"Precious" by Sapphire

         I am currently reading the book "Precious" by Sapphire. It is about a girl named Precious that gets raped by her father and ends up with two kids. Her life feels like its just ending and doesn't know what to do. As she gets kicked out for bad behavior and getting pregnant at school, her teacher gives her the urge for a alternative. Which does help her recover and find her way of life with the help of the alternative school. She knows how to do things and how to control herself.

      One thing I can learn from this book is all you need is a little bit love in the world and everything will be ok. You just need someone to tell you that you can. Precious met Ms. Rain who was an alternative teacher at the alternative school and she helped Precious gain the confidence she needs in order to start a family on her own. At first Precious only lived with her mother just because her mother had all control over her. She used Precious and her first child up for welfare money. Her mother made her fat, just made her eat, I don't if that made her mother feel any thinner. But Precious certainly had a lot of doubt about things that were going on.She didn't want to go in the direction of her mother, she just needed a home and had to. Every time something saw Precious, the same thing went inside their head, a teen pregnancy, it was all her fault. However it's isn't, it's not. She was first raped by her father at 8, and her first child at 12. Sometimes I wonder why she didn't report it. Her mom told her that she stole her husband, but he stole her childhood. Something you can't get back.

         Precious just had her second baby, named it Abdul. She can't get her first child back, Mango. Her second child gave her something that she never had, which is dignity. She had the power to go to Ms. Rain and ask her help. She knew her life couldn't go on like this, she needed something better. Something more powerful and told her that she can do whatever her heart desires. Her past became prologue. She started fresh, currently  she lives in a housing. But when her mother came to take her back, she said "No" which ended the payment for her mother and the welfare. If you can imagine, her mother is pushing her back, while Ms. Rain is encouraging her to do more, to read and write. She even won awards with her writing. Precious isn't who she looks like, she is far more than that, she has a life, a life that has a purpose and goal.

        In conclusion, anyone in life can complete whatever they aim for. Maybe it's just that you need a mentor or something to tell you that you can complete your goals, you don;t need to live in the trouble life. You don't deserve to live in the troubled life, because life has a purpose, and no one deserves to feel like they don't belong. Because they always will. Not to mention, everyone can make the bad good, just like Precious, she made the unearthly world with her rapist dad into something she can stride for, she can live the way she wants to. " Everyone is a gift of the universe"- Ken S. Keys

NON-FICTION BLOG POST

         My nonfiction topic is on bullying. You may think that you've never been bullied and it might not matter that much it matters to someone else that has been bullied. My article was found on the Huffington Post called "Amanda Todd: Bullied Canadian Teen Commits Suicide After Prolonged Battle Online And In School"  and it was about Amanda Todd. A Canadian did one thing that tempted her to kill herself. She went on webcam to one of those websites where you meet strangers. Once she became nude and the person who saw those pictures spammed her all over with those disturbing pictures. Soon they were everywhere, there was a Facebook page to it, the guy mailed her those pictures, and they were all over the internet. Days before her suicide, she posted a video on youtube explaining her bullies though a series of flashcards. She said "Cried like every night, lost all my friends and respect people had for me.... again..... then nobody liked me".

     The author wants us to think that things can get really serious. I mean when she was bullied, no one did anything and it didn't last for a day, it lasted months and people didn't do anything. But now, when she's dead, people pay tribute to her, they actually pay attention. The author wants us to feel like that we should take action when its actually happening, not when it ends. It also wants to inform us that this all happening and that its all real. You should be careful about what happens and about what you say, because things can get really serious. Don't every take an insult as a joke, because it can hurt people.

     My thinking about the issue has changed a lot. Due to the fact that it made me think more in dept and how profound it is. It can get so serious. At first i thought it wouldn't apply to me, and it doesn't but it can, it can apply to my closest friends and people I can lose for doing one thing. I think the issue is very clear that it is very bad, but still not much action is happening when its done, only when it has reached it's limited and there's nothing much you can't do. But sometimes I really do wonder why it happens and why do people do it?

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

        The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is about Charlie, a boy that goes thou an odd emotion stage in high school while discovering his true self. Wallflower means a person who feels awkward or shy at times. Charlie feels very indifferent around everywhere especially in school. He is stuck inside a tomb that he is trapped in and can’t be  just  who he really is, he’s something that was just something that was created of him by his surroundings, or his friends suicide and due to the fact that his friends stopped talking to him after high school. Not to mention that his Aunt Helen died, this was a very important family member. The book is written in an interesting perspective where he writes letters to his anonymous friend.

        In the first semester of high school, he becomes very good friends with an interesting group of seniors. Patrick and Sam were two of the most potent people that he cherished. He had feelings for Sam, not as a friend but in a relationship way. He loved Sam. It seemed like he couldn’t hide it any longer and once he told Sam that he loved her. But after a while, Sam started to date another guy, Craig. While Charlie dated another girl, Mary Elizabeth for a short period of time. I think he did that because of jealousy, he tried to avoid his problems. I think that held him back. He also mentioned the way that Sam’s boyfriend treats her. Charlie thinks that he could treat her way better. He also learned from Patrick that a lot that Sam’s boyfriend cheated on a lot of girls. In the Christmas party, when Charlie was asked to kiss the prettiest girl, he kissed Sam because he had feelings for her, instead of Mary Elizabeth and everyone be-friended Charlie. HE was back to a wallflower stage. Not to mention that Sam’s brother, Patrick is gay and his secretly dating the quarterback, Brad. Even if Patrick is openly gay, Brad is not.   Which results later on, when Brad’s dad found out and beat Brad up in front of the Patrick. While the football’s team beats Patrick up during lunch, Brad doesn’t pitch in, while Charlie does. That was when Charlie broke out of this tomb that is he in, he’s no longer stuck. Charlie let out his feelings and showed it very well while he became friends with the clique again. His sister also had a relationship with an abusive boyfriend. He told his personal mentor, Bill who is his English teacher told his parents and this all stopped. Charlie has these personal talks with his sister which makes him feel like he has a family that loves him. As his relationship with Mary Elizabeth fades, it gains higher in Sam’s. They become really close. Sam reminded him of Aunt Helen, that’s what got him attracted to Sam.  While spending one night at Sam’s he has a mental breakdown that gets him to the hospital. When he gets out of the hospital, he realizes that he moves on with life and he starts from the beginning as a wallflower, or maybe more. The complexity that all these relationships are going and that he tries to push out of this tomb is hard for him. His view of things are incredible and the way that he tries to be something he not.  It’s all for acceptance I guess. He has true friends that look after him.

        However, Justice is served in a way. It’s served because he gets to be who he is. Even if he is a wallflower, justice is served when he goes to help Patrick when he’s getting beaten up he helps out and he breaks out of this tomb. But when he acts like a wallflower again, it brings him back to stage one. His clique is just like his family, Patrick is just like Michel, his friend that committed suicide and Sam is just like Aunt Helen that he had. They both made family and within each other and all the relationships are laid to rest. His sister had her boyfriend stop hitting her, while he had everything worked out and when he was struggling to find out who he really is, but he is really a wallflower. And the is absolutely nothing wrong with that.