Red

This book really provides a peek into the lives of teens in America. I think we forget that the members of the adolescence sub culture come in all shapes and sizes. They have different views and an array of concerns fears which are portrayed throughout the book.
The section on The Body and Various Thoughts of Beauty distinctly reveals the thoughts of American women and men. The value the culture places on what is considered “beauty” really exhibit how materialistic Americans are. The young women who write on the topic bares her soul in an effort to gain understanding of how to and why it is so important. Amy Hunt in Sleeves writes, “I want to learn how to love myself. Not just learn how to lose this mass that is my body fat but how to love it while I have it and how to stop crying every time I return home after shopping” (7). The idea of being beautiful has a very negative effect on people who do not consider themselves as such.
As I continue to read I have the opportunity to come across the writing of Emily Knox entitled The Best Kind of Popular. The advice Knox gets from her mother really can be an inspiration to Hunt who want to know how to accept who she is. Knox mother instruct her to “Don’t try to be popular. Don’t try to be cool. Just be you, and you won’t even have to try” (83). This advice can be of benefit to all the people in the world who struggle to become someone else because society has convinced them that “beauty” is on the outside and to heck with what is on the inside.

Blog 9 My Young Adult Years

Life seems to get in the way just when you finally reach the age to have fun on your own. As a kid my parents dictated who I could spend time with and where I was able to go. I remember thinking that finally I could make the decision as to who I wanted to be and what I planned to do with my life. After spending summers in North Carolina, for the past five years, I knew I did not want to be a “nigger.”
I loved hanging out with my aunts, uncles, cousins, and the friends I had while there, but there were too many rules pertaining to people of color. Lets face it even in the sixties white people had little or no respect for black people, especially in the south. As a northerner I had no understanding why blacks had to enter through a back door of a store while white people were allowed to enter through the front. I really don’t know if I just did not want to be black or if I wanted to just be equal. What ever the reason I ended up with an “Afro” and a “Dashiki” shouting “Power to the People!”
Being proud of who I was meant a great deal to me and until I joined the Black Nationalist I did not feel proud of being a “Negro.” I was somebody and I knew it. I was smart and I had dreams of becoming a Defense Attorney. My family had come through a long struggle to gain the title “Negro,” but it was only a name. Blacks did not gain anymore access to success than they had in the past, at least not in my neighborhood.
The biggest problem I had was that I did not see anything to be proud of as a “Black Nationalist” either. They robbed people, sold and used drugs, and brought guns. I did not see anything positive in that. I remember feeling that maybe the white people were right. Maybe we are not equal to them. Maybe we are doomed for life. But some where deep down inside I knew I could make it. Only it seemed like I was the only one who knew it. In my reasoning I came to the conclusion that money was the deciding factor as to whether you were important or not. Wouldn’t you know it, still another problem, my family did not have any money. Life was just one big problem. Everywhere I turned I ran into one more disappointment. Somehow being a young adult just did not seem to be all that it was cracked up to be. I felt more trapped as a young adult than I did as a kid.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

This novel is such a refreshing alternative to what we have read in the past. Betsey Brown is a good read also, but it is a little difficult to understand some of the wording. I particularly enjoy the realistic day by day and incident by incident account of the day and life of Junior, the main character and the people he encounters..
I can not say that I remember reading a book written by an American Indian about an American Indian. However, I can relate to some of the stereotypical view points Junior brings out in his diary. On page 56 Junior states, “Reardan was the opposite of the rez. It was the opposite of my family. It was the opposite of me. I didn’t deserve to be there. I knew it; all of the kids knew it. Indians don’t deserve shit.” Junior just tells it like it is. For most minorities this precept rings true.
What I love about Junior is that he believes that he does not belong on the “rez.” He knows he is not like the other Indian on the reservation. He does not want to get drunk, fight, and remain in that rut for the rest of his life. Even though he thinks he will not fit in at the all white school he is willing to give it a try. His desire to break free from failure is stronger than his fear of racism. We see this same trend in the story of Betsey Brown only with a little twist. Betsey’s mother and father are middle class and live in an environment of professional people.
Although we are not told how Rowdy turns out, we can safely assume that he continues in the path that has been craved out for American Indians. Although Junior believes in Rowdy he does not believe in himself. The humor the two of them uses to deal with hurts, disappointment, and grief is typical among teens. The logic they make of all the negatives is a bit questionable for their age. I must admit, though, that poverty and hardships does forces a kid to grow up quick
This novel is an absolute delight to read even with the curse words and sexual content. Alexie helps us to realize that adolescence is adolescence no matter what race, greed, or color you happen to be born with. We all go though those moments of doubt, fear, challenge, and anxiety.

