Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “We acquire the strength we have overcome”. And I think that this applies for all three Persepolis, Swing Kids, and Hotel Rwanda. It applies to Persepolis by the fact that she has overcome so many things. Like the divorce, and moving to a different country leaving her parents behind. I mean she had to deal with making a whole new life, and then she was in a country that was in war when she was younger. She lived a very learn full life because she had to do a lot of independence starting at a young age. She had to learn a lot of social skills all on her own.

It ties into Swing Kids by the fact that four friends get split up because two go into Hitler youth and swing then the other two continue to just swing. And the two who join Hitler youth don’t stay as good of friends because one strongly believes everything that the Nazis tell them and the other disagrees with what the Nazis teach them. In the end one of the swing kids commits suicide. He learned right from wrong and he was not going to support wrong even if it meant death. The two in Hitler youth fought but realized that friendship is stronger than what was currently happening with the Hitler youth and the Nazis wanted from them. The two eventually split up one goes to a work camp, and the other goes and stays in the Hitler youth.

It ties into Hotel Rwanda by the fact that the hotel manager has to worry about hundreds of people. When the president died then the Hutu starting killing off the Tutsi. The managers’ whole family was Tutsi same with a lot of his neighbors. Then the hotel becomes a safe spot for them. In the end thousands of people died and over a thousand survived thanks to one man with some help of the rebels, and the U.N. The hotel manager learned that life is important to everyone. He also learned that in any situation good or bad he can always help out others.

James

Persepolis
By: James

This is a good book though it is a comic book and says a few occasional swear words. I think it’s a good book because of the fact it gives you a new look at the Middle East. I mean we all have our own issues. There they have terrorists, and her we have an eating problem. We’re all human and some normal, most not. See this book has shown me that they go through some similar issues we have to go through. They’re forced to do certain things, and if they don’t do them then they get treated horribly especially the women, sometimes guys. I would recommend this book for other schools for either English class or history class because I think it will give a lot of people a new perspective on the Middle East.

Depression

Have you ever felt that life was to hard, or maybe that you couldn’t handle everything that’s showed up in your life? Well you’re not alone; I’ve felt this way plenty of times. It’s hard to deal with I agree, but that is the time where it is important not to give up. See I have a problem with depression I know how it works and what it feels like which is why I do not think it is something to joke about. It can lead people into addictions such as drugs, alcohol, self-harm, or worse suicide. When people joke about suicide and/or depression I believe it gives me a pretty good reason to get upset. I’ve had people around me attempt suicide and I myself have attempted suicide several different times. Let me share an attempt with you just so you get an idea of how scary it is.
Here I am taking a time-out and it seems everyone is mad at me and that my life is crumbling down. I thought that I had finally hit rock bottom and that I would never get out of this hole I was in. I didn’t know exactly how I was going to off myself but I thought it had to be done if I could never be good at anything. Then I saw my belt just lying there on the floor, and it hit me I’m going to choke myself out with my belt. I mean nobody is around to stop me. So I put the belt around neck pulling it tighter and tighter. I start to have a hard time breathing thinking to myself “this is it”. But just then my belt got caught as I start to panic. I start to see black. After about 30 seconds to a minute my belt loosened up. I breathe terribly fast trying to get back to my normal self. I didn’t tell anyone for 2 months.
This incident was this past year. It was the closest I had ever come to death. It was this scariest thing I’ve ever gone through. For this reason I think that suicide and depression is never funny and should not be messed with…

james

Adversity and Challenges

I agree and disagree with Winston Churchill when he said, “If you’re going through hell, keep going”. I disagree with it because life has been hell for me, and I’ve kept on going and yet it is still hell for me. It may be a different hell, but still hell. So when people say that this quote has some special symbolic meaning I tend to disagree because to me it’s common sense, it’s natural, it’s survival… because I could simply give up shrivel up and die but that just isn’t an option for me. However, I agree with Winston Churchill in the fact that once you’ve reached the point of giving up the only thing you can do is move on.

