, did not worship these false idols. He thought that the idols were not able to hear or help the people as they called onto their gods. Because the people did not listen to Abraham, he revengefully broke the idols in the temple. Abraham smashed the false idols because people saw an appearance of a false idol and failed to see the reality of God. The binary oppositions of the appearance of the idols vs. the essence of the false idols shows how not everything that is believed in is the truth. Today, in Hindus are not allowed to draw their prophet, Mohammed, because of their disbelief of worshiping idols. However, not everybody follows up by that same rule. In the Bible, Exodus 20 verses 3-5 says, “3You shall have no other gods before me. 4You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” Those who are catholic are clearly disobeying God’s commandments. In verse three, ‘you shall have no other gods before me’. In Catholicism, worshiping individual saints is similar to having a god before God himself. In the church, the cross is placed as a symbol of God, and has either a statue of the Virgin Mary, Jesus, or any other saint to represent their presence in the Catholic Church. It is the appearance that makes people believe their faith is within that one statue. Little do they know there is more essence within the scripture than the statue they bow down to.
People find it easier to choose the appearance, known to be false, over the essence. Most of the time people are ignorant to believe the reality of situations by choosing the easier way out which is comfortable and recognizable to the person. Denying the reality of a situation usually happens because it is hard to accept the truth, which is often ignored.
In order to expose a hidden binary opposition, one would blow it up by revealing that the text shows that certain categories are false, leaky, confused, etc. One can also multiply the binary opposition by showing that there are more than two categories, displaced by a constellation of positions. By deconstructing and identifying binary oppositions, it give one a wide range of perceptions than just one narrow minded view and how the text or situation does not always have the truth behind its message, simply by revealing the contradictions that are left behind the false message.
[Fox Fire]
Most people have discovered revelations by undergoing an experience that made them realize what may be best for his/her own benefit. In the movie Fox Fire, Angelina Joli played a character named Legs, a revealer in most situations, where she influenced a group of high school girls to revolt against their teacher. The issue was about a high school girl who was sexually harassed by her teacher during school detention hours. Legs revealed to the girls that it was not right for a man, their teacher, to touch a student in a way she did not want to be touched. She tried and successfully persuaded the girls to fight against their teacher. The teenage girls formed an unlikely bond after the plot of revenge. In a particular scene, the girls attacked the teacher by setting him up, with the girl who had detention, in his classroom. The girls allowed the teacher to touch her, the teacher not knowing that the girls were outside the classroom door, ready to catch him in the act. Each girl had a chance to beat the teacher up, though there was one girl, named Maddy, who was hesitant get involved in the scheme. Legs told Maddy “don't take any shit” after the teacher told her not to do anything towards him. Between a student and a teacher, the teacher is superior than the student and for the reason that Maddy obeyed his command showed how much she resisted to fight him because ‘he told her not to’.
The revelation trope found in Foxfire was when the certain girls resisted against the truth about their teacher. A few girls did not get involved to the scheme of hurting the teachers, preventing themselves from getting in trouble, while others did not want to believe the sexual harassment was the truth. Legs, the rebel – prophet, took the initiative to try to motivate the girls to fight back the teacher to demand self respect that all women need to unite and fight the power, the teacher that is. The girls eventually fought against the teacher, which gained them their respect, but their wild ways began to get out of control. The Message was to fight the superior in order to save the girl from being harassed again.
Similar to the movie The Matrix, Morpheus persuades Neo, a new member of the real world, to fight the power of the Agents in the matrix and the computer robots of the real world. In order for Neo to do this, he has to complete different obstacles to obtain his strength to fight the power. Both Morpheus and Legs, who are physically distinct to those who are not aware of the message, are trying to change the reality of one’s perspective by involving them in troubled situations. They both succeed in influencing their acquaintance(s) to fight the power.
[Matrix]
In the movie The Matrix, Morpheus, known as a computer hacker, introduced Thomas Anderson, known as Neo, to the real world and how the world he was living in was “a ravaged wasteland where most of humanity [has] been captured by a race of machines which live off of their body heat and imprison their minds within an artificial reality known as the Matrix” (http://www.imdb.com/). To find out more about the matrix, Morpheus gave Neo the option to take a red pill, to learn more about the matrix and take him out of it, or the blue pill, which would have allowed him to continuously live in the matrix. Is the truth of the matrix worth pursuing? Neo took a moment to think about it and took the red pill which puts him in an alternate reality different from the matrix that he was previously living in. Neo is reborn again into the real world where he goes through a process, similar to how Jesus was batized, and was welcomed to the real world.
In the real world, Morpheus hooks Neo and himself back into the system where he teaches Neo more about the matrix. They both look at a television which symbolizes the information that influences those who watch television to think a certain way. Through the television, Morpheus shows Neo the differences between the matrix and the real world.
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.
