Max B’s Comments (group member since Sep 19, 2011)

Max B’s comments from the 815 Discussion group.

I think that when E and Noodles go to court they should be punished equally. I think that they should be punished equally because they both essentially did the same thing. When Noodles broke in to Ona's family's home, he stole and vandalized their entire house. E broke in to multiple houses and stole a lot of money and valuable items. I think that in the court of law, they would penalize the same for vandalizing, breaking and entering and multiple cases of robbery and breaking and entering. I think that what Noodles did was worse because he didn't just break into the house and steal, he totally trashed it too. I think that they both did bad things and they should be punished equally.

I do not think that if a man steals bread for his starving family then he is wrong. The man is trying to do something that is necessary for him and his family's well-being and survival. He may be doing something that is considered wrong by stealing but he is also doing something kind by risking getting arrested for the wellness of his family. We all take risks for our families, whether it be skipping a prior obligation in order to help out your family or doing something that society dubs as wrong or illegal for the benefit of our families. If I were in the situation of the man, where my family is starving and we have no money to buy food, I would totally steal the bread (and some other stuff) so they could be well. Overall, I think the man is right by stealing the bread for his starving family.

I think that though there is a lot of singing and dancing in the movie, there is a lot of realism too. One example is the gang violence. In today's society, there is a lot of gang violence that ends in sad, pointless death over territory, drugs, girls, etc. In West Side Story, the Jets and Sharks fight over territory and girls. That is one example of realism in the movie. I can also relate to one of the topics in the movie: growing apart from friends. In the story, Riff and Tony grow apart because Tony would rather be working than hanging with the Jets. In my life, I've grown apart from friends because they'd rather hang out with girls and "cool kids" over their real friends. Those are to examples of realism in the movie West Side Story.

My character Darry fights out of loyalty for the gang. I know this because in the book when the rumble is starting and no one is throwing the first punch, Darry stands under the street lamp and tells them to fight him. This proves that Darry would take chances to stay loyal to his gang. Another example is when Ponyboy says that Darry could easily become a Soc, but stays loyal to the greasers by staying with them. If Darry was a conformist, he would've put Ponyboy and Soda into the boys home, moved to the west side of town, and hang out with all of the Socs. This proves that Darry is loyal, not a conformist, because he could easily conform and be in another gang.

I read Neighbors and Pygmalion. I think that the piece Neighbors relates to the Outsiders in a lot of ways. One is the Greasers relationship with the Socs. The Greasers and Socs live in the same town but are separated by a "fence" which is a park dividing the east and west sides. When the poet says "that side's you/this side's me" he's shows a sense of separation between the two sides. The Greasers and the Socs are also separated by a economic "fence" that is also demonstrated in Pygmalion. Liza is very poor dirty like the Greasers and Professor Higgins is very rich and classy like the Socs. The Socs never try to make the Greasers fancier or classier, but the economic barrier is shown in both pieces. The pieces all compare to one another because of the separation of two different economic status' of people, gangs, or sides of fences

I agree with Cherry's statement about things being rough all over. When she says this in the book, Ponyboy is complaining to her about how rough his life is and all the struggles he and the other greasers have to go through because they are not as wealthy as the Socs. The Socs are wealthier than the greasers and don't have to worry about the same things that the greasers do but she has her own personal problems that may be just as rough as Pony's problems. While Pony and the greasers have to worry about staying out of jail, the Socs have to worry about their parents not figuring out about the bottom of the lake parties or the fact that Cherry's boyfriend is an obnoxious drunk. That's why I agree with Cherry's argument.

I agree with the statement that Cicero made. I think that one of our responsibilities as people is to unite with others or in other words, make friends. If we all just sat around in our houses all day not interacting with others, we wouldn't accomplish anything with our lives. Our society would be pretty horrible. Our government, and all other governments in the world, rely on communication to solve their problems and make their country-or community- a better place.

Last fall, we all witnessed a situation in which a community united to make a change: Occupy Wall Street. A very big community in america called the 99% united with each other to make a change. Their unity made a big change. They changed a lot of people's views on money, politics and Wall Street. That is a perfect example of how Cicero's statement is true.

"Bug Bites"

Genre: article
Purpose: To Inform
Central Idea: In other places, they have foods that we may find disgusting but is part of their daily diet.

Supporting Idea 1: For people in other countries, eating bugs is very common.
a) In Columbia, people eat ants instead of popcorn at the movies.
b) In Mexico, restaurants sell ant tacos
c) In Uganda, people sell crickets and termites at markets.

Supporting Idea 2: Bugs are healthier than the food we eat (sometimes)
1) Grasshoppers are healthier than beef
2) Grasshoppers have more protein
3) It tastes like green peppers, too.

i just read an article in Rolling Stone about Louis C.K called The Man who Loves to Hate Himself by Jonah Weiner. It's an interview with C.K about his upbringing and career. I found it very interesting. I went in with a bias about all comedians; that they all had bad childhoods. Well, in this case I was correct. Louis's dad left his family when he was 10. Then he became extremely depressed. So, he turned to drugs in his 6th grade year. He was sober by his 2nd year in high school. I think that the purpose of the article was to inform the readers that though his comedy may be very dark and mean, he's a very kind person. I think that the writer was addressing everyone who enjoys comedy. The writer provided fair information. I know that it was fair because it came from the source, C.K himself. I think it was a great article.

I think that "Sorry I'm Not a Stereotype" and ATD relate because both Arnold and Rita Pyrillis (the author) deal with stereotypes and racial profiling in their everyday life. The jocks at Reardan call Arnold horribly racist names. And Rita in the article deals with people who think they are better because of their race. Both the jocks and the random people call them names because they're uneducated and unexposed.
They're situations are different because Rita has experienced it her whole life, I'm assuming, because she didn't grow up on a reservation, she grew up in Chicago. Arnold, who has just left the rez, is experiencing this racism for the first time in his life, which I imagine is tough to deal with.

I think that what Arnold means by him "dying" if he stays on the res is that he will give up hope and give up on his hopes and dreams. Arnold is a, as Mr. P says, "A shining star." Arnold has so much hope and aspirations to be a famous artist and the only way he can become a famous artist is if he leaves the res. As Mr. P would say, "Arnold, you're a bright and shining star, and if you stay here, you're just going to burn out.
Rowdy won't go with Arnold to Reardan because he's already the meanest, leanest and toughest kid on the res and he doesn't want to give up his reputation. Rowdy thinks that all of the kids at Reardan are better than him and he would rather stay and be the toughest instead of leave and be just another nobody.

I think that Mr. P would want to "kill the Indian to save the child" because he thinks that being Indian is bad. I think that Mr. P thinks that Arnold won't amount to anything unless he leaves the reservation. He does call him a "bright and shining star" and says that he deserves the world and implies that he should go get it.

I think what Arnold means by Mary being "trapped" is that she gets so involved in her novels that she gets obsessed with these books and characters and thinks that she's living them; like she's in the book. We've all became "trapped" in a book before. For me, one of them was this book.

I interviewed my dad. My dad's object was a Star Trek model kit he put together himself. It had a phaser, communicator and a tricorder. He and his friends would "play Star Trek." They would all chose character to be and act out scenes from episodes. He bought it in 3rd or 4th grade, using his saved allowance at the Cross County Shopping Center in Yonkers. It was important to him because Star Trek was on at 7:00 every night on channel 11 and the Star Trek cartoon was on saturday mornings. He said Star Trek helped him relate to his friends and make new ones as well.