Where is Zora Neale Hurston?

Alice Walker discovers Zora Neale Hurston and is captivated by her amazing writing skills and the life she has lived through her autobiography. Alice decides she wants to know everything there is to know about her, she even goes as far as telling people that she is her niece to get information. She starts by visiting her hometown of Eatonville and feels like she knows it from everything she has read. She talks to a women in town to see if she knows anything and the lady tells her she died of malnutrition and is in an unmarked grave. She wants to know if there is anyone in town who knew Zora and might still be alive. She is exuberant when she finds out that one lady, though old now, did grow up with Zora. When she gets the information the woman who knew Zora is willing to tell her she goes on a search to find her grave.

Searching for Zora's grave gives Alice mixed emotions, she wants to find Zora, but she is mad and upset that she can not honor her the way that she deserves to be honored. She does buy a tombstone with the money that she does have so that there is a marking, at the least, to show that there is greatness buried in that spot. Alice and her partner know of a doctor that knew Zora very well when she was alive, so they go to him to see if he would tell them anything, since he might not believe the niece lie. He tells them a lot about Zora, how she loved to eat, and how amazing her English was, which she thinks is him trying to tell her that she didn't use the common "black" dialogue found in her novel's. And many other things, one of which is where she used to live and the fact that she did not die of malnutrition, but of a stroke. Everything he tells her she takes her own way, she now wants to go see where Zora lived since she missed her flight and asked the man that knew her there if she like flowers of all things.

Alice Walkers quest to find Zora made her think of the way things were in the past and why so many people back then didn't like the way Zora Neale Hurston wrote, while today she is an acclaimed writer. It could be argued that the quest was as much to find Alice as it was to find Zora.

Janie sings the blues...

Janie sings the blues,
she doesn't know what to do.
She isn't happy with her man,
this was not her plan.
She wants to fall deep in love,
and sing like the birds up above.
Killicks was not her dream man,
and Starks isn't turning out like she planned.
She just wants be happy,
and get to do what she please's.

The years ahead...

There are years in life when all you do is ask questions, I personally am not looking forward to this with Angel. When we are young we want to know everything, we think there is a reason for everything, and if we are not told the reason for something then we will make up something that makes since. I think that for Janie, the upcoming year will be the year that answers the questions that she has now, but may bring up some new questions as she goes along. Like she is questioning if she really loves her husband, but does she even really know what love is, these are things she will eventually have to think of in the upcoming year, but as she thinks of these things some of the questions she already has will be answered.

Should at least one family member approve of who you marry?

    When you marry a person, it should be because you want to marry them, not because your family thinks it is what would be best for you. When I get married it is going to be to the person that I think is right for me. I would hope that my parents approve of him, but if they don't then I guess they just won't be happy. If I am in love with someone, but my parents don't like him, I am not going to change the way that I feel just to make my parents happy. The way I see it, if I am happy, then my parents should be happy too.

    If the man I decide to marry is faithful, hard working, not a felon, loves both my daughter and I, then I am going to marry him no matter what any of my family thinks. If they love me then they will learn to love him also. My family means the world to me, but sometimes I need to things for myself. And I would hope that when they saw what a great guy he was then they would realize how wrong they were in hating him. So I don't think you should base who you marry on what your family thinks as long as they are good to you and treat you right and you love them then you should just follow your heart.

Gastby Questions

Why did Nick make a list of all the people who came to Gatsby's?

Why does Nick tell you about all the people who came to Gatsby's that he wrote down?

Why didn't Tom want Myrtle to say Daisy's name?

How did all of Gatsby's family die?

Why did Gatsby get embarrased when Nick introduced him to Tom?

Floating Balloon

The only completely stationary object
 In the room was an enormous couch
On which two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon.
They were both in white,
And their dresses were rippling and fluttering
As if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house.
 I must have stood for a few moments
Listening to the whip and snap of the curtains
And the groan of a picture on the wall.
 Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows
 And the caught wind died out about the room,

And the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor.

Should you change or should society?

Being yourself is something that we as Americans talk about being proud of, but most Americans change the person they really are so that they fit in with society. Most people nowadays cannot say that they have always been themselves for their whole lives, even though they may be happy with who they are now. At some point in every person's life they have changed to be what society wanted.

When you are a child you are expected to be a good kid, except when you are two to three because those are the "bad" years. Society has marked what is to be expected of us as teenagers now as well. Of course things are slightly different because times have changed and kids now do not do what they did fifty or so years ago.

You shouldn't have to change yourself to fit society, if you do you may end up losing yourself in the process. And I personally don't think it is worth it. Why change yourself, make society change instead. Times are different and the expectations society has should be too. Nobody should have to change to be accepted because that isn't really being accepted at all, it is just living a lie and nobody should have to do that.

Does the outside match the inside?