Morpheus exposes Neo about how the system is dominating the real world causing those to misunderstand the big picture of what they call ‘reality’ when it is just the appearance of others they actually see. “It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.” The world pulled over people’s eyes is the matrix, and the truth is the real world, appearance vs. the essence. And if Neo remained to stay part of the matrix, then he would not be able to realize what kind of false reality he was living in. Morpheus revealed to Neo that he is ‘the one’ and that he had a mission to save the last real city on earth, the people of Zion, from the machines that make up the Matrix. Even though Neo struggled to understand the truth and believed he was not the one, he was finally convinced by Morpheus that the world he was living in was a complete lie and because of the many encounters with the agents, the machines of the matrix, he believed he was able to defeat them, after all – he is “the one”. The revelation trope found in The Matrix is the life changing affects of Neo choosing to stay in the matrix or the real world. Because of him taking the red pill, it is obvious that Neo had to go through dramatic changes to get used to the real world.
Similar to the Bible, Judas, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples betrayed Jesus by giving him up to the soldiers that were looking to arrest him. Out of betrayal, Judas was given money as his reward. Neo like Jesus, Cypher was Neo’s Judas who wanted the easier way out. Cypher was a man part of the crew who chose to be in the real world. He knew the differences between the real world and the matrix, but even though he lived in the real world, he liked how the matrix made him feel. He did not feel comfortable in the real world and because of that, he wanted an easier life. In order to obtain an easier life, he was to hand Neo over to the agents, as fair trade, Cypher would go back to his false reality – back into the matrix. As viewers watch the movie, it is obvious how Cypher was the betrayer for the way he presented himself with alternative suggestions to throw off the main character, similar to other movies when the betrayer has a suspicious characteristic to his or her self. Like most people who want the easier way out of life, Cypher betrayed Neo, Morpheus and the rest of the crew, the true prophesy, for his own benefit.
Agent Smith, the main rival of Morpheus and Neo, does not accept the fact that Neo is trying to save the real world from the Matrix and the machines living inside the real world. In a particular scene in The Matrix, Agent Smith captured Morpheus, trying to drain out his brain to obtain access codes to the city of Zion. During the process, Agent Smith shares a revelation with Morpheus:
“I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure.”
The Binary Opposition found in The Matrix is the revelation trope good vs. evil. Agent smith is trying to convince the audience to believe that he is a good guy, but little does the audience know is that he is being manipulative to his own advantage. Agent Smith believes that he and his fellow agents are able to save the human race by eliminating them. He shares his revelation, which offers a false statement to the audience, to Morpheus, who tries to resist the lies that Agent Smith is trying to feed him. Behind the appearance is the truth and what appears to be the truth behind Agent Smith’s revelation is the desire to abolish those who are part of the real world.
[Star Wars]
In Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, a young man named Luke Skywalker seeks Jedi Master Yoda to continue the teachings of Obi-Wan Kenobi who had previously died in Star Wars: Episode IV. Yoda instructed Luke the ways of the force in order to defeat Darth Vader. Luke tried to find the Revelation of his life within Yoda’s teachings, however, a startling revelation was discovered when Luke and Darth Vader were in a battle against one another which Darth Vader reveals to Luke that he is his father. The Revelation Trope was the whole concept of Good vs. Evil in which no one knows until the end of the movie who would really win. In Star Wars, Luke is looking up to a God-like figure such like Obi-Wan Kenobi who tries to teach him the way of the Force, but because of his death, he was unable to succeed in his prophecies of being a real Jedi Master. Yoda took his position which continued the teachings, also looked upon as a God-like figure in which the developing prophet is learning from the mentor prophet of what the real life message is. In relation to the Matrix, Morpheus is somewhat of a God-like prophet where he teaches Neo the ways of the Matrix and how to go against it. Neo learns from Morpheus and by the third movie becomes into this Jesus figure where he already learned the facts of the trade of life, to sacrifice himself to save the people of Zion from the machines that control the people’s lives. Similar to Star Wars, both Movies have a God-like Prophet who share a message with the less experienced Developing prophets.
[An Enemy of the People]
Written in the late 1800s, the short play book, An Enemy of the People, by author Henrik Ibsen, tells a fictional story about a town taken place in Scandinavia. In the story, the town is dependent on a large bath that is provided for the towns’ people. Unfortunately, an issue is introduced by Dr. Stockmann, a medical doctor who is also the medical officer of the town's bath. He discovers that the bath's water supply is contaminated and tries to alert the people of the town. He first informs Hovstad, editor of the town's newspaper 'People's Herald', and Aslaksen, the newspaper's printer. He gains their support, however the mayor of the town, who is also the brother of Dr. Stockmann, does not entirely agree with his discovery. The mayor is concerned about the Dr.’s proposal of publishing the contamination of the bath in the town’s newspaper for it would cost plenty of money which includes taxing the people of the town to repair the damage.
