The Blind Side by Michael Lewis

        The Blind Side by Michael Lewis is about a boy who grew up in a family with a crack addict for a mom and eleven other siblings. His father, his real name, and even his birthday remains a mystery to him. He doesn't even know how to read or write. He had no source of entertainment or passion in his life until the Tuohy family comes along. The rich, Evangelic family takes him off the streets and into their home to raise him as one of their own. The boy's name was Michael Oher and his emotional and unusual story tugged on the heartstrings of many people throughout this book.
        Michael gravitated towards football, specifically an offensive lineman, not just because of his size, but because of the idea that the job of the offensive lineman is to protect the quarterback at all costs. Despite his past, Oher proves himself to be a powerful force on the field. At the high school Oher attended, every one judged. Not only for the color of his skin, but because of his size and stature. When it came time for Oher to be considered for the NFL, Tom Lemming, an NFL recruiter, offered some insight on Oher's potential. He said, "He was different from just about every other kid," and "if Michael Oher in the flesh was anything like Michael Oher on the videotape, Lemming was afraid not to make an exception of him"(Lewis 30-31). This just shows that just because someone is different or out of the ordinary, does not mean you should judge or make assumptions about their talent.
        A story a out judging a book by its cover was reported by CBS News. Malcom Mitchell, a Georgia football player, was at a book store waiting in line. He just so happened to be next in line to a woman named Kathy Rackley. Rackley and Mitchell got to talking and somehow started talking about a book club that Rackley had just joined. Mitchell was immediately interested, to Rackley's surprise. Rackley said, "I don't know if you want to join mine". She assumed that, because of his appearance that he wouldn't be as much of a book enthusiast as Mitchell really is. Mitchell said that he finished The Hunger Games series in just three days! The article summed it up perfectly when they said, "Sometimes football makes men great. And sometimes, great men just happen to play football."

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I started The Perks of Being a Wallflower just recently and I can already tell it is going to be one of the better books I have read. Originally, I went to the library with another book in mind but due to the fact that it was unavailable, I had to find another one. I am definitely not the biggest book reader so I only take suggestions from my friends because we all do not really enjoy reading so we usually only read popular books that everyone has talked about. So many people have recommended this book to me and I have just never thought of reading it until now. I try to stay in the area of books about "growing up" or teen-related books. I have already seen the movie adaptation of this book and it is one of my favorites, so I am interested to see if I will like the book just as much if not more than the movie.

Stephen Chbosky created a story with a lot of different types of teenagers in mind, but specifically for the ones trying to find their way, not just in high school, but in life. In my short time of reading this book, it seems like Chbosky drew inspiration from The Catcher in the Rye. I read The Catcher in the Rye my freshman year and although it was an older novel, I really enjoyed it because it was a coming of age story and that is very relatable for my age because I am still growing up and trying to find my way. In Chbosky's novel, he introduces a character named Charlie. Charlie is a very dynamic character who writes letters to someone unknown as he enters the uncharted territory of high school. On August 25, 1991, Charlie writes his first account. He starts out with, "So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be"(2). This quote completely encompasses Charlie's struggle with his emotions and his want for trying to find himself. Many teenagers could possibly relate to this statement. Hardly any teenagers in high school know exactly who they are and what they want to do.

Self-awareness can have the potential to be quite a long journey for many people in high school. It can lead some down a dangerous path or it can lead others down a successful path where they hopefully get a better understanding of who they are. In this blogpost from The Huffington Post, Katie Atkinson, a high school junior, writes about her journey of gaining self-awareness. Her advice is to try not to do what everyone else is doing and put yourself in a risky situation just to fit in. Charlie is out under the influences of his friends to do stuff he maybe wouldn't have if it had not been for the group of people he hangs out with. If his friends smoke pot, he will smoke pot. If his friends drink, he'll drink. Charlie, like many other high schoolers, tend to follow the crowd and just try to get through high school when it should really be the other way around and young adults should see where their own path leads them.

