"Pasadena: Revised Images of Excellence" by Mike Rose

This story is not only a great ending to the education unit but also to my semester. As an eductaion majaor these readings were really interesting and this one was one of the best. Everytime I read a story about education and teachers going the extra mile for their students it makes me want to be a graduating senior ready to go out their and make a difference.

I hope that when I become a teacher I will be willing to take risks like the teachers in this story. This story also reminded me of a movie I watched in my education class about a tecaher who taught in a bad neighborhood in Los Angeles. He took Lation and Asian students and showed them the world, He treated them as equals. That's all studnets need in this world. Students will be willing to learn and cooperate as long as you keep them interested and teach them things that will later help them in the real world.

I truly loved the combination of curriculum that the Graphic Arts Academy had. I would have loved to go to a school like that. In my orhcestra class in high school we always talked about more than just music. We would learn all the Italian words that were on our sheets of music, I would then compare them to Spanish words and before you knew it we were having a forgein language lesson. Between doing research for my education paper in this class and my education class in general I have come to realize that learning is all about incoprarting everything. You can't just learn chemistry and not expect to learn math. Learning is a circle everything is connected.

This also ties in the social aspect. It reminds me of my mom and her parent teacher confrences. She cared about my grades and making sure I was keeeping up with my homework. Then when all that was discussed she amde sure to ask my teachrs how I was doing socially. This is a skill that willbe with you for the rest of your life. The Graphic Arts Academy has been able to take a group of kids that in any other situation would have never talked to each other but now they're working together and can't get things done without each other. That is the true meaning of education.

"Idiot Nation" by Michael Moore

You can obviously tell that Moore is all about satire. I absolutely love it! Even though he is making fun of our education system, he proves a lot of points that we as a nation need to start fixing. I have known that as a nation we have been lagging behind other countries for a while now but I didn't know it was this bad. Just knowing that there are 44 million people in America that can't read above the fourth-grade reading level makes me sad. Then I continue reading and see that we only read on average 99 hours a year compared to 1460 hours watching TV. This is just not okay. We have so many opportunities offered to us, we are just to happy being mediocre.

President Bush telling people it is ok to be mediocre is not okay. Like Moore said yeah he was able to be President because he had other things going in his favor but he shouldn't tell other they have the same opportunity. My history teacher in high school used to complain about the nation being ok with being mediocre all the time. It is a problem that we have to fix. We used to be the top nation but once we got there we got to comfortable and now expect things just to be given to us. Everyone is talking about holding schools accountable for test scores and not meeting state standards but sometime students and parent are to blame too. We as a nation have come to terms that we like being mediocre and until we realize that its not okay nothing is going to change.

Moore also talks about the lack of state funding for schools. My favorite line is "its a bigger priority to build another boomer than to educate our children." This explains exactly how I feel about education funding. So many presidents and politicians talk about how important education is and how that we have to support our children because they are the future, yet they do nothing about it. Its sad that schools have to go to companies and sign their lives away just so that they can get money to buy some textbooks. Our students are getting fat because the government isn't willing to spare some money so that schools can be all around better. The saddest thing is that many politicians probably read this piece of writing or something like it, thought about how they really should try to change, but then went to bed and did nothing about it. Who is going to be the first person to move us out of this rut we are in?

"Savage Inequalities" by Jonathan Kozol

This story is hands down my absolute favorite. Being an education major and coming from an urban community it touched everything that I want to change when I become a teacher. I wanted to take each and everyone of those kids and tell them that they can succeed and the help them do it. Like that school is somewhere I would love to work. I like the challenge of finding that one thing a child is good at and making them realize it and perfect it.

So many teachers take the easy road and teach in suburban schools are just ignore the kids that seem to be a bit difficult, I am the exact opposite. I actually help out in a middle school here in Bloomfield and the teacher I am helping out told me that she can tell I like being with the "bad" kids. I don't know why that is but there is nothing better than seeing a kid who puts no effort into school but because you gave them that extra little push the reach the stars!

Kozol just made me feel like I was in the school with him. I felt was though I could sit down with one of those kids and help each and everyone of them out even if it meant that I would be there for years. He told the story of a school that otherwise would never be noticed. He went in there to see what was so bad about the school and he came out realizing that the only bad thing is the surroundings. These kids are so talented and with the right help they would be able to all go to college and reach their dreams. Their teachers believe in them and have been able to show them the light no its time for their community to do the same. I would love to look up this school and see that they have changed and are now the top of the school district. These are not only book smart, they are also street smart, creative, and see the world in a way I would never have seen it.