In the long term one can agree that the mayor does not want the people to follow Dr. Stockmann’s requirements to fix the bath and because the mayor disagrees with his brother is all because of jealousy. In reaction to Dr. Stockmann’s discovery, the mayor persuades Hovstad and Aslaksen, who were in the process of printing the Dr.’s proposal in the newspaper, to go against him and his word in which they both influence the people of the town to go against him as well. In defense to try to save Dr. Stockmann’s perspective of the contaminated bath, the people of the town looked at him as the enemy of the people. Though, in the end Dr. Stockmann had the option to move out of town, instead he decided to stay and fight against those who do not understand his perspective, the truth, of the contaminated baths’. In An Enemy of the People the revelation is portrayed when Dr. Stockmann made the discovery that the water in the baths’ are contaminated. Because of this revelation, it led Dr. Stockmann to reveal the truth of the contamination to the people of the town.
[Feed]
In comparison to the book Feed by M.T. Anderson, the main character named Titus narrates the story of him and his relationship with a young girl named Violet. They both live in the future, a world where everything is ran under the feed, a small chip planted in a person’s head. Titus explains how the feed is “the only way to get all this stuff, and it’s no good getting pissy about it, because they’re still going to control everything whether you like it or not” (Anderson 48). Although the feed may be beneficial to those who use it, Violet thinks otherwise. Violet who was known to be Titus’s girlfriend has the feed, though it was planted in her head at the age of seven which makes it difficult for her to use it correctly. Violet can still use the feed, however if the feed malfunctions then she is at a great risk of dying. Because of Violet’s condition, she is able to think against the Feed whenever she pleases. Nevertheless she still has an even greater risk of damaging her Feed by resisting it, causing herself to weaken. Due to her condition and resistance against the feed, it makes her different from everyone else which cause people to look down upon her, making her feel left out. The purpose of the Feed is to advertise the mind by feeding the person with different messages which influence people to do what is being fed. This puts Violet aside from those who follow the Feed because she believes that:
“No one with feeds thinks about it […] When you have the feed all your life, you’re brought up to not think about things. Like them never telling you that it’s a republic and not a democracy. It’s something that makes [her] angry, what people don’t know about these days. Because of the feed, we’re raising a nation of idiots. Ignorant, self-centered idiots” (Page 113).
Because of her condition, Violet is allowed to wander in her own mind and freely think about anything, resisting the feed to do exactly what she wants, not what the feed tells her to do. Violet exposes Titus about resisting the Feed, revealing how the Feed is taking over people’s minds in a bad way. Instead of Titus resisting the Feed, he resisted Violet and her revelation about the Feed. Violet’s revelation was not fully understood until Violet passed away due to the malfunction of her Feed.
In connection to An Enemy of the People it took Dr. Stockmann, a man who became an outcast after revealing to the town about the outbreaks in the baths. Because of the truth that was revealed, nobody in town believed him, as well with Violet who was also viewed as an outcast in which she tried to expose the Truth about the Feed to Titus. Both Stories have their similarities because the Revealers are not always noticed which make it difficult for many, including the reader, to understand the message.
[Danny Hoch]
Danny Hoch, an actor, play writer and director, is known for one of his selected works called Jails, Hospitals & Hip Hop which includes of five different monologues of five different characters and scenarios. In one of Danny’s monologues, he acted out a character named Andy who worked in a prison where he explained his issues to his co-worker while working. Andy started the story by talking about his previous job in McDonalds and how there was this one time when he served senior citizens and was impatiently waiting to take their order. He complained how the senior citizens thought of him of some kind of a thief and sarcastically enough, Andy said if he were a thief he would have been on the other side of the counter behind the guy instead. All Andy wanted was to give the senior citizens their order of a cup of coffee and leave him alone. However that was not how the story ended. One of the senior citizens came back and complained about the coffee and how it tasted horrible. Andy, already frustrated, suddenly exploded on the customer telling him to go get some coffee in Starbucks if he does not like the coffee in McDonalds:
“But no, because that's not good enough for them either, cause they got a heart condition or somethin', like I give a fuckin' shit! I got AIDS, you wanna compete with me, you wrinkled fuckin' Sun Maid raisin' motherfuckers? […] [The old man] says, “Oh, you're not treating me like a customer should be treated! What about the rights of the customer? This is America, I'm the customer!” I said, Yeah? Fuck you customer! Fuck-You-Customer! Then he starts complainin' to the manager that I'm a fuckin' asshole. Psst, yeah. For $5.50 an hour I'd rather stay right here in jail, thank you very much.” (Jails, Hospitals & Hip Hop - Danny Hoch).
Andy knew that he was not going to let a little situation about a man and his coffee phase him when he had his own problems to worry about like his condition of having AIDS and would have rather worked in the prison, where it is bad enough, though one would not hear a prisoner complaining to him like the old man did. Danny Hoch tried to portray the revelation that a person thinks something is always wrong with him/her when other people have their own problem to think about. Danny, acting as Andy, wanted to show that just because he was in working behind a counter in McDonalds looking like a thief to the senior citizens does not mean that he does not have any problems of his own. His story is unique in its own way because Danny Hoch expressed a story about a man named Andy who can careless about an old man’s problem by showing the audience how he defended himself by cursing at the old man.
