truly happy

I have an obnoxious and deafening voice

That may not be understood the right way

Because maybe

it is too much to handle

I have to remember that some people grow up too fast

And put their crayons down before moving onto the 5th grade

People may have become impassioned

That’s just how it is

I’m here to show you what i see through my eyes

And why

Instead

Of choosing a black crayon

I chose bright red

You may be upset

Because you feel like the whole world is relying on you

But sometimes you forget

That you act like the world is revolving around you

You may be upset

because you got an 82% on your math test

or because you have never experienced “real” happiness past the age of 7

And if that’s the case

I’m sorry

I’m sorry you don’t see the world as vibrant place

Filled with adventures

And second chances

i’d like to think

That me choosing red is the reason i am always happy

I’m okay with myself

I’m okay with the fact that I have acne

Big calves

And a double chin

Sometimes doubt does cross my mind

But I overcome it

I overcome every inch

And every locus on my body

I am happy with that

Because I make a choice everyday

To not care about getting a bad grade here and there

Or not being beautiful enough

I choose my well being over others

And don’t use my red crayons to draw lines on my wrists

but to draw the beautiful house I will once live in

I’m not  “in a good mood” happy

I’m happy in a way that can’t be explained

Without examining the neurons in my brain

I’m happy

because i realised that smiling is more important

than searching for your future on naviance

Assef's Personality

     This photo represents Assef's personality. The weed feeds off the tree's resources, depriving it of the necessary nutrients the tree needs to survive. This relates back to how Assef takes pleasure in destroying Sohrab's childhood and taking away his rights. The weed mercilessly invades the tree's space, it does not move and only kills the tree more. The mercilessness of the weed reflects Assef's personality for he also ruthlessly kills the people surrounding him. As the weed invades the grass' space, it weakens it, for the nutrients of the soil have been taken by the weed. Assef weakens anyone he interacts with, both mentally and physically.

The African STD Crisis

Katelyn Moussavian

Period 2

March 7th, 2017

The African STD Crisis

Sexually transmitted diseases, most commonly referred to as STD’s, are some of the most dangerous and easily spread illnesses in the world. About 24.7 million people in Africa are infected with HIV alone (Avert). This means that 24 million people may be facing death as a consequence for having unprotected sex. If people had enough sexual education to understand how easy it is to spread this virus, the number of infected people would be lower.  Also, condoms would help slow the spread of STD’s.

Kids sometimes struggle to ask an adult for help when it comes to anything sexually related. One way to work on this problem is to make sure sexual education programs are being taught correctly in order to make people aware of how serious STD's are and how they can avoid getting them. STD’s have a big impact in places of poverty and they largely affect those who are not very educated and groups such as prostitutes. This is a very serious topic that needs to be discussed in every school across the continent.  STD’s can be deadly and are transmitted from person to person if they do not know that they are infected with them.

Condom distribution is key to helping reduce the spread of STD’s.  “While external funds account for two-thirds of HIV spending in sub-Saharan Africa, two-thirds of general health care expenditure is sourced from domestic governments” (Avert). This quote shows that African governments continue to need outside help on this difficult problem.  Slowing the spread of STD’s is simple: the government must donate condoms to those in need and make health classes available for the people so they know how deadly and dangerous this topic is. Due to the numerous laws against prostitution, it is incredibly difficult for prostitutes to get check ups especially when they need it most (The New Age). They all need to be taken care of no matter the circumstances.  HPV and HIV are similar, and one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of STD’s is condom use. So why do the countries not distribute more of them to those in need?  

In our community and country, condoms and other birth control methods are easy to access, but in places like South Africa not everyone has access to easy protection or a good sexual education. African leaders need to open their eyes and realize that 790,000 of their people have already died in the last year from STD’s (WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION).  What are they changing to make sure this number decreases in the future?

Anonymous. “AFRICAN AMERICAN STD RATES.” Christianityandrace.org, Christianityandrace.org, June 2017, Accessed June 2017.

Anonymous. “Health Disparities in HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STDs, and TB.” Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, June 2017, Accessed June 2017.

Anonymous. “HIV and AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Overview.” Avert.org, Avert.org, 2016, Accessed June 2017.

Anonymous. “Number of Deaths Due to HIV/AIDS.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, Aug. 2017, Accessed Aug. 2017.

Anonymous. “Types of STD Common in Africa – Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Africa.” Afya Njema, Afya Njema, Aug. 2017, Accessed Aug. 2017.

Anonymous. “Worrying Spike in Sexually Transmitted Diseases.” The New Age, The New Age, Dec. 2016, Accessed June 2017.

A Key to the Cage

Narrator’s Sheepskin Coat:

“I decided I would write directly onto the inside of my sheepskin coat… I copied out the chapter where Ursule somnambulates. I longed to be like her: to be able, while I lay asleep, to see what my mother was doing … Better still, like Ursule, I would visit, in my dreams, places I had never set eyes on before…” (58).

“After I had read the passage from Balzac to her word for word, he explained, “‘she took your coat and reread the whole thing, in silence. When she’d finish reading she sat there quite still, open-mouthed. Your coat was resting on the flat of her hands, the way a sacred object lies in the palms of the pious. “‘He touched the head of this mountain girl with an invisible finger, and she was transformed,carried away in a dream.It took a while for her to come down to earth. She ended up putting your wretched coat on.She said having Balzac’s words next to her skin made her feel good, and also more intelligent" (62).  

Four-Eyes’ Suitcase:

“So I could ask him what sort of treasure he had so securely hidden away in his secret cache” (49).

“We crept up to the suitcase. It was tied with a thick rope of plaited straw, knotted crosswise. We removed the rope and raised the lid in silence. Inside, piles of books shone in the light of our torch: a company of great Western writers welcomed us with open arms. On top was our friend Balzac, with five or six novels” (99).

Main Idea/Summary of the Two Symbols relating to a Novel Topic:

In the book Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, the locked suitcase full of books and the sheepskin coat represent Luo and the narrator’s journey to intellectual liberty during their re-education. The boys view the suitcase as a cage which locks their knowledge away and prevents them from learning. Once they get exposure to free thinking from the Balzac book, they want to experience the ability to think for themselves again. This makes the suitcase turn into their cage, because it denies them of the additional knowledge they want to gain. Eventually, the boys will do anything to break the cage open, which is for them stealing the suitcase from Four-Eyes. They succeed, allowing them a whole stash of books which gives them the knowledge they were craving. During the time that the knowledge is locked in the cage (when the books are in the suitcase), the narrator is desperate to feel close to this knowledge again. His sheepskin coat is the solution- he can feel close to the works and his intellectual freedom again when he writes the passage inside the coat. This allows him to remember the passages even when the book is gone, as well as feeling close to the books and reminding him to think freely despite this being something Mao looks down on. Overall, the books inside the suitcase represent the only knowledge the boys have access to up high on the mountain. The suitcase denies their ability to continue thinking freely, and to maintain this intellectual liberty, they turn to the writings inside the sheepskin coat for that access.