"What High School Can Be" by Theodore Sizer

From the title of this reading you would think that they are going to tell you what a perfect high school would be like. They didn't do this because like Sizer said there is no such thing as a perfect high school. Each school has different students, different community, and in a different environment. There is no way every single high school can be exactly the same and meet the needs of every single one their students. The only similarity they need to have is that they should try their best to help their students be successful. I always see it as educating our future, this is the generation that is going to be taking care of when we can't take care of ourselves anymore.

I absolutely loved the two stories about the different high schools. It showed two very different sides of  how secondary education is perceived. The story of the high school all star is something that I can see definitely happening and probably happened in my high school. People don't bother a good athlete with academics because they already have their ticket into college. As long as they're not a disturbance and get enough work done they can just sit there and look pretty. The girl in the urban school system who is on her fifth year but has realized that she needs to get work done is another scenario that is common in my high school. It talked about blaming the teachers for not getting the students involved and not having that student teacher relationship that's necessary. Its not always the teachers fault, many do what they can with what they are given.

When Sizer said that administration and policy makers have no clue what adolescence are going through, I couldn't help but agree. This is something that I have been learning since I have been learning about education and building my future as a teacher. These people are making are all the rules but keep messing up because they have no clue what the children seriously need, all they know are statistics. Sizer was able to come up with nine common principles of the coalition of essential schools because he went and shadowed students so he know first hand what students need. All nine of these principles are very important and if they could be implemented in a way that fits the school our high schools would be top notch. I especially loved the one where he talks about the tone of the school. People would normally look right over this but environment and how the students feel totally correlates with how well they do. It has been psychologically proven that you have to feel safe before you can do anything else whether its build a relationship, learn something new, or just grow as a person.

"In the Beginning: The 1893 Report of the Committe of Ten" by Charles Eliot & "Creating the Comprehensive High School" by James B. Conant

Since I'm an education major this unit and both these readings are something I can relate to. While I was reading these selections I was constantly thinking this sounds just like our school system now. We are dealing with problems that were around more than one hundred years ago and then showed up again fifty years ago. This proves what my education professor was talking about in class, education always comes back full circle. Meaning that one day we will go back to teaching the basics and then sometime after that we will back to teaching to standards. It all depends on our goal at the time and what we believe is best for our students.

That is one things that has never changed. We have always wanted what is best for our students. At times the decisions we have made aren't working anymore which is why we keep changing and striving for the best. We make students take different languages because even back then we knew it was valuable. In the committee of ten it talks about how math and science are seen as the most important subjects and till this day they still are. Then it continues to talk about how the other subjects feel as though they don't get as much attention. This reminded me of the constant struggle that the arts and music programs have in public schools. They are always the first ones to get a budget cut, if only people knew how important it is to be a well rounded person. As an education major we do field work and I am placed at a middle school. The kids are so talented when it comes to music and art but they aren't encouraged. I was telling my mom this and she told me when Benjamin Franklin made education free he did its so that we could become better contributing members of the community. It wasn't just so that we could all be braniacs and super good at math.

"Creating a Comprehensive High School," talked about a lot of the problems we have now a days. Dealing with different learning styles and levels of intelligence. They then also had some good ideas, like not always grouping children and having a structured homeroom. While I was reading the requirements they needed to graduate from high school I felt as though I was reading my high school's requirements. Not much has changed which I believe is good. High school is all about learning the basics so that when you get into college you will have a foundation where you can then build your future on it. My favorite part by far was when they talked about their homeroom. I absolutely saw no importance in my homeroom especially since it was only like seven minutes and all we did was take attendance. I wish I had a homeroom like theirs, they had a purpose. Since students were grouped for all of their academic classes they wanted to students to learn how to socialize outside if their group and that what homeroom was for. Luckily my mom taught me at a young age to get along and make friends with everyone because everyone has their purpose in this world. That is what the homeroom was trying to show children.

It always blows my mind when it comes to learning about education and how we can make it better for other generations to come. As an education major I can't wait to be working with my coworkers on building a curriculum and voicing my opinion on what I think is important for students to learn.

"Beyond the Cult of Fatherhood" by David Osborne

This reading just made me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. Its so refreshing to see a father taking care of his son. Just from reading about his life experience and how he talked about Nicholas I could tell their relationship was strong and different from any other father son relationship. David had to overcome so many obstacles psychologically to do what he did. His story proves that fathers can also have a nurturing side to them, they just need to have the opportunity to let it grow.

