In the article, "Designer Babies", by Patricia Smith, the article deals with the idea that people are getting the options of making your baby a certain way, like tall, athletic, smart, or other desirable characteristics. The children grow up with these characteristics, but a huge question that is controversial is that, is it morally fine, to make your children, who are living beings, a special way. This is viewed as a very controversial subject in the west but not a very controversial subject in china, where people are persuing this idea, and trying to learn much more about it.

Eugenics are the study that currently caused this issue. They are a very controversial topic, and the eugenics movement sought to improve the human race by discouraging people who have undesirable traits to reproduce. However, this was what led to the holocaust. This meant that all of the people who were gassed, tossed into fire, or shot would have been alive by then. This was a attempt to make people more perfect, just like the idea of designer babies. This is completely ignoring the accomplishments we earned earlier.

The study of changing these genes is a very unknown area, and it could be incredibly dangerous for us. Many states have completely banned the idea of using science for anyway that will permanently alter you're offspring. However the united states has no such law. I believe that this is too dangerous and that offspring should not be altered. Humans should not be genetically altered. If science becomes an important part of us, than we will have even more dependence on scientists.

If we get the children the way we want them, than we will be less tolerant of them and want them to be just right. I believe that we should be investing in more important things. Kids being special do necessarily take an advantage over things that could be more important. These genomes may seem important, but it does not take priority over other more pressing needs like hurricane relief, and ways to help developing country.

Romeo and Juliet

In “Romeo and Juliet”,a play by William Shakespeare, the 2 main characters both died in the end due to a series of events, and a feud between two British families, the Montagues and that capulets. Many people were two blame for this tragedy, but Friar Lawrence helped cause the tragic death of these two lovers. The friar allowed everything to escalate quickly, and it caused the relationship to spin out of control.

The friar made a secret marriage for the two lovers. He made it a day after the love began. This in itself allowed for no second thoughts, and immediately made it so that the marriage was quickly in a point of no return. He and the nurse married them together, believing that it might end the feud. Sadly this was a huge mistake because it made the couple believe that their marriage was the right thing because of the fact that the friar and the nurse supported it, and those were the two people they trusted most. It was foolish of the couple to get married so quickly, and the two of them were progressing their marriage so quickly that both people had no control over the situation. If they were a little slower, the 4 people might of had enough control over the situation to change it.

Juliet came to the Friar for advice because of the fact that she was going to be married to County Paris against her will. The friar came up with the only possible solution he could think of which was a poison that makes her temporarily dead. Sadly he did not watch over the tomb well enough, and romeo entered in it without his knowledge. If he took the time to streamline what was happening Romeo would not have committed suicide. If Juliet did not find Romeo dead, than she would not have killed herself. County Paris died in a duel against Romeo, and if the Friar had told him in person what was happening, than maybe the death would not be necessary, and another person would survive. On top of all of the dying, lady Montague killed herself because she found out that her son died.

When the Friar finds Juliet waking in the tomb, he says that he could take her to a area where she could become a nun. But however, when she says that she will stay, the friar does not object at all, and leaves. What this leaving meant is that Juliet would kill herself without the doubt of having someone there with her. The friar does not try to stop her from killing herself which made her even more likely to kill herself because it would be her to commit suicide if a person who dearly wants you to stay alive would be there. The friar running made a bad situation into an awful situation.

While Romeo and Juliet were both not behaving too well about the love, the friar intensified it. The Friar would constantly come up with a plan that was always messed up. His ideas were always messed up by an outside factor that no one predicted. If not for him, the marriage might have taken place later and Tybalt might not have been killed. But because of him, Mercutio was killed causing him to kill Tybalt. Once Tybalt was dead, there was no chance that the relationship would work out well. The Friar kept on trying to patch it, but he made more problems for every idea he made.

Upfront blog post

Word Hatred

In Israeli, people are beginning to become much more angry about the fact that people are calling each other nazi, and believe that just saying the word should be illegal to say the word. In the article, "Should a Hated Word Be Banned?" The author, Jodi Rudoren, discusses the many different viewpoints that people have on if the word should be banned. However the author does not seem to really take a viewpoint on if it, while I believe that their is no need for the word to be banned.

While I highly hate the Nazi's for what they did, if the law was completed, than that would mean that the Israelis would have to track people to find out if they were calling people Nazis. Also, from my own past experience, however young or old the person may be, telling them that they cannot do something would make them do it more, because while they were younger, they might not have had the idea if not for the announcement that they could not do it.

However, according to the article, an Israeli lawmaker says "We can find different words to say exactly what you would say otherwise" in support of the ban. However, sometimes one wants to use a certain word because they can not get their anger out with other words, and the person who is getting cursed at probably did something awful. Also, years in jail is a little harsh for saying a word.

There is no need to ban a word from a language, because of the fact that no word should bring on six months of jail. While the nazi regime was a horrifying thing, it is now over, and we should work on forgetting it instead of making it seem even worse and even more of a big deal. Also when something is banned, it seem a lot more interesting and more likely to make someone mad.

I once knew someone I really detested

I will remember him forever more

When he spoke he tested my patience

He was once my friend, I liked him before

Now I remember what happened today

Maybe I hate him still, I can’t know now

Yet he scared me to death so I stay away

But when I look back, I do not know how

I will always hate him, right now and right here

He always found more ways to torment me

Whenever he’d speak, I’d lend out an ear

Because I still loath him, cool as he may be

No matter what kids still think he is cool

Because he’s popular, king of the school

Every poem made by Martin Espada makes you think about what is going on with all of the discrimination towards Latinos. He uses a mix of irony and special word choices to show that discrimination can be done in different levels, and that it can be a tiny thing, like banning the use of spanish in the bathroom, or a huge thing, like lynching two mexicans in Santa Cruz.