    It takes less than three seconds to judge a person baised on their apperance. Most people use this as their judgement of a person for life, but you can't say that your judgement is correct. It takes meeting a person thirty more times from your first meeting to get rid of your first impression. Not all jocks are jerks that only care about football or baseball or whatever they are in, and not all of the people who care about their grades are nerds.
    Walking through the hallways on a day to day basis you see many different people walking and talking amongst themselves and you can't help but to wonder what they are like. It is a natural accurance for the human race to judge so that only the strong survive. When you see someone who doesn't appeal to you physically you tend to try to stay away from them If you see a scary looking person following you as your walking home you aren't just going to turn around and say hello, you most likely start walking faster so that you can distance yourself from that person.
    We as Americans are way to concerned with the way we look. Nowadays how many girls will go out of the house without wearing makeup, honestly not very many. Girls will spend  hours trrying to get their hair and outfits just right so that they can "look good". In American society having good looks generally gets you farther than being what society would call ugly. People who are bullied because of the way they look will go out of their way to look somewhat appealing to everyone else when they should be able to be comfortable in their own skin because that is the way that god made them. There have been stories on the news about 12 year olds getting plastic surgery due to being bullied so much. When your that young you shouldn't be worried abpout what everyone else thinks of you, you should still be enjoying the freedoms that come with being a child.
    America has very empty values because if two people applied for the same job, the boss would most likely hire the better looking of the two even if they are less qualified. We talk about being a nation of equals when really beauty is what controls us. A man took a picture of a Sikh woman who had facial hhair so he could post it on the internet becaus ehe thought it was ammusing, what he didn't know was that in her religion they are not allowed to cut their hair and because of the way she was raised she didn't have problems with the comments that people posted about her. She said that she was not willing to bend to societies view of beautiful and she was commended for that.
    More people should be able to be comfortable with the way that they naturally look. In our society we care to much about what other people will think. When you are lookinng for someone to be with you shouldn't care about what they look like or what other people will think when they see you together. If you really loved someone you would be blind to their "imperfections". Our society is to hung up on beauty and not what people are really like.

Assimilation

    To assimilate is to change yourself to become what other people deem fit or normal. In the book A Raisin in The Sun Beneatha eager to assimilate, she goes through trying many different activities all of which are not her, and she does a lot to anglicanize her hair. Asagai views this in a negative light and sees it as a weakness.
    Even though the book shows it as a weakness I disagree. I constantly see people assimilating around me every day and though some of it is not very positive, most of it is. Now that we are older you see people who used to not care about what they were doing or where they were going in life, realize that it matters. They start to hang out with the kids who have their heads together and know what they are going to do. of course there will always be a negative side to every positive thing and you will see good kids start getting into trouble, skipping, doing drugs, not care, but that doesn't happen to often. Another negative is that people completely try to change themselves to be like able. You shouldn't have to change yourself to please people.
    I know that I have assimilated before, but I am working on being more comfortable with myself and I am pretty close to that. I know that everyone assimilates at one point or another, but I believe at one point or another people should come to terms with who they really are. Lui views assimilation and the creation and destruction of something, you are creating something or someone new while you are destroying who you used to be or who you truly are at the core.

My Family or Myself?

When you do something do you do it because you want to or do you do it for your family? When you are going through something your family is the one there for you when everyone else walks away. Family is more important than doing anything for your own want or need. Because if you go out to do something and you fail who do you have to fall back on? You probably aren't gonna have yourself to depend on so you need your family.

I know this because when I was pregnant I needed my family to help me do things that I wouldn't have been able to do on my own. I probably wouldn't be able to go where I want to without them. Family makes you the way you are, if you have a good family system then usually your a pretty happy person who has people you can depend on, so you know that you can achieve your dreams. Family is one of the most important things you have and you should cherish them every second you get.

My American Dream

     The American Dream is the chance to live life the way you always dreamed it, doing what ever you dreamed of doing. Living the American Dream is getting the chance to be a superstar if that's what you always dreamed of doing. If you want to be a millionaire then you can. Sadly many people can't experience due to where they live and where they grow up. Some people just don't have parents that really help push them to where they want to go, but if you believe in yourself then you can achieve anything you want to do.
    My American Dream is finishing high school and going to college to become a nurse so that i can show my daughter, and all the people who doubted me, that it is possible to over come anything. I want to prove to everyone who says having a baby ruins your life that it doesn't, it makes you more determined than you have ever been to reach your goals because you know reaching your goal will show your child they can reach and achieve their goals too. That is my American Dream.

All About Victoria

Hello, my name is Victoria and i'm a junior. I am in theatre, thepians for life! I am really busy with my baby so I don't get a lot of time to do things like read, draw, or just chill out with my friends. My baby's name is Angel-Marie and she is the center of my world so I tend to talk about her A LOT. She is nine almost ten months old, she will be turning one on November 15th and she falls down all the time.I am all about my family and they have always been there for me and I hope I always have them. When I get the time I really love to read and listen to music, even though I usually have a screaming baby over the music who is trying to tear out my pages. During the summer I work for my aunt and I baby sit her baby who will be turning two in January. I watch a lot of movies and my favorite of all time is The Aristocats, and yes I know it is a little kid movie, but I will love it forever.
 Well that's me, so get to know me. P.S. I like hugs.