I have so many favorite parts from this reading but I love how he ends its. I agree with him when he says nothing can be better than laying in bed with your son and him leaning over to give him a kiss on the cheek. How adorable is that? I would love waking up to that every morning. That's because I'm a women of course. I also liked the part where he is second guessing himself about taking Nicholas to the doctors. It is so funny how he wonders if woman are ever in the same position. As if just because we're mothers we know what to do at all times. Even though I'm not a mom I know they don't always have the answers.

The psychological struggles that David goes through are so moving. Its very interesting to see him fight his battle between being a dad and is job. It is so crazy how men classify themselves by the job they have and how hard of a worker they are. Where as women classify themselves by how good of a mother they are and how well they children end up. It was also very interesting to see David get upset when Rose pretty much pushes him away. He feels so involved in Nicholas's life and so when mom comes and pushes him away he doesn't know what to do and really doesn't like the feeling.

Sojourner Truth and Conquering Themsleves Beautifully

These two reading show two very different perspectives of what it means to be a women. Sojourner Truth talks about how we are equal to me and deserve to be treated equally. Where as in the other reading all they talk about is the girls working to please their father. Not that there is anything wrong with one or the other, I think its more about what you believe is more important and how to balance your life.

Sojourner's point of view is something that I have always thought about. Being a black women is like the ultimate minority. Not only did they have to fight to be treated equally because of the color of their skin but once they finally thought everything was going to be okay they had to fight because they were a women. It shows us and tell us that as women we need to be strong and have respect for ourselves and to make sure that others respect us as well. African-American women have gone through so much work and pain, more than anyone else on this earth and without a doubt they deserve to be treated equally.

Conquering Themselves Beautifully talks more about the nurturing side of a women. The girls have jobs like, teaching, office work, and dish washing. Jobs that men barely ever do. When the author takes time to describe them all they talk about is how they look and compare them to what a women should act like. They never once talk about how they are smart or anything worthwhile other than their beauty. They are working to make their father happy. They are giving up their happiness just so that they can help their father and the other men that our serving the country. This is the women that men are used to and the women that we have broken away from.

"I'm Thin Therefore I Am" by Nicci Gerrard

I went into this reading with a sort of negative vibe. I thought it was going to be all about how girls have to be thin and that thin is beauty, blah blah blah. I was surprisingly wrong. This reading talks about the love hate relationship that we women have with food. We don't want to eat it because we want to be thin so that we can fit the social norms. We try not to let our emotions get the best of us so that when our boyfriends break up with us we don't sit there with a carton of Ben and Jerry's while watching a chick flick. Then there's the other side of food, the love side. We see it as part of being a women. We cook so that we can nurture our children, so we can be good hostess of a party and just simply because we love how food tastes in our mouth.

This problem with women having to be skinny according to society is so played out and seriously needs to stop. We need to embrace the gorgeous women we are and realize that we are all different shapes and sizes and that there's nothing wrong with that. God made us a certain way and we need to appreciate that. We can't let the media which is usually controlled by men tell us what is beautiful and what isn't. What's most important is what is in the inside, so that's all that should matter.

I love the love side of food. Food is definitely a big part of so many of my memories. Coming from a big Puerto Rican family, all we do is eat and as women cook. My grandmother was a great cook and so is my great aunt. Its mind blowing watching them cook, they don't even think about what they're doing, its an art form. My mom unfortunately didn't get the cooking gene but boy can she bake. As a child we would bake almost every weekend and its probably why I love to bake now. Cooking is completely generational and a tradition that will never leave the women's side.

Food is all about bringing people together. Its sad to say but usually the only times my entire family is together is usually because of food; Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthdays, Easter all about food. Your history and love is passed down around the dinner table and the great conversation that goes along with it. My friends and I share a connection through food. I can't count the number of times my friends and I would get to my house after school and the first thing we would do is check the snack cabinet. We would then sit at my kitchen counter and talk nonstop while munching on chips, cookies, pretty much anything we could put our hands on. Now that my friends and I are separated because we go to different schools, there will be times when I get text or would be skyping and somehow food is mentioned. Whether its saying that we're eating honey wheat pretzels and thinking about each other or how much we love ice cream. Food is what bring us humans together and should not have a negative or hateful side to it at all.