I bet you’re asking yourself “if he is going through hell how has he made it this far in life?” It’s because I have family and friends who lift me up when I need them the most and even when I don’t treat them the best I still get treated like a king. I love my family and friends. My family is not close to the best, but what family is perfect? My friends at least here at Summit consist of Rory, Kesha, Rachel, Alex, and plenty of others including teachers. These are the people I trust and people that I truly care for because they help me, support me, and treat me with the love of a friend. I appreciate all they do for me and someday I will have to repay the favor.

James

Matrix Talent

I guess the talent I would have would be to have the social skills to blend in and make friends anywhere I go. You might ask why I would want such a simple talent, because I could just learn them right? The answer is because I grew up with an older generation so heard a lot about ‘back in the day’ that I didn’t really learn about the social skills of my generation. It may appear that there’s not a difference, but there is a big difference. What I look at as nice to people others see it as being walked all over. I see a big difference between what I was told and what I’ve seen.

If I could have learned this talent when I was ‘knee high to a grasshopper’ (younger), then I would not have felt so isolated - see I never really fit in with any crowds. I choose to feel isolated because I wasn’t good at sports, talking to people and stuff like that. I fit in more with teachers than the students. This is why I think that being put in the group home is not such a bad thing because I have learned so many social skills since I’ve been here. Also I love Summit because it has brought people into my life that has helped me with my social skills. Those are the reasons why I would want the talent of social skills.

James

Narrative: Body Paragraphs

Death of close ones

My brother Jacob passed away with half a heart. It was horrible; my dad and I believe that is why my mom divorced him, but we are not for sure. We took so many pictures of Jacob he was a cute baby. The only picture I have right now is his obituary-it’s depressing. I need to get some more from my parents. Jacob lived longer than the doctors said they guest around a month and he stayed with us for four months. He was a tough little soldier.

So I had three very close friends pass away I will talk about two now, one later. So the first friend was in his 40’s. He went in for heart surgery and something went wrong and he died of heart failure. This friend was Rocky D. Miller he was such a nice guy cared about everyone even those he didn’t know.

My next friend is Thomas C. He jumped off of a bridge thinking that there was a ledge on the other side, and there wasn’t. When I went to Cedar City for his funeral, I went to see the family and they said I was consider family they let me stay with them and I had the privilege of joining the family prayer. I feel/felt so bad because the last thing I remember ever telling him is “you should learn how to treat a friend”. I was not the kind of friend he deserved.

My grandmother passed away of old age. She was a good lady I went to visit her every chance I had gotten. She worked so hard to get her family the necessities and then some. She very a fun lady who loved everyone, and she would have helped a complete stranger. She always believed if she had to get something done she had to do it herself. She was a very strong woman. I love and miss her so much I one time spent a full summer with her which is what I think created such a good bond between her and I.

Next would be a very close friend though I had only known him for about 2 years he was practically considered family to me. His name was Adam. He worked at the group home but to him it was more than just a job. He cared for everyone he worked with. We were practically family to him. I may not have been the nicest but Adam didn’t care. He was never rude or mean to anyone. I really cared for Adam and will always miss him.

Not even 4 days after Adam’s death a lady who I called Grandma McCarry passed away of cancer. Though she was not family she might as well have been. Her house was a place I could go to just to get away from the world. She would share everything of hers with me. Though I didn’t spend the last few years of her life with her I still cared for her just the same.


James

Narrative Introduction

Have you ever gone to bed worried that you will not wake up the next morning? I have felt worried for the past 14-15 years. It’s a scary feeling. When I was 1-2 years old I had two baby brothers die. The first one died in his sleep I happen to have found him. It was morning time, and I was so excited for the day to start it was around 8-9’o’clock a.m. I remember going in Joshua’s room I went to go and wake him up that is when I found him. All I really remember was his skin was very pale, I went to wake up my parents and tell them to check on Joshua. When they did check on him and my parents started to cry and yell. My dad called 911 and then in like an hour I saw an ambulance outside and the paramedics came in and took my brother out. For ten years I blamed myself never really understanding what happened. I always thought “if I was never sick around him he would still be living.” Now I realize I could not have done anything to stop his death from happening.

