Space

Glory be to the heavens above

Above our kingdoms of mud and stone

Above the squabbling of man

The heavens in their glory remain, lords

Distant from the filth of humanity

The cosmos, magnificent in form

Utter not a word to us, human.

The filth below can only stare in wonder at its beauty

it's dance  through  infinity

We are not fit to revel in its greatness

But if not for life, its glory would be unknown

Many, forget their place

forget what lies above

Encompassing all of reality

The heavens shine

To let man bear witness to the majesty

We choose to sit upon our thrones

We choose to create kings and queens

As if they have power hah

For when the land turns to dust

When all life has died out in the cosmos

And when the glorious lights finally sputter

There will only be

Space

Sohrab's Invisibility

This picture represents Sohrab's invisibility in life. When you first notice the green shrubbery it stands out and is present in the scene but eventually, the novelty of the green shrubbery fades out and blends into the concrete. Looking closely, the turbary t is always a point of interest because of the color always contrasts against the black asphalt. similar to Sohrab, after awhile his presence begins to fade from the public eye. When Sohrab tells Amir that he is afraid to go back to the United States with him because he fears that after a while, Amir will get tired of him. The brown bit of dead grass around the edges of the green represent shrubs feeling of dread and anguish that eventually lead to suicide. Just like how Sohrab attempted to commit suicide.

Twenty-First Century Pirates

Twenty-First Century Pirates

It's early in the morning, you load your boat, and set off into the water, armed, and hopeful. With a few others, you sail into the open gulf looking for a ransom. A tankard, a cargo ship, anything will do. After losing your job piracy was the only option available to you, you don't want to do it, but you must keep your family alive. Piracy, once a serious problem, has resurfaced worse in the Gulf of New Guinea. These pirates are very similar, but many would wonder, why has pirating resurfaced at this point, and why in New Guinea?

Before one can know how to stop piracy, they must first know what makes a pirate, and what is a pirate today? Somalia is thought of as the hub for piracy in the world, but since 2015 Somalia has fallen in piracy rates. The new hub of piracy is actually the gulf of new guinea, described by some as “the new place to be for pirates” (Yomi). It is not known why Somalia has fallen in piracy, but the closest idea created is that they just stopped wanting to be pirates. The job is also lucrative for the pirates, with each one making over 10 thousand dollars a haul, and with the average age of an African pirate being 25, the idea of pirating seems even more compelling, (Wattson). But the main reason the average man is pirating isn't because of the money, or the new location, it is due to a problem affecting Africa and the world as a whole, over fishing, (Luce).

Fishing is the most common practice in New Guinea, so it's no surprise that eventually the fish would “run out”. SO many people fish in the Gulf of New Guinea that the amount of big fish have decreased substantially over the past 5 years, (Yomi). The economic effects have been massive as a result. People cannot feed their families, they have nowhere to go. Desperate and Hungry, previous gulf fisherman turned to Pirating. Being in the water is all they know, so it’s only natural they would gravitate to pirating.

But what can we do to stop piracy? Force, ignore them, treaties, all ideas given out. Force was used on the Somali pirates which worked to a degree of success, but it is merely stopping the problem of pirates, not why people are becoming pirates. We can no longer ignore these pirates either, for they are starting to hinder the production of large scale companies and manufacturers. And signing a treaty is an impossibility. No, to fix the problem, we must stop these men from becoming a pirate in the first place. We must reduce or stop over-fishing in the gulf of new guinea. If we can reverse this problem, then fisherman can once again go back to fishing, and hopefully, the amount of pirates in Africa would dwindle once again (Luce).

In the twenty-first century, force is becoming less and less of an answer to problems facing us today. And as such we must learn to find new ways to stop incoming issues, pirates being one of them. If we simply use force to fix the pirate problem in New Guinea, it will only lead to starving civilians and fish-less Waters

Works Cited

Kazeem, Yomi. "As Somali Pirates Lay Low, West Africa’s Waters Are Now the Continent’s Most Dangerous." Quartz. Quartz, 06 May 2016. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.

Luce, Dan De. "Why Is It So Hard to Stop West Africa’s Vicious Pirates?" Foreign Policy. 26 Sept. 2016. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.

Bill Wattson. "Average Ransom Payment and Total Earnings for Somali Pirates." Havocscope. 14 Feb. 2015. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

John Tarson. "The Ungoverned Seas." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 27 Nov. 2014. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

"Piracy in West Africa | Africa Renewal Online." United Nations. United Nations, Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

Deutsche Welle. "West Africa's Tough Battle with Piracy."  Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

A Tang of Salt

"He took the chopsticks, picked up the pebble from the dish and slowly dipped it in the sauce as if performing a ritual. then he raised the pebble to his lips and sucked it with relish"(72).

"It's a remedy against cowardice. To gain courage, you must swallow it when it's still lukewarm and frothy... When he finished he sucked his fingers one by one, to make sure not a drop was wasted"(94).

Analysis:

Sijie uses the symbols of the jade dumplings and the buffalo’s blood to emphasize the hardships one faces while coming of age. Many aspects of one’s coming of age are rooted in relishing the little things in life and not taking gifts for granted. This is shown in the deep enjoyment and “relishing” the old man takes when simply dipping rocks into salty water. This intervenes with the idea of coming of age, because it shows that as one gets older they are faced with harder situations and more difficult tasks, yet they must remain grateful for the simple pleasures to be enjoyed. Like the jade dumplings, Four-Eyes choice of drinking the cure for cowardice shows a peak in the process of coming of age. Four-Eyes chooses to drink the bufallo blood in order to “cure himself from cowardice”. This is a choice made towards the goal of developing into an adult. Coming of age has everything to do with evaluating your personal self. By admitting his cowardice, Four-Eyes is growing and maturing. Drinking the buffalo blood shows that he is ready for change and is actually forces it upon himself. Using the blood as a “cure”, he believes that he will cure himself of cowardice, and subsequently his boyhood. Therefore, he is beginning to walk down the path of a developing adult.

A Frozen Tomb

Let the anger of those around you

Those stuck frozen in lies

Regret and deceit

Let them fade away from your thoughts

Do not let the rage of others blind for

Let your mind body and soul be at peace

Away from the fire of the world

Let the birds and the sky sing their song

Without interruption from shouting

For to be away from anger

Is to be with peace

While to leave anger behind is meaningful

One must stand up to the flames of humanity

To lead the weak through fire

For it is much better to be a warrior in a garden

Than a gardener in a war