This is Where it Ends by Martha Ninjkamp

        This past week, I started another book. It is called This is Where it Ends by Marlene Nijkamp. I've read this book for about a total of 110 minutes and have read 109 pages. This book is different from all the other books that I read because I have only read non-fiction books up until this point. This is a fiction book about a harrowing fifty-four minutes told from four different student perspectives who are held captive in their high school by a boy with a gun.
        None of the students ever expected to be threatened with a gun when they arrived at school that day. Tyler, the shooter, had personal vendettas against the many people who did him wrong. At 10:05, Tyler decided to fire his first shot. He then holds the students in the auditorium captive. Sylv, his sister, recalls that supposed reasoning behind Tyler’s actions saying that Tyler “told [her] he would make sure the world remembered him”(Nijkamp 84) and that after his mom died he was “always angry”(84) which caused him to seclude himself from his friends. Usually, school shooters have history that motivate them to pull out a gun.
        Adam Lanza, the shooter behind the Sandy Hook tragedy, was similar to Tyler in some ways. They both broke off relations with almost everyone and secluded themselves. Although, Lanza’s mental illness was severe and caused him to “think about mass murders”. Lanza’s connection to Sandy Hook was his mother who taught there and was later murdered by Adam. Just like Adam put one of his family members in danger, Tyler has put his sister, Sylv, in danger. Both Adam and Tyler went on a shooting spree, with no second thought about what they were doing or who they shot the bullet at. I am interested to see how this book ends and what happens to Tyler in the end.

Citations:

Nijkamp, Martha. This is Where it Ends. Sourcebooks Fire, 2016.

Lysiak, Matthew. Why Adam Lanza Did it. News Week, 7 Jan. 2014, http://www.newsweek.com/why-adam-lanza-did-it-226565. Accessed 14 Oct. 2016.


       

Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth

Due to the busyness of Homecoming Week, it was hard trying to find free time to read, let alone start a new book. I got a little bored in the middle of this book and did not feel like continuing with reading during the twenty minutes we get to read everyday at the beginning of class. I am almost finished with this book and I'm looking forward to see how it ends.

When I left off from the last blog, I was in the middle of the book and I was yet to be introduced to a teenage criminal named Ronnie. Ronnie came from a broken home with a dad who was not present, a mom who was struggling for money and hardly ever saw Ronnie and his little brother, and an aunt who constantly abused him physically and emotionally. Ronnie would never retaliate against his aunt but whenever his aunt would hurt him he'd think, "I want to run and get a knife and put it in her stomach and watch her cry the way she was making me cry,"(Hubner 44). In order to cope, he would think of "inflicting the pain on her she was inflicting on me. It made me feel good"(44). This definitely affected Ronnie going into his teenage years. As a reflection of his violent child years, Ronnie slipped into a dark state of mind. He turned to drugs and violence. A turning point in Ronnie's life showed just how much his childhood affected him, turning a knife on his little cousin, Kenny. Ronnie "chased him around the house two or three times and then out into the yard"(129). Kenny was "screaming and crying and running"(129). Ronnie admitted that Kenny's screaming and crying "pumped him up" and if he'd have caught him, he'd have stabbed him (129). I have yet to find out how Ronnie's story ends, but I am looking forward to it.

Noam Shpancer Ph.D., wrote an article for Psychology Today about how childhood drama can affect teenagers and adults act later in their life. Shpancer states that research has shown that early trauma is a "major predictor-and causal agent-not only of neurotic-spectrum problems such as anxiety, depression, and relationship issues"(Shpancer) The article even talks about how people who experience trauma early in life have the tendency to get into more trouble than others who grew up in a solid household. In Last Chance in Texas, Ronnie, who had gone through traumatic experiences whilst still a young kid, landed himself in Giddings State School and a therapy program in order to draw some compassion out of the criminal youth. Throughout therapy, it is clear that Ronnie has some signs of depression and anxiety while telling his story. This article sheds light on the effects of traumatic situations and how the people who experience them at an early age, like Ronnie and many others of the criminals in Giddings State School, are more likely to end up in some sort of trouble.

Citations:

Hubner, John. Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth. New York:

    Random House, 2005. Print.

Shpancer, Noam. Dealing With Childhood Trauma in Adult Therapy: Facts and Fo.

    Psychology Today, 17 Sept. 2011. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/insight

    -therapy/201109/dealing-childhood-trauma-in-adult-therapy-facts-and-fo.

    Accessed 30 Sept. 2016.

Girl, Interrupted and Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen and Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth by John Hubner

In the book, Girl, Interrupted, Susanna Kaysen tells the story of her time at McLean Hospital, a psychiatric facility. She writes about the many strong personalities she encountered and her experiences she had in her time at the hospital. Although I had heard good things about this book, I ended up abandoning it 132 pages into it. This was because I could not manage to figure out the plot of the book. I found myself getting lost throughout the dialogue between the characters and forgetting what the book was about. I lost interest which led me to abandon it for another book. I ended up choosing Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth by John Hubner. This book takes the reader inside Giddings State School, home to four hundred lawbreakers. Out of the four hundred, Hubner focuses on a boy and a girl through intense group therapy that forces them to look back on their crimes they had committed and the abuse they had suffered whilst growing up. Over the past week, I’ve read for 180 minutes, and I plan on finishing this book in two weeks.