[They Live]
In the Sci-Fi movie They Live, directed by John Carpenter, is a story about a homeless man who discovered how corrupt society was by looking through a pair of sunglasses, which were banned in the city he lived in. John Carpenter, known for his dark cinematography, wanted to show a movie that not only had hideous creatures symbolizing corruption, but a “film [that] addresses the issues of the homeless in our country, social irresponsibility, mass consumption, environmental destruction, corruption, the attractiveness of our capitalistic society and the incredibly strong influence of the communications media.” (http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/). The main character of the film did not originate from the city. He was a hitchhiker who settled in a community of homeless people, welcomed by a man named Frank, acted by Keith David. In a particular scene, the main character witnessed a blind man preaching about the government which the main character did not know about. The main character watched the blind man as he preached, explaining “Outside the limit of our sight, feeding off us, perched on top of us, from birth to death, are our owners! Our owners! They have us. They control us! They are our masters! Wake up! They're all about you! All around you!” The blind man told listeners to wake up. Wake up from being bombarded by the media and government with manipulating messages.
Unfortunately, the main character did not understand the blind man’s revelation. He instead walked away towards the homeless community. Across the street from the homeless community was a church. The main character was suspicious about the church after a couple of men drove away from the church. The main character decided to investigate the church by entering the back house, discovering a box that was stored in a secret storage area behind a wall. He leaves the church after the same blind man, who coincidently was involved with the church, told him “this world may have blinded me, but the Lord has let me see.” The main character walked away, assuming that the blind man was talking about his encounter with him. Although, one can agree that the blind man was not necessarily talking about the main character and his whereabouts in the church, but about how the blind man was aware of the government and the lies that the government placed in society, blinding individuals by manipulating those who cannot see and not awake.
A Revelation is described as a disclosure of which reveals something that was previously unaware of. A revelation can reveal itself in different ways, revealing the truth, a new insight changes a person’s perspective of what one previously have thought compared to what he/she now knows. A revelation is not always revealed at an instant, though it can also be a process in which it takes duration of time. A revelation can take a day or a year to discover that was not recognized before. A trope is a familiar person, place or thing that one may see as repeated, similar to a cliché. An example of a revelation trope would be a realization of one’s sexual orientation after experiencing some form of affection towards the same sex. It is a trope because it is common for a person to recognize his/her own sexual orientation whether one is straight, gay/Lesbian or Bi. Revelation tropes are introduced by a revealer, whom he/she tries to uncover the truth about an unacceptable situation, seen in their own perception. It delivers a message in which a majority of people might not accept because it reveals a fact that most people do not want to hear for it might not have a kind of benefit for ones self. A revelation is usually exposed in this kind of order:
1. The ignorant masses are in a
2. Unacceptable/oppressive situation
3. Prophet/revealer tries to
4. Share the message
5. That connects the dots in a new way
6. And offers a vision of a redeemed world
7. But there is opposition to the _______.
8. Drama Occurs.
A person can recognize a revelation, given in different stories, by trying to figure out what the message the story may be.
[Deconstruction]
By analyzing a Revelation or texts based on other ideas, the reader, rather than the author, is determining the meaning behind what might be a false statement. The fundamental idea of the method Deconstruction brings out the many meanings in a text or a situation. For example; one can find a few contradictions within the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance. According to www.homeofheroes.com, the Pledge of Allegiance is recited to celebrate the “loyalty and devotion to not only a flag, but to a way of life....the American ideal.” In the chart below, www.homeofheroes.com analyzes the Pledge of Allegiance by clarifying to those who do not understand what the pledge of Allegiance actually means.
Pledge Interpretation
I Pledge Allegiance I Promise to be faithful and true (Promise my loyalty)
to the flag to the emblem that stands for and represents
of the United States all 50 states, each of them individual, and individually represented on the flag
of America yet formed into a UNION of one Nation.
and to the Republic And I also pledge my loyalty to the Government that is itself a Republic, a form of government where the PEOPLE are sovereign,
for which it stands, this government also being represented by the Flag to which I promise loyalty.
one Nation under God, These 50 individual states are united as a single Republic under the Divine providence of God, "our most powerful resource" (according to the words of President Eisenhower)
Indivisible, and can not be separated. (This part of the original version of the pledge was written just 50 years after the beginning of the Civil War and demonstrates the unity sought in the years after that divisive period in our history)
with Liberty The people of this Nation being afforded the freedom to pursue "life, liberty, and happiness",
and Justice And each person entitled to be treated justly, fairly, and according to proper law and principle,
For All. And these principles afforded to EVERY AMERICAN, regardless of race, religion, color, creed, or any other criteria. Just as the flag represents 50 individual states that can not be divided or separated, this Nation represents millions of people who can not be separated or divided.