James

Fake

I wish people would stop being two-faced,
Because when they are I want more space.
I want to leave my pain behind,
I wish everyone could be more kind.
It hurts me to see everyone lying through their teeth,
It makes me wonder if they’re as fake as my grandpa’s teeth.
I start to wonder who is really real,
When they lie I go for a spill.
I wish I could truly see what everyone’s like,
I want to go and ride away on a bike.
I get hurt everyday,
By their flaky ways.
I want to shed tears of sadness and hurt,
There is no honesty they wear a face and a skirt.
I see just an image before and again,
I wish I had someone who is with me until the end.

James

Summit


Highest of all the peaks,
Doug is the big man on campus.
Everyone listens when he speaks,
All the staff strives to teach us.
It is a school for kids like me,
Who want some sort of change.
Teachers are here to help out me,
Even though they’re kind of strange.
Strange is just a word not good or bad,
Unless it’s the good way of saying bad.
Teachers are good at showing change,
Although they like to show their strange.
Strange is different,
Change is as well.
Strange is funny and good at that,
Change is cunning and not too bad.
They’re here to help us,
To be our friends.
They’re here to help us until the end.

James

Helping a friend!!

Have you ever tried to help somebody in every way you can? I have, and yet everyone that I have tried to help doesn’t seem to want it. Which makes me wonder why do I still try to help them, and I think it’s because I don’t usually give up on people. One thing I need to realize is that I can only help people as much as they want to be helped. This is hard for me to realize because I want everyone to be successful. It makes it especially hard when they are people that I care for or people close to me. I have a friend who has made his fair share of mistakes as we all have. I have tried to help him out in everyway I can, and it is as if he does not want or need my help. Which makes me think, “why do you keep helping him he doesn’t use it?” I guess I will keep trying to help him rather he wants to take it or not, and it’s because I know he is better than what he shows.


James

Help!!

Help, I need somebody,
I need a leader with a dream.
Help, not just anybody,
I need a movie with a theme.
Help, you are the person,
With a dream.

Help, you can be there,
You are the person I need.
Help, I need some kind of hope,
Are you my friend?

Help, someone to give me hope,
You can help me in my time of need.
Help, I need a friend,
To be there for me.
Help, I need a friend until the end,
Who is my hope?
My leader with a dream,
Who will be with me in the end?

James

The Group Home

Being in a group home means less freedom. It has taken me awhile to realize this fact. If I was not in a group home, then I would have a lot more freedom to do what I want. But if I had a choice to stay home or go into this group home I would choose the group home, and it’s because the group home, though it may be hard, has it’s benefits. The group home is a lot better compared to living at home because if I was not living in a group home then only gosh knows what I would be doing right now. When I was at home I went through a ton of abuse I also cause a lot of abuse on others as well. If I was not in the group home I could easily be in prison right now. With me being in the group home I can come to a great school, and I have met some great friends. So if I could I would change what got me into the group home but I would not change being in a group home, coming to summit, and all the people I’ve met.

James

I think that anyone can get several different meanings out of the play Hamlet. I know I had gotten a few meanings, messages, or morals depending on what you want to call it. Some background of the play the king of Denmark, Hamlet Senior, dies and his brother Claudius marries his wife Gertrude.

The first message on my list is love. Now I don’t necessarily know hardly anything about love, and it’s because I’ve never really felt it. In the play, Hamlet (the main person) is in love with Ophelia there relationship was good. Then Ophelia’s dad Polonius wants Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet, and to give back all the stuff he had given her. So Hamlet starts to act all crazy because he thinks he has been betrayed by Ophelia. Hamlet says/acts like he doesn’t love her anymore. Ophelia goes crazy. Then Hamlet kills Polonius for spying on his conversation with his mom. After Ophelia drowns herself because the person she loves yet can’t be around kills her father.