Towards the beginning of the book, Linda Reyes, a therapist who works at Giddings, explains how the tactics they use to build emotion in the criminals. She said that while listening to their stories, she saw a lack of empathy in the kids. She describes the importance of understanding and sharing the feelings of others saying, “empathy keeps you from doing something that might harm someone. We had to find a way to build empathy”(14). In effort to get the convicts back in touch with their feelings, Reyes suggests a process called psychodrama, which is the act of reenacting key scenes in their life that in turn gives them a chance to break the wall they have built up and connect with their emotions. One boy by the name of Tran, was the second to share his story. He tells the story of his early encounter with abuse. At the young age of five, Tran had unfortunately stumbled upon the startling scene of his uncle beating his aunt, repeatedly yelling, “I’m the man of the house! I do what I want!”(21). His uncle heard Tran’s crying amidst the yelling and hits him, later chaining him to a table routinely in the morning. Trying his hardest to stop his tears from overflowing, Tran is stubborn and will not accept any form of compassion or help saying, “When I was chained up, that wall was my only friend! I built my own wall...So thick, nobody comes around...I don’t deserve it!”(22). Many of the teen criminals in this book struggle with getting in touch with their emotions, but after opening up, they are convinced they are not worthy of any kindness or help from others at all. Their past experiences with abuse had a negative influence on many of the teens at Giddings and have scarred them deeply and reopening the wound is the toughest part of breaking down the walls they have tried so hard to build up.

Children who are exposed to abuse are more likely to have negative psychological effects. This article explains the effects of exposure to abuse at an early age and lists effects on the mental health of the children including anxiety, depression, dissociation, flashbacks, and difficulty connecting with others. Exposure to abuse as a child can impact what that child’s life will look like when they reach adulthood. The teens in Last Chance in Texas who have been exposed to abuse have many difficulties connecting with their emotions and have built up a brick wall, keeping the emotions captive. The abuse they were exposed to might have been a factor in why they might have committed the crimes that landed them into Giddings. In childhood, youth are very impressionable and by experiencing abuse so young, this may have them think that is normal and that it is okay. It is very important to inform children that it is not normal and never acceptable to abuse anyone physically or emotionally.

Citations:

Kaysen, Susanna. Girl, Interrupted. New York: Vintage Books, 1999. Print.

Hubner, John. Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth. New York:

    Random House, 2005. Print.

“Effects of Child Abuse and Neglect.” Joyful Heart Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web.

    14 Sept. 2016.

   

   

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore

In the book The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, Wes Moore swings back and forth between his story of growing up and the life story of another man of the same name. Typically, I would not choose a non-fiction book to read by choice. Even though this is not normally what I would read, I am really glad I picked this book for my summer reading. I read this book in two days. That may seem very fast but I was in a car for a total of eighteen hours so I figured I would get the book out of the way. Overall, I did think the book was very interesting in the way that Wes Moore contrasted his life with the other Wes Moore.

In the middle of the book, Wes Moore includes a memory of when he went to visit the other Wes Moore on his birthday in a correctional institution. Both Moore's reflected on the wrongs of their childhood and where those wrongs had led them. For the author Wes Moore, they had only motivated him to be his best self. He has gone on to be an author, social entrepreneur, and a former US Army Officer. Thanks to the people who led him on the right path, he was able to overcome the obstacles of his adolescence, unlike the other Wes. The other Wes did not have a strong foundation or someone to lean on and protect him from committing crime at an early age. Whilst sitting there with the other Wes, the author says, "I guess it's hard sometimes to distinguish between second chances and last chances" (Moore 67). Moore's tone is meditative as he thinks about how it is difficult to tell how many chances you have until you run out. Later in the book, Moore creates a tone that makes the reader feel sympathy for the other Wes. Moore writes, "Wes was tired. Tired of being locked up, tired of watching drugs destroy entire families...He understood that his thoughts contradicted his actions" (138). Through this quote, the reader can see that even though Wes was selling drugs and taking part in criminal activity, he was upset. The other Wes was not proud of what his life had come to and Wes Moore, the author, wanted to reflect this sadness in this book.

This book highlights the brutal city life that both Wes' experienced. Growing up in such a harsh environment can impact how a person turns out when they become adults. This article provides an explanation why teens that grow up in harsh cities are more likely to engage in violent activity or commit crimes. Both Wes Moores' lives were greatly impacted based on the people they were surrounded with and what they were exposed to at a young age. In the article, William Harms writes that the children cope with violence in different ways. They can choose to use those experiences to make them stronger or fail to get out of the dangerous environment they grew up in.

Citations:

Moore, Wes. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. New York: Spiegel
       & Grau Trade Paperbacks, 2011. Print.

Harms, William. "Urban Youth Cope with Neighborhood Violence in Diverse Ways." UChicago
      News. N.p., 02 Dec. 2010. Web. 28 Aug. 2016.