In the Pledge of Allegiance it states “one Nation under God”. One can deconstruct this declaration by understanding that the “50 individual states are united as a single Republic under the Divine providence of God”. However, the truth behind the statement is completely false. One who is a conservative Christian knows not to swear under God. In Matthew chapter 5, verse 34-35, Matthew says “But I tell you, do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.” To the government the Nation may be a ‘divine providence of God’, but to many citizens, America is not all that heavenly for the controversies that have occurred, but that is another story. Making an oath under God is against God’s rule of swearing under him. For many years, politicians and other federal officials swear on the Bible by saying “so help me God” to make a vow of taking the responsibility and part in the United States. In Article II, section 1 of the Constitution the Presidential oath described:
“Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
The oath does not necessitate the politician to pledge on the Bible or say “so help me God”. To the politicians who call themselves Christian, well they have a lot explaining to do when it comes to swearing under God.
Another contradiction found in the Pledge of Allegiance is the “Liberty and Justice”, also described as “being afforded the freedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness and each person entitled to be treated justly, fairly, and according to proper law and principle”. If America is supposed to be the land of the free, then public and private schools and other organizations would not have to force their students to teach them the Pledge of Allegiance. And if America were the land of the free to be “treated justly, fairly, and according to proper law”, then there would not have been any discrimination towards those who are judged by the court because of the color of a person’s skin or the social class from which he/she is located in. Unfortunately certain races of people spend a longer amount of years in jail, compared to other races, due to their skin color. The Pledge of Allegiance seems simple and whole when it is actually complicated and fragment and usually has power plays.
The method of Deconstruction comes from structuralism, a way of seeing and organizing a better understanding of the world and/or statement. “How doe you know reality exists if everything is perceptions?” People who are usually one-minded view situations by what they want to see, not by what is actually happening, reality. Structuralism defines the binary oppositions of what is presented in a text, privileging that one side is better than the other. Examples of Binary oppositions are short vs. tall, male vs. female, or straight vs. gay. Deconstruction is the binary opposition that fundamentally allows the categories is in what they are in, what people fit reality into. In the song “Thieves in the Night” by Talib Kweli featuring Mos Def, Most Def raps:
“I find it's distressin, there's never no in-between/
We either ni**az or Kings/
We either bitches or Queens/”
From his perspective, the binary opposition of a derogatory word for an African American is a king, which roots back to the early centuries when the term ‘Nigger’ was used against those who were black and were described to be low class slaves. The slaves were discriminated against and treated unfairly by those who are superior to them such like King and queens. The term ‘bitches’ used as a offensive word towards women that insults her temper has the binary opposition of a Queen. A Queen is described as a woman who rules over a country by birth or through marriage. She is usually admired and stands out above others, while a ‘bitch’ is considered somebody who is rude and obnoxious and an attitude like that is very low while a Queen is viewed high. The categories that are made by people’s perceptions from back in the early centuries is the terms ‘nigger’, ‘bitch’, ‘Kings’ and ‘Queens’. It is the traits in which fits into the categories of what was created by man.
Genealogy is to trace a development of an idea and mark out how the idea is changed. In another verse of “Thieves in the Night”, Mos Def says,
“Can’t just accept the appearance/
Have to get the true essence/”
The binary opposition is the appearance vs. the essence, the soul. Mos Def wants to get the message across to listeners that “everything you see ain’t really how it be” – (Thieves in the Night). That the truth is not behind the appearance of what we percept, but is behind the essence of the false appearance. In the early days of Judaism, many people believed in different gods, carved into wooden sculptures, which were placed in a temple. Abraham, believed to be the prophet through God, did not worship these false idols. He thought that the idols were not able to hear or help the people as they called onto their gods. Because the people did not listen to Abraham, he revengefully broke the idols in the temple. Abraham smashed the false idols because people saw an appearance of a false idol and failed to see the reality of God. The binary oppositions of the appearance of the idols vs. the essence of the false idols shows how not everything that is believed in is the truth. Today, in Hindus are not allowed to draw their prophet, Mohammed, because of their disbelief of worshiping idols. However, not everybody follows up by that same rule. In the Bible, Exodus 20 verses 3-5 says, “3You shall have no other gods before me. 4You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” Those who are catholic are clearly disobeying God’s commandments. In verse three, ‘you shall have no other gods before me’. In Catholicism, worshiping individual saints is similar to having a god before God himself. In the church, the cross is placed as a symbol of God, and has either a statue of the Virgin Mary, Jesus, or any other saint to represent their presence in the Catholic Church. It is the appearance that makes people believe their faith is within that one statue. Little do they know there is more essence within the scripture than the statue they bow down to.
People find it easier to choose the appearance, known to be false, over the essence. Most of the time people are ignorant to believe the reality of situations by choosing the easier way out which is comfortable and recognizable to the person. Denying the reality of a situation usually happens because it is hard to accept the truth, which is often ignored.
In order to expose a hidden binary opposition, one would blow it up by revealing that the text shows that certain categories are false, leaky, confused, etc. One can also multiply the binary opposition by showing that there are more than two categories, displaced by a constellation of positions. By deconstructing and identifying binary oppositions, it give one a wide range of perceptions than just one narrow minded view and how the text or situation does not always have the truth behind its message, simply by revealing the contradictions that are left behind the false message.
