Change for the Bad

Jeans has been apart of Americans culture for quite some time now. Everyone we know or once knew wore jeans at some point in their lifetime. Our society has been so overwhelmed on materialistic things that we not only worry about jeans, we worry about what kind and how we wear them. Their once was a time when people wore their jeans rolled up at the bottom. People wore their jeans in all kinds of ways, ripped, baggy, patchy, tight, and even over sized.

When I was in grammer school the style back then was baggy clothes. The way society was if you didn't have baggy jeans or didn't sag them you wasn't cool. Their was this boy who walked in the classroom the second week after school started. We all knew he was different and was obviously from somewhere else because of the way he dressed. He came into the class with jeans that had furry patches in random spots on the jeans. My friends and I made fun of this kid because we never seen anything like that and we thought it was wierd.

One thing that I started to admire about him was that he wasn't afraid to be himself just because society denied him and his way of dressing. This became an everyday thing for him, he always came in with furry things on his jeans and sometimes shirts. He said he stitched everything together. In other words it was his creation. I thought that was pretty tight and after that me and him became pretty cool. But then after a few months in my school things started to change.

Reggie began to dress like everyone else and talking like us aswell. You can tell he was just trying to fit in. But what he fail to realize is that by him fitting in that didn't make us respect him more, that just made us accept him more. We respected the fact that he was different and he didn't do what everyone else did. When reggie began to act like everyone else and dressing like everyone else, he was accepted but, no one respected him. He was like a tag along, a send off, a want to be.

Blog Post #2

Life changing experiences becomes a necessity. However not all life changing experiences are for a good cause but for me it was intellectually stimulating. In 2004 while in the student library I came across a book entitled " Forged By Fire". What cought my attention at first glance was the cover of the book, the cover of the book so happened to be my favorite color and at that time I wanted everything that was in red. Little did I know, this book was going to change me and the way I view things.


The real reason why I believe this book changed my life is because it was the very first book that I've ever understood completely. Usually I would read and by the end of the book I couldn't tell you the true meaning behind the book or the main message behind it all. What I loved about the book was that It didnt start out boring, when you turned to the first page it was action right their. It had gotten to a point where me and my teacher got into a confrontation because she wouldn't allow me to continue reading while she was teaching.

The book was about was about a young boy who witnessed his step father beat his mother on a daily basis. After his mother was taking away from him he witnessed nothing but heart ache and struggle. The boy in the book was exactly my age and I couldn't believe the things he was going through but then again I related to him in so many ways. It wasn't until after I read the book when I started to realize what was going on around me and how I was going to make a change as an individual.

I too grew up watching my little brother father beat my mother, and just like the boy in the book I was afraid to help, I was afraid to move. The only difference is, in the book I can fast foward, rewind or even stop the story but in reality I couldn't stop, rewind, or foward what was going on in my home. I felt the boys pain, I felt the exhaust, I felt the burn. After reading the book I began to speak up about what was going on and eventually told my little brothers father boy to man how I felt about the situation.

This book means so much to me because believe it or not it made me part of the man I am today. Forged by Fire is a very emotional book and I believe that no matter what you been through, if you pick up this book, it will open up your third eye just as they say weed does. you will find what was missing in your life and what needs to be changed within you and the world as a whole.

Writing and Rheroric

Based off the cover art, the aurthors gave me an impression that this book would be about American Literature and since it was in pencil it might be old stories. The titles of the sections seemed to be all American problems and issues. After skimming through many of the sections the one that stood out to me the most was "Against School". I've chose this passage because I think that it's a very strong argument and choice of topic. I believe that we all have been brain washed into a certain way of thinking and this passage reveals that.