Betsey Brown

Betsey Brown
It was absolutely refreshing to read a book that I did not need to skip over sentences or paragraphs to avoid language I have long sense out grown. After reading The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager and Hairstyles of the Damned I did not have a desire to read another novel about adolescence. Ntozake Shange took me by surprise with Betsey Brown. The novel contains some profanity, sexual content, and very little violence, but it displayed tastefully. I think we can all agree that these themes take place in our lives, but my concern is with the way it is conveyed.
Mark Twain, in Huckleberry Finn painted a negative unsavory picture of black people that did not portray the reality of what it is like to grow up black at any age. Shange, however, writes about a middle class black family who struggle through the difficulties of integration, growing pains, and racism tastefully. It is great to read about blacks who are not uneducated, slaves, or poor. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that this is one family who seem to have made it while certain other black characters were not as successful. Still I remain intrigued because I could not help but think that the bottom would fall out of their prosperity. I am impressed that nobody went to jail or was beat to death.
Integration brought a great turmoil in the Brown family home as it did in most black homes. The tension and stress of children going off to school in a white racist environment is frightening, “All right. They can go, but the first sign of trouble of any kind, they go to the Catholic school….” Jane explains (p 91). I can remember when school busing began for my sons. We did not really have a choice because I could not afford to send my sons to private schools. The Brown family’s decision to allow their children to be pioneers for integration in the school system is admirable. Never the less Betsey was like most youths who could not understand why no one ever asks what they want to do. I am quite sure my sons had similar thoughts.
I found a sense of joy in reading this book. The functional family life the Browns have is typical of middle class blacks who adapt to success in a white world. It seems that Jane acknowledges the family is black, but they don’t have to act like it. Betsey’s running away shows that all teens go through a period of confusion, doubt, and rebellion before they find their way, no matter what walk of life they come from. Betsey focus is on who she is while her mother concentrate on what she wants for her family. I can remember my mother becoming upset because I announced I wanted to be a Black Nationalist. “I ‘m black and I’m proud” is what I chanted only I really did not agree with most of the things they stood for.

Teen Violence

Violence among teens
Shirley woke up early that Monday morning. She knew what had happened on Saturday and felt very apprehensive about the threat Gail had made. How could she get out of going to school? What would the other kids think of her if she did not show up? Would Gail follow through on her treat? In the most of all her pondering her mother was preparing breakfast and the smell nauseated Shirley. As she marched down stairs her thoughts were more on running away than eating food.
As fictional as this may seem the scenario is more real than fake. Every day some teens go off to school with fear in their hearts. The National Center for Victims of Crime reports that “5.4 percent of high school students report staying home at least one day a month because they fear for their safety.” In the novel Hairstyles of the Damned Gretchen is a bully who beats up every girl who she catches with the guy she loves. Violence among teens is a common theme through out most of the books in Adolescence Literature. The questions I have are who are the perpetrators? What effect does violence have on teens as a whole? To what extent does teen violence go?
Outline
I. Perpetrators of Violence
a. Personality Trait
b. Family Background
c. Causes of Teen Violence

II. Effects of Teen Violence
a. Fear of the Victims
b. Frustrations of the Community
c. Disruption of Learning Ability

III. Extent of Teen Violence
a. Verbal to Physical
b. Gang Related Activity
c. School Riots
d. School Shootings

Teen violence is as American as Apple pie. One group of people have always felt the need to victimize another. Teens seem to have more energy to exercise the physical and verbal actions necessary to bully someone or a group. It may be due to their fear they have of the future or their feeling of inferiority of the oppressed persons. What ever the reason it is common among teens.