[Fox Fire]
Most people have discovered revelations by undergoing an experience that made them realize what may be best for his/her own benefit. In the movie Fox Fire, Angelina Joli played a character named Legs, a revealer in most situations, where she influenced a group of high school girls to revolt against their teacher. The issue was about a high school girl who was sexually harassed by her teacher during school detention hours. Legs revealed to the girls that it was not right for a man, their teacher, to touch a student in a way she did not want to be touched. She tried and successfully persuaded the girls to fight against their teacher. The teenage girls formed an unlikely bond after the plot of revenge. In a particular scene, the girls attacked the teacher by setting him up, with the girl who had detention, in his classroom. The girls allowed the teacher to touch her, the teacher not knowing that the girls were outside the classroom door, ready to catch him in the act. Each girl had a chance to beat the teacher up, though there was one girl, named Maddy, who was hesitant get involved in the scheme. Legs told Maddy “don't take any shit” after the teacher told her not to do anything towards him. Between a student and a teacher, the teacher is superior than the student and for the reason that Maddy obeyed his command showed how much she resisted to fight him because ‘he told her not to’.
The revelation trope found in Foxfire was when the certain girls resisted against the truth about their teacher. A few girls did not get involved to the scheme of hurting the teachers, preventing themselves from getting in trouble, while others did not want to believe the sexual harassment was the truth. Legs, the rebel – prophet, took the initiative to try to motivate the girls to fight back the teacher to demand self respect that all women need to unite and fight the power, the teacher that is. The girls eventually fought against the teacher, which gained them their respect, but their wild ways began to get out of control. The Message was to fight the superior in order to save the girl from being harassed again.
Similar to the movie The Matrix, Morpheus persuades Neo, a new member of the real world, to fight the power of the Agents in the matrix and the computer robots of the real world. In order for Neo to do this, he has to complete different obstacles to obtain his strength to fight the power. Both Morpheus and Legs, who are physically distinct to those who are not aware of the message, are trying to change the reality of one’s perspective by involving them in troubled situations. They both succeed in influencing their acquaintance(s) to fight the power.
[Matrix]
In the movie The Matrix, Morpheus, known as a computer hacker, introduced Thomas Anderson, known as Neo, to the real world and how the world he was living in was “a ravaged wasteland where most of humanity [has] been captured by a race of machines which live off of their body heat and imprison their minds within an artificial reality known as the Matrix” (http://www.imdb.com/). To find out more about the matrix, Morpheus gave Neo the option to take a red pill, to learn more about the matrix and take him out of it, or the blue pill, which would have allowed him to continuously live in the matrix. Is the truth of the matrix worth pursuing? Neo took a moment to think about it and took the red pill which puts him in an alternate reality different from the matrix that he was previously living in. Neo is reborn again into the real world where he goes through a process, similar to how Jesus was batized, and was welcomed to the real world.
In the real world, Morpheus hooks Neo and himself back into the system where he teaches Neo more about the matrix. They both look at a television which symbolizes the information that influences those who watch television to think a certain way. Through the television, Morpheus shows Neo the differences between the matrix and the real world.
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.
Morpheus exposes Neo about how the system is dominating the real world causing those to misunderstand the big picture of what they call ‘reality’ when it is just the appearance of others they actually see. “It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.” The world pulled over people’s eyes is the matrix, and the truth is the real world, appearance vs. the essence. And if Neo remained to stay part of the matrix, then he would not be able to realize what kind of false reality he was living in. Morpheus revealed to Neo that he is ‘the one’ and that he had a mission to save the last real city on earth, the people of Zion, from the machines that make up the Matrix. Even though Neo struggled to understand the truth and believed he was not the one, he was finally convinced by Morpheus that the world he was living in was a complete lie and because of the many encounters with the agents, the machines of the matrix, he believed he was able to defeat them, after all – he is “the one”. The revelation trope found in The Matrix is the life changing affects of Neo choosing to stay in the matrix or the real world. Because of him taking the red pill, it is obvious that Neo had to go through dramatic changes to get used to the real world.
Similar to the Bible, Judas, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples betrayed Jesus by giving him up to the soldiers that were looking to arrest him. Out of betrayal, Judas was given money as his reward. Neo like Jesus, Cypher was Neo’s Judas who wanted the easier way out. Cypher was a man part of the crew who chose to be in the real world. He knew the differences between the real world and the matrix, but even though he lived in the real world, he liked how the matrix made him feel. He did not feel comfortable in the real world and because of that, he wanted an easier life. In order to obtain an easier life, he was to hand Neo over to the agents, as fair trade, Cypher would go back to his false reality – back into the matrix. As viewers watch the movie, it is obvious how Cypher was the betrayer for the way he presented himself with alternative suggestions to throw off the main character, similar to other movies when the betrayer has a suspicious characteristic to his or her self. Like most people who want the easier way out of life, Cypher betrayed Neo, Morpheus and the rest of the crew, the true prophesy, for his own benefit.