The poem New Bathroom Policy at English High School is about a principal who hears some kids speaking spanish inside of a bathroom, when the principal was listening fro inside of his stall. The only word he recognized was his own name. Then Espada Says “This constipates him, so he decides to ban speaking spanish in his school. Now he can relax.” The way that he says that he calls the high school an “English High school” in particular, helps enunciate that he is distant and vague about the school. He adds irony to the fact that the school is english, when it has people speaking spanish in the bathrooms. The level of discrimination that the principal shows is caused by his ignorance at the fact that his school is not really such an “English High School.”, but at the same time, the principal decides that the school has to be only english, when there are kids who speak spanish in it.  He is also extremely self conscious, and thinks that whatever they are saying, needs to be said in English, so that he can understand the kids are saying while he is inside of the bathroom.

In his poem Revolutionary Spanish Lesson whenever somebody mispronounces his name, he wants to dress up like a terrorist, and with a “Toy Pistol”, hijack a busload of republican tourists and make them chant anti-american slogans, and then wait for the bilingual swat team to come, telling him to be reasonable.  In this poem, the people are making fun of his name, or not caring about it, and he gets incredibly frustrated with the people, and he only gets respect when he decides to do an act of terrorism, and only then does he get people to talk to him in his native language, and only then is he actually respected by all of the americans. The part where he says “A busload of republican tourists from wisconsin” makes it strike home more, because republicans are generally against illegal immigration, and  the fact that they are tourists make them seem more innocent, and less like they deserve to have this happen to them. The fact that they seem more familiar makes it strike home a lot more.

The poem Two Mexicanos lynched in Santa Cruz, May 3rd, 1877, is about a day when two mexicans were lynched in Santa Cruz after the revolutionary war. He calls the white men who did it “Gringos” which is the traditional label for Americans that was given to them by all of the Latinos. Espada seems to be saying this so that he can seem as far detached from the people who did it as possible, and to make them seem less human, and more like cold killers. The word gringo makes it seem like everyone of them is the same, even though they are all different people,they all seem like the same person when they hang the mexicans. In the end he adds that they were “all crowding into the photo”. This means that they were proud of what they had did, and Espada is saying that those people are who gringos are very similar in the ways that they are acting.

Each of Martin Espadas poems have a different level of racism in it. There are so many different levels of racism, and the Two Mexicanos lynched in Santa Cruz, May 3rd, 1877 was the most extreme one of them, while the new bathroom policy was minor but just as scary. Will Rogers said “We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.” This means that we will only truly rooted in society when we see all of the other people in the world as equals.

In the book Lies, by Michael Grant, in a small California town, all of the adults have disappeared, and the city is in anarchy. The main character, Sam is a boy who managed to survive for a while and is the leader of Perdido beach, a part of the small town, and he has to worry about starvation and a series of mutations going through many people, and that all of the normal people are getting scared of what the mutations are doing.

Sam is a surfer, and the author seems to be poking fun at the stereotype of the carefree surfer. Sam is the opposite of the stereotype, after all of the horrors that everybody else is doing. All the food is running out, and it is very hard for them to keep their food in place, because there is constant thievery, and a group of people who are discriminating against the people who got powers from being mutant. All of the stereotypes are shown, but they are poked fun at. Sam is the most brave and antsy person, and Astrid the geek is one of the most powerful and respected people

This makes me think that the author wants you to think about what a stereotype really means to all of the people affected. It seems that every stereotype is shone as a little bit of an interpretation of the way that a horrible event affects and changes a person. John D. Rockefeller said," I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity". No matter who you are, the disaster will change you if it happens.

Ptolemy's gate

In the book, Ptolemy's gate by Jonathan Stroud, there are 3 main characters, not one like a normal book. The three characters are Nathaniel, Bartimaeus and Kathleen Jones, a.k.a Kitty. Nathaniel is a powerful young magician in the top ranks of an extremely corrupt government. Bartimaeus is a entity summoned by Nathaniel, who must follow his orders, but tries to rebel. Kitty is a person who was supposedly dead, and wanted by the government for treason. The author uses multiple personalities to make the book a more confusing and conflicting read.

In this book, the 2 young adults, Nathaniel and Kitty are treated like two completely different people, and, Nathaniel is treated like somebody incredibly out of his depth, and even his mentor, Jessica Whitwell claims that he is out of his depth. She said "I believe that my apprentice needs a little more help with managing situations and that this one may be out of his depth." The author is trying to show that no matter how powerful the kid is, he may still not be able to tackle the problems ahead.

Kitty is treated like a more better adult and she has less power over other people. She cares more about other peoples and is not given government positions. She herself set up a resistance that fought against all of the dictatorship that is called a equal government. However, she is treated with less dignity than all of the other people, and does not think that the magicians deserve all of this because of the fact that they are "defending" Britain.

Lord Anton said "Absolute power corrupts absolutely", and I think this story is a good example of it. Nathaniel is given high ranking positions and is callous and blind to his surroundings because of it. Kitty knows what is going on and aware of her surroundings, and she is treated as a lonely commoner because of the fact that she was not born in the government. She is trying to redo the french revolution, and Nathaniel is sitting back in his chair doing paperwork.