Huck

It never ceases to amaze me how people go to great lengths to cover up or hide the ills of society. The racism that existed during the time of Huck is as real as the book portrays it. It may sound ignorant to those who are born after 1970 and are not of the black race, but for me it is nothing new.
I can understand how Toni Morrison and other black people would take offense to the term “nigger” that is used so frequently in the book. I can even see why some would feel it an even greater insult the incorporate humor into such a disgraceful treatment of another human being. What I don’t understand is what is worse the mentioning of the act or the act itself?
In the book Jim is depicted as a funny talking, funny looking, raggedy clothes wearing, uneducated human being. Where some of his character is far fetched most is not. I found myself asking the question “am I to see this book as fiction or non-fiction.” As a fiction character I would laugh at all of the people in the book because they all at some point resemble Jim in all ways. On page 147 the caption “Courting on the Sly “is of a white male and female whom can fit the profile of Jim. The explanation is, “some of the young men was bare footed, and some and some of the children didn’t have on any clothes but just a tow-linen shirt.” Or the caption “I am the Late Dauphin!” on page 141 that paints the white men as funny and ragged looking make them look as poor and ignorant as Jim.
For Huck to not see Jim as a human being, equal to him, is something that has transcended time. It was only a few years ago that I ran into a group of white people who had not been exposed to black people on a personal level. They were as in the dark about the culture as the Huck is about Jim.
Like it or not the book is a true depiction of what blacks endured as a result of racism. What I do find to be fiction is the adventures the two of them encountered and always managed to escape. I also see that even though Jim is intended to be an underprivileged “nigger” he is portrayed as being a voice of wisdom for Huck.

Charlotte: 2010

Charlotte is a pretty naïve teenager who, for the most part, is engaged in school, home, and church. She is the only child of two extremely respected members of their community. Her mom is a doctor and her father is the CEO of a Managed Care Organization. They live in a modest area of a small city where they raise her on Christian values and family unity. Her parents have high hopes for her future and she is well aware of their expectation. Her life is pretty quiet until a new family moves into the neighborhood. The parents are recently divorced and the daughter and son live with the mother, who is also a doctor.
Shakyla is a slim pretty black girl who is some what of a survivor and has no problem adjusting to their new environment. Charlotte, who has never had a black friend before, begins to hang out with the new girl. At the same time she has been secretly reading books and renting movies about teens that are liberated and doing their own thing. As the two girls discuss their fantasies and the things Charlotte has read about they start hanging out the Mall in the downtown area.
Malik, Shakyla’s bother, runs into them at the Mall and begins to scold them about being there, but not before his delinquent friends take notice of the two girls’ beauty. Rod whispers in Charlotte’s hear and Duke begins to sweet talk Shakyla. Neither girl is ready for what the advances of the four year older guys they are becoming infatuated with. Against Malik’s counseling, they start dating the two jock type drop outs. After the second date Charlotte confesses to Shakyla that Rod is constantly touching her in places she does not feel comfortable. Shakyla is experiencing the same thing with Duke, but she says she “is not having it.” She remembers what happened to her cousin who fell for a guy who she thought loved her. In the aftermath she has two kids and he is nowhere to be found. She is determined not to be victim of an unwanted teen pregnancy. She admits that Duke is good looking and a smooth talker, but she realizes that she is not the only girl he has told the same word to.
Charlotte, on the other hand, has not been exposed to guys like Rod, so she is very entices with the attention she gets. On the fourth date Rod lets her know that he has never dated a girl that he had not slept with by the second date. He further states that if she loves him she would not withhold her body from him. The pressure becomes too great and she gives in.
The fear of what she has done leads her to tell Shakyla who suggests she get a check up. Rod is extremely sexually active and it turns out he has given her an STD. Charlotte is furious and breaks off with him.