Agent Smith, the main rival of Morpheus and Neo, does not accept the fact that Neo is trying to save the real world from the Matrix and the machines living inside the real world. In a particular scene in The Matrix, Agent Smith captured Morpheus, trying to drain out his brain to obtain access codes to the city of Zion. During the process, Agent Smith shares a revelation with Morpheus:
“I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure.”
The Binary Opposition found in The Matrix is the revelation trope good vs. evil. Agent smith is trying to convince the audience to believe that he is a good guy, but little does the audience know is that he is being manipulative to his own advantage. Agent Smith believes that he and his fellow agents are able to save the human race by eliminating them. He shares his revelation, which offers a false statement to the audience, to Morpheus, who tries to resist the lies that Agent Smith is trying to feed him. Behind the appearance is the truth and what appears to be the truth behind Agent Smith’s revelation is the desire to abolish those who are part of the real world.
[Star Wars]
In Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, a young man named Luke Skywalker seeks Jedi Master Yoda to continue the teachings of Obi-Wan Kenobi who had previously died in Star Wars: Episode IV. Yoda instructed Luke the ways of the force in order to defeat Darth Vader. Luke tried to find the Revelation of his life within Yoda’s teachings, however, a startling revelation was discovered when Luke and Darth Vader were in a battle against one another which Darth Vader reveals to Luke that he is his father. The Revelation Trope was the whole concept of Good vs. Evil in which no one knows until the end of the movie who would really win. In Star Wars, Luke is looking up to a God-like figure such like Obi-Wan Kenobi who tries to teach him the way of the Force, but because of his death, he was unable to succeed in his prophecies of being a real Jedi Master. Yoda took his position which continued the teachings, also looked upon as a God-like figure in which the developing prophet is learning from the mentor prophet of what the real life message is. In relation to the Matrix, Morpheus is somewhat of a God-like prophet where he teaches Neo the ways of the Matrix and how to go against it. Neo learns from Morpheus and by the third movie becomes into this Jesus figure where he already learned the facts of the trade of life, to sacrifice himself to save the people of Zion from the machines that control the people’s lives. Similar to Star Wars, both Movies have a God-like Prophet who share a message with the less experienced Developing prophets.
[An Enemy of the People]
Written in the late 1800s, the short play book, An Enemy of the People, by author Henrik Ibsen, tells a fictional story about a town taken place in Scandinavia. In the story, the town is dependent on a large bath that is provided for the towns’ people. Unfortunately, an issue is introduced by Dr. Stockmann, a medical doctor who is also the medical officer of the town's bath. He discovers that the bath's water supply is contaminated and tries to alert the people of the town. He first informs Hovstad, editor of the town's newspaper 'People's Herald', and Aslaksen, the newspaper's printer. He gains their support, however the mayor of the town, who is also the brother of Dr. Stockmann, does not entirely agree with his discovery. The mayor is concerned about the Dr.’s proposal of publishing the contamination of the bath in the town’s newspaper for it would cost plenty of money which includes taxing the people of the town to repair the damage.
In the long term one can agree that the mayor does not want the people to follow Dr. Stockmann’s requirements to fix the bath and because the mayor disagrees with his brother is all because of jealousy. In reaction to Dr. Stockmann’s discovery, the mayor persuades Hovstad and Aslaksen, who were in the process of printing the Dr.’s proposal in the newspaper, to go against him and his word in which they both influence the people of the town to go against him as well. In defense to try to save Dr. Stockmann’s perspective of the contaminated bath, the people of the town looked at him as the enemy of the people. Though, in the end Dr. Stockmann had the option to move out of town, instead he decided to stay and fight against those who do not understand his perspective, the truth, of the contaminated baths’. In An Enemy of the People the revelation is portrayed when Dr. Stockmann made the discovery that the water in the baths’ are contaminated. Because of this revelation, it led Dr. Stockmann to reveal the truth of the contamination to the people of the town.
[Feed]
In comparison to the book Feed by M.T. Anderson, the main character named Titus narrates the story of him and his relationship with a young girl named Violet. They both live in the future, a world where everything is ran under the feed, a small chip planted in a person’s head. Titus explains how the feed is “the only way to get all this stuff, and it’s no good getting pissy about it, because they’re still going to control everything whether you like it or not” (Anderson 48). Although the feed may be beneficial to those who use it, Violet thinks otherwise. Violet who was known to be Titus’s girlfriend has the feed, though it was planted in her head at the age of seven which makes it difficult for her to use it correctly. Violet can still use the feed, however if the feed malfunctions then she is at a great risk of dying. Because of Violet’s condition, she is able to think against the Feed whenever she pleases. Nevertheless she still has an even greater risk of damaging her Feed by resisting it, causing herself to weaken. Due to her condition and resistance against the feed, it makes her different from everyone else which cause people to look down upon her, making her feel left out. The purpose of the Feed is to advertise the mind by feeding the person with different messages which influence people to do what is being fed. This puts Violet aside from those who follow the Feed because she believes that:
“No one with feeds thinks about it […] When you have the feed all your life, you’re brought up to not think about things. Like them never telling you that it’s a republic and not a democracy. It’s something that makes [her] angry, what people don’t know about these days. Because of the feed, we’re raising a nation of idiots. Ignorant, self-centered idiots” (Page 113).