"Bros Before Hos: The Guy Code" by Michael Kimmel

I was excited to read this selection because I thought it was going to be about the "Guy's Code" when it comes to dating but now I just feel bad for them. Guys are under so much pressure to act a certain way. They have to be carbon copies of each other if not their life is over. Yes as girl we have our own problems but we have a lot more gray area than guys do. From the age of four they are told how to act and if they decide to not conform they are made fun of the rest of their lives.

I thought it has hilarious when it said that men are more about what other men think about them then women. Us women think that they get all muscular and act cool for us but in reality they do it so that they don't get made fun of. They are all so worried about being gay when in reality they are gayer than ever. If what a man thinks about you is the most important thing to you then you are gay. Its also sad how if a man shows emotions or actually cares about things other than sports they're considered gay. There are plenty of gay men you are emotionless and love sports and I'm sure that there are plenty of straight men you actually have emotions and hate sports but are too scared to say something.

I strongly believe with the idea that because men are told not to express their emotions they have problems in the future. All their life they are told to suck it up and that men don't cry but once they get into a relationship with a girl that's all we care about. We want to know what's wrong with you, we don't want you to just shut us out and say everything is fine. By making men act this way they are really screw up their lives. This is why many men end up being alcoholic or having depression. They are so used to the competition of making themselves better than the next man so when they fail they don't know how to react. They can sit there and start crying or complain about their life because that doesn't follow the "Guy Code." I say screw the "Guy Code" and live life the way you want to.

"A Boy's Life" by Hanna Rosin

This is by far my favorite thing we have read in class to date. Knowing that our unit is gender I read the title and thought ok this is going to be a story about how a boy realizes he's a "man." Then I saw that it was a female author and thought, "oh snap" this is going to be a story about a boy wishing he was a boy. I was right but there is just so much more to this story. This story was truly moving and the entire time I could only think about how much I loved it.

This story just makes me wish even more that this world just didn't have any labels. There would be no need for a little boy at age of four to wish that his was a little girl. We would all just be humans beings and if a boy wanted to wear a dress and makeup it would be ok because there's no right way of acting like a boy or girl. This story literally broke my heart reading all the stories of these kids. Its such an emotional process and life that they have to go through, its just not fair. People and myself included walk around not having a care in the world just because we fit in to the mold that the world has made for and just because they want to be a little different their world is turned upside down.

Many things in this story blew my mind.  It really surprised was how young these kids were and yet they knew that they wanted to be the other sex. When I was young I remember playing with Barbies but I don't remember it having such an importance behind it. It is repeatedly shown that kids at a very young age know who they are what they want to be. The drug that stops puberty from happening is a great finding;  it saves kids so much trouble and saves them being ridiculed at school. Zuckers practice of literally forcing children to just act the gender that they were born just made me so upset. There are plenty of kids that are black and act white or vice versa, no one tells them that they can't. Another thing that really bothered me is that they kept calling transgender a disorder. That to me just isn't right. Its how you feel and you shouldn't be punished for wanting to act a certain way.

I always want to give each and every parent that has to deal with a situation like this. I can only imagine how draining it can be, emotionally, physically, and money wise. They have a lot of problems and no ever really wonders how they feel. Obviously its ultimately about the child but when they talked about how parents would mourn the child they were suppose to have that just made my heartache. Being gay, lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual, transgender are all labels that this world could really to better without. Just like we try to teach our children no to see color we should also teach our children to not see sex.

"Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender" by Aaron H. Devor

I wasn't looking forward to reading this selection at all. Gender Roles and Society has always and will always be a problem that we have to deal with. We also recently talked about this in my sociology class so I'm kind of tired of discussing something that isn't going to change. Then when I read that Aaron used to be Holly I had hope that this selection would be different. Unfortunately I was sadly disappointed.

I feel as though the topic of gender roles is so played out! We all know that women act a certain way and men act another way. No one at the moment is willing to change and if we do decided to change its going to take a while. Gender roles is something we're literally born into; we're either wrapped in a pink or blue blanket. In the article it says that by two years old we begin to settle into a gender identity and by the age of seven we're convinced that we are a permanent member of that gender grouping. This is so young. We still have so much to learn and experience in our life but we will only experience girl or boy things because we have already decided what road we want to go down.

My favorite paragraph in this selection is by far the one where they talk about the different cultural view on gender roles. Its always so interesting to see how other cultures view things that are just not right here in the United States. Many of the other cultures have a group where people can be whatever they want to be; like the aborigines having more than two gender categories or the native people of South America and how they have a social category for people who want to live like the opposite sex. My question is, why do we even have to have labels?