The second thing on my list is deviance. Claudius actually killed his brother Hamlet, the old king, by putting poison in his ear. Hamlet’s friends Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are spying on Hamlet for King Claudius. His friends are also secretly sending him to his death sent by Claudius. Polonius and Claudius are spying on Ophelia’s conversation with Hamlet. I mean this play is filled with all sorts of secrets being kept from others. When a secret gets involved then deviance is there especially if it’s being kept from others around the person.

The third thing on my list is revenge. Hamlet finds out from his dad’s ghost that he was murdered by his brother Claudius, and so Hamlet spends basically the whole play planning out revenge. Laertes, Polonius’s son, hears his father was murdered by Hamlet so he tries to get his revenge on Hamlet. In the end pretty much everyone dies because of revenge.

I think this play is very ironic because revenge is big in society now days. I mean think about it is person #1 insults person #2 there turns out to be a fight so that person #2 can get back at person #1 then person #2 has a bad attitude and involves person #3 who has to get back at person #2 then so on and so on it’s a vicious cycle that continues on until somebody stops it. So just remember people have died because of revenge including innocent bystanders, and it’s just not worth it.

James

I seem to have a few peers who tend to really care for me, and they are important in my life. Here are some examples of what they do, who a few of them are, and why they are important to me. First person I will mention is a good friend, and she has shown that she really cares about me. Around a month ago I told her I was thinking of suicide, and she gave me a light tap on my cheek, assuming it was a pretend slap, and she said “don’t ever think about that”. She is important to me because she helps, she is willing to be there for me, and she wants me to succeed. She is very nice, and she is one of the coolest people that I’ve met. She knows who she is.

The second person on my list he is a way good friend, and he mostly shows that he cares for me. He has gotten mad at me once, I think, through our whole friendship, and he wants me to succeed. He has actually said “I would be willing to take a bullet for you”. This kid is like a brother to me.

I have more people on my list, but these two in particular I would be willing to do anything to help them succeed (within reason). I trust these people with anything. With me my world revolves around people who care about me, and the people who I care about. My biggest fear is being alone without any friends.

James

I happen to disagree with having school uniforms for some simple reasons, like less freedom, can’t show personality, etc… There are plenty more, but I chose three reasons specifically: which are less freedom, can’t show personality, and students dropping out.

My first reason is that if we as students are forced to wear school uniforms then kids will start to drop out. Think about it, if you were a student and use to wearing your own clothes but then the school brought it to an abrupt halt to start uniforms, I’d be willing bet you would be really upset. How do you think the students would react? I’d bet 90% if not 96% of the students would flip a lid.

My second reason is that us as students would not be allowed to show our personality through clothing especially if we have to wear school uniforms. All they could choose about the uniforms is rather they have short sleeve or long sleeve. This is not that big of a deal to a teenager. We need some variety in our lives to spice it up a bit or else it will be dull and boring.

My third and finale reason is that if students are forced to wear school uniforms, then we would have a lot of freedom taken away. Think… why would they have less freedom? I’ll tell you. It’s because they would have only one choice for school clothes no variety. Who would want to go shopping if they could not really show off their new outfits? I know I wouldn’t. Let’s be honest if you bought a brand new outfit to wear to school but then uniforms get put into effect how would you feel?

As for my conclusion, thank you for reading the paper I have written. Also even if you completely disagree or you don’t like what I had said in my paper please at least consider what I had to say next time this subject comes up. I’ll I’m asking for is a little bit of empathy from you and your co-workers.

James

I don’t think that anyone can ever know anything for sure because doubts are always going to be there. If you had no doubts, then you would not be human. Doubt is there to show that we don’t know everything because we are not perfect. When you have a gut feeling or trust somebody don’t doubt them because when you start to doubt the one you “trust” is it really trust or just a lie? If you don’t trust your friends or family who can you trust? Basically family and friends are like the foundation of trust.