Because of her condition, Violet is allowed to wander in her own mind and freely think about anything, resisting the feed to do exactly what she wants, not what the feed tells her to do. Violet exposes Titus about resisting the Feed, revealing how the Feed is taking over people’s minds in a bad way. Instead of Titus resisting the Feed, he resisted Violet and her revelation about the Feed. Violet’s revelation was not fully understood until Violet passed away due to the malfunction of her Feed.
In connection to An Enemy of the People it took Dr. Stockmann, a man who became an outcast after revealing to the town about the outbreaks in the baths. Because of the truth that was revealed, nobody in town believed him, as well with Violet who was also viewed as an outcast in which she tried to expose the Truth about the Feed to Titus. Both Stories have their similarities because the Revealers are not always noticed which make it difficult for many, including the reader, to understand the message.
[Danny Hoch]
Danny Hoch, an actor, play writer and director, is known for one of his selected works called Jails, Hospitals & Hip Hop which includes of five different monologues of five different characters and scenarios. In one of Danny’s monologues, he acted out a character named Andy who worked in a prison where he explained his issues to his co-worker while working. Andy started the story by talking about his previous job in McDonalds and how there was this one time when he served senior citizens and was impatiently waiting to take their order. He complained how the senior citizens thought of him of some kind of a thief and sarcastically enough, Andy said if he were a thief he would have been on the other side of the counter behind the guy instead. All Andy wanted was to give the senior citizens their order of a cup of coffee and leave him alone. However that was not how the story ended. One of the senior citizens came back and complained about the coffee and how it tasted horrible. Andy, already frustrated, suddenly exploded on the customer telling him to go get some coffee in Starbucks if he does not like the coffee in McDonalds:
“But no, because that's not good enough for them either, cause they got a heart condition or somethin', like I give a fuckin' shit! I got AIDS, you wanna compete with me, you wrinkled fuckin' Sun Maid raisin' motherfuckers? […] [The old man] says, “Oh, you're not treating me like a customer should be treated! What about the rights of the customer? This is America, I'm the customer!” I said, Yeah? Fuck you customer! Fuck-You-Customer! Then he starts complainin' to the manager that I'm a fuckin' asshole. Psst, yeah. For $5.50 an hour I'd rather stay right here in jail, thank you very much.” (Jails, Hospitals & Hip Hop - Danny Hoch).
Andy knew that he was not going to let a little situation about a man and his coffee phase him when he had his own problems to worry about like his condition of having AIDS and would have rather worked in the prison, where it is bad enough, though one would not hear a prisoner complaining to him like the old man did. Danny Hoch tried to portray the revelation that a person thinks something is always wrong with him/her when other people have their own problem to think about. Danny, acting as Andy, wanted to show that just because he was in working behind a counter in McDonalds looking like a thief to the senior citizens does not mean that he does not have any problems of his own. His story is unique in its own way because Danny Hoch expressed a story about a man named Andy who can careless about an old man’s problem by showing the audience how he defended himself by cursing at the old man.
[They Live]
In the Sci-Fi movie They Live, directed by John Carpenter, is a story about a homeless man who discovered how corrupt society was by looking through a pair of sunglasses, which were banned in the city he lived in. John Carpenter, known for his dark cinematography, wanted to show a movie that not only had hideous creatures symbolizing corruption, but a “film [that] addresses the issues of the homeless in our country, social irresponsibility, mass consumption, environmental destruction, corruption, the attractiveness of our capitalistic society and the incredibly strong influence of the communications media.” (http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/). The main character of the film did not originate from the city. He was a hitchhiker who settled in a community of homeless people, welcomed by a man named Frank, acted by Keith David. In a particular scene, the main character witnessed a blind man preaching about the government which the main character did not know about. The main character watched the blind man as he preached, explaining “Outside the limit of our sight, feeding off us, perched on top of us, from birth to death, are our owners! Our owners! They have us. They control us! They are our masters! Wake up! They're all about you! All around you!” The blind man told listeners to wake up. Wake up from being bombarded by the media and government with manipulating messages.
Unfortunately, the main character did not understand the blind man’s revelation. He instead walked away towards the homeless community. Across the street from the homeless community was a church. The main character was suspicious about the church after a couple of men drove away from the church. The main character decided to investigate the church by entering the back house, discovering a box that was stored in a secret storage area behind a wall. He leaves the church after the same blind man, who coincidently was involved with the church, told him “this world may have blinded me, but the Lord has let me see.” The main character walked away, assuming that the blind man was talking about his encounter with him. Although, one can agree that the blind man was not necessarily talking about the main character and his whereabouts in the church, but about how the blind man was aware of the government and the lies that the government placed in society, blinding individuals by manipulating those who cannot see and not awake.
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