The selection goes on and on about the characteristic that make you feminine and masculine but why cant we just be human. Why does there have to be a separation? There are some women out there that are aggressive, we actually all have to be in order to get to the top and even have a chance to compete with the men. On the other hand there are males out there that are single dads and way more nurturing tan some others. At the end of the day we are all humans but we will never be able to see that as a society.

"Serving in Florida" by Barbara Ehrenreich

Right from the get go I knew I was going to love this story. My friends and I used to joke about how we were going to drop out of high school and become managers at McDonalds or some other minimum wage job. After reading this story I will never do that. I always knew that it would be hard to make a living being a waitress or a housekeeper but there were people out there doing it so it had to be possible. Who would've thought that they had to deal with so much. Barbara really put a spotlight on how much they have to suffer and I respect for taking her job so seriously.

This story is obviously taking place awhile ago but many jobs are still like this today. I worked at Cold Stone Creamery for minimum wage and could somewhat connect with the feeling Barbara was having. When you first start out at a new job its definitely scary and intimidating because the workers that have been there longer than you are usually annoyed because now they have to deal with a newbie. I felt like this at Cold Stone for a while just because no one new came in after me for a while. The veterans are always ready to make you do something they don't want to do, and always play little pranks on you. Like Barbara though you eventually become one of them, it starts to be like a family. The main difference between me and Barbara is that I left because I was tired of it and really didn't need the job to support myself, luckily I still had my mother. Barbara was able to leave too but it wouldn't have made her story as good as it was if she left the first minute it got hard.

I could never imagine dealing with the grossness, rudeness, and just not right things that these people had to go through. Living from paycheck to paycheck and having job that you completely hate but have to deal with because if not you would be living out of your car, is crazy! They were dealing with things no human should have to go through. Its sad to say that its still going on in today's world. Working till you pretty much overdose on Advil and are about collapse from being on your feet all day long just isn't right. Thank God that we finally go some worker laws that says we can't be treated so unfairly. The workers just won't appreciated by people, managers replaced people just as fast as they lost them.

Barbara was very witty and was afraid to say the truth. I was entertained throughout the entire story and was able to relate to it. Seeing what waitress and housekeepers had to deal with blew my mind and made me realize how important it is to stay in college. The real world isn't easy!

"Looking for Work" Gary Soto

Right off the back I knew I would enjoy reading this story. Over this summer I caught an interest in reading stories about Latino adjusting to the American culture. Although I didn't have to deal with an extreme change of culture I still have to deal with the problem of balancing the two. Gary talks a lot about how he wants to imitate a family with an uncomplicated routine and I can totally understand this from two different perspectives.

Being born here in the United States and going to visit my family in Puerto Rico is something that at times can be very difficult. Of course I love being with family but what I don't like is being called the "blanca" or the "white girl." Growing up here I am accustom to the ways of life here, from speaking English, to the music I listen to and the way I dress. So when I go to visit I stick out like a sore thumb! I enjoy every bit of being in Puerto Rico because it makes me proud to be who I am. Unlike here in the United States where many of us Latinos in general are looked down and seen as people who aren't good enough. So I am always ready to show the people here how Latinos really are and not conforming to the American lifestyle.

Another perspective I have of wanting to fit into a certain mold is having my parents being divorced. I remember when my parents first got divorced all I was really upset about was not having a "normal" family. My life as I knew it was shattered into a million different pieces. My mom actually stayed with my father as long as she did because of me. I did not want to have family with a mother and  a father because in my eyes that wasn't a father. I naturally got over this and realized that it was okay and actually better.

I think what's most important is being comfortable in your very own unique mold. I think Gary realizes that at the end. You can't change your family, you kind of just have to love and deal with them. The struggle of us Latinos fitting into a society mainly controlled by whites is always going to be there and will last until we realize that we are different and that different can be good.

Matthew's Personal Conflict Narrative

The key to having the best personal conflict ever: Putting yourself out there. From reading both of the essays I realized the biggest difference between the two was the amount of detail and emotion put into his final draft. By Matthew describing his passion for music to us and using specific examples of conversations he had with people made me feel like I was there with him. The first draft I kind of just read and kind of understood his problem but it wasn't very moving or interesting to me, but the final draft blew my mind! I felt like I was in the club with him, I could feel his frustration and pain when he realized that his dreams were always going to be just dreams.

