Resistance to government

The book and the article are both a like in that they have a theme of being somewhat against the governments tactics.  The article talks about how people do not feel directly connected to the government because many of the issues they try to enforce have no connection to its people.  This is similar to when Joe talk about how he doesn't understand why he was fighting, and how he got tied into the war in the first place.  It was not his war. He had nothing against the people he was fighting.  Yet, the government does.  Joe wanted to feel like he was fighting for something or someone, so he connected his fighting to his family, friends, and girlfriend, Kareen.  But, without that he really did not know what he was fighting for.  This is why many people feel so unconnected to the government, and where the idea of the best government is the one who governs the least.  The agenda of the government and the agenda of its people are always going to be different.  The government has the best wishes of the people, but often those concepts and ideas are not tangible to ordinary people.  Fighting for liberty or freedom is not something you can directly see, so it doesn't seem to relate as a major importance to most. 

Random..?

Well I was trying to study for the ap history test, but I got distracted and wanted to do something different.  It is also hard to study when my sister is in the next room signing really loud.  I don't think she realizes how loud she is.  I am almost finished with reading book one in Jonny Got His Gun...like 30 pages to go.  Some of the pages in my book look like the ink was pressed on to hard so it's really  hard to read some of the words, which is annoying.  I'm really tired of doing home work.  My brother saved up his money forever and bought a Jurassic Park- The Lost World pin-ball machine that he got yesterday...and it's freaking awesome.  It looks just like the ones from the arcade places.  Soo, I have been playing that a lot, and really just want to go play it now.  We are trying to beat the high score, but it's too high to even get close...but we are determined to beat it.  I also just got done and finished my environmental project with Abby V.  The project was to take the piece of land that already had stuff on it and then place certain things on it such as a school, agricultural area, stores, housing, etc.  I felt like I was in third grade making the poster and cutting out shapes to put on it.  Okayy I'm done!

Summer...is soo close!

This year has gone really fast! and I am soo thankful for that.  There is a lot I am looking forward to doing this summer.  I get to see my family that lives in California and Oregon in June, and go to our lake house in Culver, IN with them.  I also am really excited to go back to Costa Rica at the end of July.  I'm going with my youth group for a week and a half for a missions trip.  This will be my fourth time going, and I love it!  We spend the time helping build or fix up houses or just doing anything that needs to be done.  It's amazing because it's completely out of anyones comfort zone.  Last summer, we were sent to a village of a population of about 250.  I stayed with a host family for 5 days, and helped them build their new church.  Some of its like wayyyy beyond out of my comfort zone.  Like near the house I was staying at there was a farm that had a few pigs, which I didn't think anything of...until the next day I saw one of the pigs hanging upside down ready to be killed.  That night guess what was for dinner??? yepp, the pig.  It never seemed to end either, we have it in different styled meals for the next couple days.  Lets just say I was very hungry for those days, because I seriously could not eat it. 

hmm..

I have been sick all weekend.  I thought I was getting better saturday, but today I woke up and my voice is basically gone.  My sister keeps making fun of me cause she says I sound like our dog, which is a pug.  All the sounds he makes are snorting and grunts.  Hmm...not sure what else to write about.  On friday night my brother had this paint-ball battle birthday party at our house.  It was actually really entertaining to watch because it consisted of a bunch of 12 year olds running around in our woods shooting at each other.  Umm...Saturday night I pierced Lauren Voelkers ear twice.  I'm not very good with needles, but I didn't want to act scared or freak her out.  On the other hand, Abby V. (while I am trying to sick a needle in laurens freaking ear) is running around the room screaming "oh myyy Godd I am going to puke!! omgg help I am going to pass out!"  This was a BIG help to the situation, while poor lauren is sitting there helpless not knowing what is going on.  But all turned out well, Abby calmed down, and her ears look very, very cute.

Make up Post

 I didn't realize we had to do a random blog on thursday night because I was sick that day, and i just now realized that a lot of people had 2 random blogs.  

My weekend was pretty packed with stuff starting off with the practice ap us history exam from 830 to 12 on saturday morning....which was horrible!! first of all, it was an extremely nice day out and instead of trying to concentrate on the essay I was attempting to write I was thinking about how much I wanted to be in the sun.  Soooo, when it came to write the last essay i literally could not write.  I kept trying to tell myself that i just needed to concentrate just to see how i would do in real life, but no matter how many times I told myself think...I couldn't.  But, this is partly because I didn't have anything to really write about because I haven't gone over studying for history yet, so I really didn't have any good examples for the essay.  So, I wrote a page basically restating the question, I'm pretty sure it got a 1.  Then just turned it in and got the heck out of there.  I can't stand history!

Gender

Being a girl comes with many disadvantages, but advantages as well.  Men have many stereotypes about women that we have come accustomed to living with.  Such as males always are dominate in all situations, girls are weak and can't defend themselves, they aren't as smart, and they are sexual objects.  I believe all of these judgments to be completely false.  But, we do see girls act this way in society making many people believe that these are fair assumptions to make.  Why i think that we see girls acting this way is not because they are actually weak or stupid, but because they find it easier to play into these stereotypes and act how society wants us and expects us to act.  It makes it much more easier in many situations to accomplish things if you conform to what people want rather than contradicting everything, which could cause conflict.  What we see in the media greatly influences the perception of gender.  All women are made to look flawless and delicate, while men are made to look macho and dominate.  Everyone plays into these roles because it's what we think and know to be "correct."  When there is a female that plays out of these stereotypes then it brings much attention some times positive but mainly negative.  These stereotypes can work for advantage as well.  And this is what many girls have figured out, and it is why they still exist.  Many girls find if they act dumb, weak, and incapable of taking care of themselves they can use it to their advantage to get what they need.  This is unfortunately why girls are still seen in this particular light. 

Ortiz Cofer

After Cofer moved to America her whole perception of her self- image changed, and this was mainly because of images in the media.  In America the media creates ideals of women or men that they think the perfect human should look like, and because of this people are willing to go through extreme lengths to achieve these looks.  Cofer never had a problem with self-image because when she lived in Puerto Rico, because she was considered beautiful there.  But, in America in the medias stand point she was not considered beautiful.  Beautiful to them is what they have created cartoon characters such as Wonder Woman to be.  Wonder woman has perfect hair, large breast, and is slim but still has curves.  Cofer was small and skinny, and once seeing this cartoon character she wanted nothing more than to look the same because she knew that she would then be considered pretty too.  She even was determined to take a pill that would cause her to gain weight.  Many people in America go through the same struggles as Cofer did, because they want to be considered beautiful in societies eyes.  But, many find that it is basically impossible to reach these standards without physically hurting yourself to get there.