Everyone's Special

I read the book "Looking for Alaska" by John Green. This book is very interesting, in my opinion. Lots of weird things and people happen and live in Culver Creek Preparatory School, Alabama. It seems like the middle of nowhere. But the people in the school make up for its weird location. They love to do crazy things. But, these aren't the jock- popular kids. These are the smart-popular kids.

There's the main character Miles (also known as Pudge) who likes to memorize famous peoples last words. Then, there's Chip Martin (also know as Colonel), who likes to memorize capitals of countries. Also, Takumi Hikohito is an amazing MC. And, who could forget, the crazy Alaska Young who is a sex-addict. From the first day Pudge arrived at Culver Creek Preparatory School, he has had a crush on Alaska. That's not the point though. The point is that all these people have very interesting talents (or something like that) and that makes them stand out.

So, after readin this book, I have concluded that everyone is special in their own way. Now, it may not be as obvious as Pudge, but everyone is special. For example, I am extememly passionate about soccer and I try to play everyday. Basically, I live for soccer. And it could be the same for other people. You could like sports such as football, basketball, or baseball. Maybe, your talent is a bit different, such as memorizing definitions for words straight out of a dictionary (this is just an example). You may not realize what it is yet, but it's there.

They say most friendships last 7 years

I'm reading the book "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian"by Sherman Alexie. It is about the courageous Indian, Arnold Spirit. He is also known as Junior to the Spokane Indians that live on the reservation. All his life he wanted a bit of a change, something other than drunk adult Indians and fistfights everyday. He especially wanted a change from being picked on everyday and wanted a decent education. Is that too much to ask for? Apparently, it is for most Indians because when Arnold switches from the local Indian school to the school of Reardan (which is in a white town 22 miles away from where he lives) he is completely shunned by people he had known for his whole life. He was even shunned by his best friend, Rowdy, which he had known for most of his life.

It starts off as a very masculine friendship. Although, Arnold isn't the most masculine man in the world, Rowdy comes very close to that. Rowdy is the toughest kid on the reservation. He is long and lean (and as Arnold says, as strong as a snake). He is too tough to even show emotions. Rowdy becomes and looks even more tougher due to his dad. Rowdy's dad drinks hard, and hits Rowdy and Rowdy's mom all the time. But, whenever Arnold asks Rowdy about it (such as a bloody face) Rowdy would say, "It's war paint. It just makes me look tougher." Ever since kindergarten Rowdy got into fights, and he fought everybody. But not Arnold. Rowdy and Arnold were both born on the same day of November 5th, 1992. And they were best friends ever since. Best friends, that is, until Arnold transferred to Reardan.

Things were never the same between them afterwards. Probably because Rowdy never talked to Arnold again. And just like that, a 14-year-long friendship vanished. Just because of one comment. I can't hate on Rowdy though. He felt betrayed, his only real friend betrayed him for a stupid school. How would that make you feel? I can relate to both of them though. Sometimes, you need a change in life whether it affects people positively or negatively. You just can't hate the person that needed or went through that change though. You have to look from both perspectives, and you have to try to understand. Because, you now, there is always room for forgiveness.

"The Mission" to do the right thing

I read the book "The Mission" by Jason Myers. It is very similar to his last book "exit here." which I did a blog post about last week. I decided to read this book because it was from an author that I really like (Jason Myers). Also, Isaac recommended this book to me, and he knows some really good books. And, once again, I was sucked into a great book from a great author. I read it in 3 days.

But, this book was very saddening.  This kid, Kaden, goes to California for a week with his uncle who parties everyday and is a druggie. And, in that week, his life is almost completely ruined. Now, I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but it made me think. His life has been screwed up because of other peoples decisions. I think it is extremely unfair, and why should he have to pay for other peoples bad decision? And, as in other Jason Myers books, Kaden turns to drugs and alcohol. Although, it was Kaden's idea to turn to drugs and alcohol, it wasn't his idea for all this drama to happen before he was born to affect him in the future.

If this had happened to me I'm not sure how I would react at first. Probably some mixed feelings of confusion and anger. There are many ways I could face this problem. But, a lot of them aren't very good solutions. I could, for example, do what Kaden did and turn to drugs and alcohol. Or, I could just lock myself away from the rest of the world. The issue that Kaden had to face was horrible, and I believe no one should have to face the same problems as he had to. So, as a way to at least try to stop this issue, I want people to stop and think, what would be the right thing to do? Or, how could this affect me and someone else in the future? Then, maybe, people realize that some things are better off not doing.

How does drug use affect what we are like in the future?

I have just finished the book "exit here." by Jason Myers. I thought that this was a great book. I usually prefer to read fiction stories, but this one is completely different to those. This book is about the drug-related lives of these guys and the consequences of drugs. The main character, Travis Wayne, has returned from the worst vacation he's ever had. During this same summer his world is flipped upside down. I don't want to spoil anything from the book, so I won't say any more. This is a really good book that I would definitely recommend to any one that could handle the contents of the book.

When I finished the book, I realized, Travis's life was completely ruined because of drugs. That must really suck. How would you like it if your whole life was ruined, already at the age of 20 because of things that you really don't need, like drugs. You don't really think about these kinds of things until they really happen, but this book shows the horrible truth about drugs. It's something I'd never want to go through.

At the very end of the book I read the "About the Author". This, for me, was the worst part of the book. It said: "Jason Myers has lived the exit here life. This isn't a memoir, but Myers has lived close enough to guys like Travis to know how to tell the story right." Then, I had a horrible realiztaion that, you just can't make that stuff up, something very similar must have happened to Jason Myers or his friends for him to write a book like this. So, in what ways would drugs affect the people who do drugs? Would it change for the worst like Travis? Or, would the person mature and change for the better, like Jason Myers?

How many of us are blue?

I read the book "Am I Blue?" by Bruce Coville. In the book the main character, Vince gets bullied for being homosexual, or gay. Then, out comes a man named Melvin, claiming he is Vince's fairy godfather. He talks about all the gays in the world and the three gay fantasies. While I read the book I realized that (if what is said in the book is true) there are many more gay people in the world that we think. But, there is nothing wrong with that. I've always supported the gay community even though I myself am not gay. I do this because that's how my parents taught me to be like, you shouldn't change other peoples cultures just because you think it's wrong (although I don't think its wrong to be gay). During this incredible process that Vince is going through I, in a way, followed him.

Vince starts off very uncomfortable, this is because from what he has learned, he is apparently gay. He had been bullied for being gay, but he never was 100% sure he was gay. He was later informed that Melvin's, the fairy god father, job was to help kids that got bullied for being gay, not that they were actually gay. This relieves Vince in a way, and I could relate because I would never like someone to come out of nowhere and just tell me that I'm gay. That would be very unpleasant. So, Melvin talks to Vince about his experiences of being gay and how he became a fairy godfather. Although it seems very improbable that the fairy godfather part would happen in real life it leaves you wondering. "What if every gay person in the world turned blue for a day?" Now, that would be something.

Since it can't happen in our world it would have to happen in "Am I Blue?". The results are fascinating. Almost immediatly the strange event is on TV world-wide causing a big confusion. Now that Vince can see who gay and who isn't gay the results are incredible. Those who were thought to be gay aren't, and those who bullied "gay" people are actually gay themselves. This made me wonder, would the results be similar in the real world? Although we might never know we can be sure to not judge a book by it's cover. Just because you think someone is or does something doesn't mean they actually do it.