The universal theme of having a passion was something I could connect with. When he said, "The feeling I had on stage was like a drug inducded high. The rush was so intense that I became a junkie of music." I totally knew how he felt. I am a dancer and although it isn't my dream to become a dancer I live for the feeling of performing on stage; its something that is unexplainable and irreplaceable. Since I started college I haven't danced and I really miss it. He also mentioned that music was a therapy for him, when he started playing all his pain and worries went away, it was just him and his music. I feel the same exact way when I dance. You just get so in tune with music that you can't help but just forget about what was bothering you that day and just enjoy the moment that you have right in front of you.

While I write my personal conflict essay I will be thinking about Matthew's. I will try my hardest to just put my all into to. I don't want to be afraid to put every detail I can think about. I want someone to read it and feel as though they lived through it with me. Reading his final draft was so much easier than reading his first draft because he explained things thoroughly and didn't just think people would understand. That I think will be something I'm going to have to take time to work on because I know how I felt and what went on but my readers won't. I also I appreciated reading this because I had no clue how to start mine and I always appreciate an example. This also got me very excited about starting mine. Overall a great read!

"Hair" by Malcom X

The way that this story developed was totally unexpected. I have heard the name Malcom X plenty of times and knew that he was a influential person in the Civil Rights Movement but I have never read any of his pieces. Knowing this about him I knew that the story was going to have something to do with the Civil Rights Movement, especially since this was coming right out of his autobiography. I liked that he didn't come right out and talk about the problems but instead he told a story that then tied into what he was trying to teach. It kept me wondering throughout the story; When will the lesson come? Is this story really just about him relaxing his hair?

That fact that they made a bootleg relaxer is hilarious to me! I also have nappy hair like Malcom X had and have gone to the hair salon plenty of time to relax this mess called hair. Reading the pain he had to go through and that they had to do it more than once just so that a barber would charge them less blows my mind. When I go to the hair salon I pay a lot of money but I would never go as far as making a bootleg relaxer just to save a couple of dollars. That just shows the difference between the way we live now and the life he had to live. He didn't have the luxury of being able to pay ten dollars for his hair cut which is why I understand he would do anything it takes to save some money.

The reaction he had when he first looked in the mirror after he was done relaxing his hair brought back so many memories. Two key memories that I love. Like I said I have gotten a relaxer before and have been doing for about four years, it isn't a strong one because I don't totally want to get rid of my curls. The reaction he had was the exact same reaction I had. I looked in the mirror and couldn't believe that was my hair, it was so manageable and I couldn't wait to leave my hair down and do cute styles to it. Another memory that came to mind was the day my cousin straighten my hair for the first time. Since my hair is so nappy people see it as a challenge. So he took about three hours blow drying and ironing my hair with a clothes iron (crazy, I know!). When he was done, he took a step back and looked at my hair and felt  so accomplished.

Now Malcom X didn't write this for me to sit her and just talk about all these hair stories, the last paragraph is definitely my favorite. I was waiting for the moment where it would get serious and I couldn't have thought of a better way to say it. "This was my first really big step toward self-degradation...", this line blew mind. In a million years I would never have thought of relaxing my hair as self-degradation but it totally is. He went through all that pain just so that he could look like a white man. He couldn't believe that he had joined all the people that felt that if they didn't look like the whites they weren't pretty. He brought to light a problem that to this day still exist in society. People are changing their bodies, faces, hair to look like what others think is beautiful. Instead of just embracing their own unique beauty.

"Hating Goldie" by Phyllis Rose

My assumptions about this reading were totally wrong. From reading the biography about Phyllis Rose I thought this selection would be very serious and deep, talking about a strong women of importance. Then to find out its about a bird. I did think that it would be about her, which was true. I believe it shared an important story about her, I felt like I got to know her a little better. Not just facts like the short biography before the reading but who she was as a person and how she became to be the writer that she is now.

Right when I read the first couple of sentences where she talks about her priveleged life and how that was what she held against the girls of her own generation the popular phrase, "the grass always seems greener on the otherside", quickly popped into my head. Although she never says that she wishes she was less fortunate she does say to her psychatrist that she was coddled as a child and that its her parents fault that she hasn't written what she would like to have written. This made me laugh because she is upset that she hasn't experienced pain, sorrow, or anything awful. If she only knew how many people wish they could say the same.

I sincerely enjoyed reading this selection because it shows how different we all are. She talks about Dickens and how all his novels came from the experence he had and how she wishes she could have the same. What she didn't realize at that age or before writing this selection is that the lack of experience and her being sheltered as a child can make just as good of a story, its just different. This selection shows us that the grass isn't always greener on the otherside its just different. We all have our own experiences and stories that makes up the great novel called our life!