I am personally a strong believer in giving others at least a little bit of trust even if I just barely meet them, and until they break that trust it will continue to grow. Like my friends at Summit who consist of Rachel, Kesha, Regan, Ryan E., Mark, Alex, Rory, and many others. I mean I trust some more than others. There are about 2-3 people on that list I would trust with my life, and then it goes down to good friends then just normal everyday friends. And yes teachers are my friends as well.

James

My Plans

When I get out of the group home, I still plan on going to summit to finish my senior year. When I get out, I plan to get phone numbers from all my friends who want to give me their number, and I will give out my new number to all those who want it. I also want to get a job working anywhere but fast food maybe at a movie theatre or Wal Mart or something to that effect. I would like to start dating, but people I know, whether it be an old friend I know or a new friend I know. I just want to be sure that I know the person, so that they know me and I know them at least a little bit. Whoever I date though has to know how to give haircuts (joking) I was told to add something about haircuts in this journal so here it is. When I get out, I plan on doing things that make me happy and an outgoing person. For example hanging out with friends and family or facing my fears when they nail me in the face. I plan on taking everything I have learned in my life and apply them to things in my future to make sure that I do everything in my power to not anyone else. When I get out, I plan on going to different churches and learning about different religions. I plan on meeting a lot of new people and staying in touch with friends from all around.

The future is a scary thing for me. Why? You may be asking yourself. Because I am afraid of the unknown which is not a good thing for me to fear because it’s going to happen and I have no control over it.

James

Issues

Everyone has got their own set of issues. Think honestly. How many issues do you really have? You may be able to run away from one or two issues but not all of them. Me I tried, and I ended up in the system. With me my past happens to sneak up and haunts me. Like with my drinking problem, it has given me a lot of bad memories. Was it fun, and did I enjoy it? Yes for the most part I did, but it comes to a point. Now I can’t listen to others talking about it or even talk about it myself without thinking “how stupid were you?” I regret my past of substance abuse.

Another haunt of mine is abuse of all sorts. My past is full of abuse I personally have been abused since the age of two or three every type of abuse (emotional, physical, sexually and mentally) from family, supposed friends, teachers, and enemies. I personally have done a ton of abuse to others as well. Believe it or not I was a school bully back in 5th and 6th grade. I have done most of the things that has happened to me and then some. My past is a very scary thing for me. If you want to know more about my past then go to my name “James” and go to the post “My problems”

James

Jealousy

So I was given the topic of jealousy to write about. Not just any kind of jealousy but the jealousy of boyfriend and girlfriend kind of jealousy. I think that this type of jealousy happens because the boy and girl are in love for that moment in time. I believe that trust is the main key point here because in any relationship you need trust. Jealousy comes into play when that trust is not there, and when you don’t trust the person you supposedly love then is it really love? I think not. With me I have never really been in a boyfriend girlfriend relationship so I don’t really know what love feels like. I try really hard not to be jealous of anyone for any reason because it just turns out bad in the end. When I think I love somebody it turns out to be a mind trick, and so I’m in a struggle a lot because I wonder is it really love or is it just another mind trick that’s being played on me?

James

My Future


I am a little bit worried because I’m going to be graduating my program in a bit and then high school will be gone this year. It seems like the life that I’ve known for the past two years is coming to an end. Which means no more of the structured environment and more of me doing what I want to do, which is a scary thing for me. I’m so use to being told what to do, and I don’t know what I’m going to do first.

Also I have some friends that I am having some mixed feelings about, and I don’t really know what to do or what to say around the. I mean I still want to be friends with several kids I have met here at summit like Alex, Rachel, Rory, Ryan, etc… if I don’t keep in contact with them, then I shall miss them all. But if I do keep contact with them, then hopefully it will be some good friendships. Either way I wish nothing less than the best for them.


James