last

i was the last one born into a family of 8

as i grew older, 8 slowly trickled into 7, into 6, and then 5.

myself, mommy, dad, gege

and our last dog.

from nights sitting on the kitchen floor,

my hand feeding her dinner

to make sure that she ate,

to carrying her outside,

since she could no longer go through the dog door:

her hips creaking like a broken door.

and paws worn out like your favorite pair of old shoes.

she would stop at the bottom of the stairs,

incapable of doing what she had been doing

for years;

as if fourteen steps were fourteen miles

a hill too steep to climb.

i would rise with ease,

able to do what she couldn’t

and scoop her up in my arms;

and carry her up.

and then down.

and up again.

and then, one day, when her tail stopped wagging,

and her heart stopped beating,

my mom scooped her up into her arms

just like i had

and took her down the stairs

for the last time.

and just like that, 5 became 4.

The Good Side of Amir

This picture shows a bush that is growing, but also half dead. Most of the novel illustrates the guilty and betraying side of Amir, which is the dead part of the bush. As he grows into an adult and matures, he begins to grasp hold onto important aspects of his life, such as marrying Soraya and going to college while pursuing a career, which is the flourishing part of the bush. Through Amir's childhood regrets, part of the bush cannot grow and thrive. Furthermore, the dead part of the bush still has some parts of it that are alive because of the guilt and shame he felt when he was a child. However, moving to America gives Amir the opportunity to build on top his past and create a successful future for himself.

Africa’s Climate Change: Lost Crops, Lost Jobs, Lost Hope?

In the open fields and meadows of Africa, cattle roam freely as crops flourish, rain replenishing the produce. Unfortunately, this is not Africa’s current reality. Due to natural weather phenomenons El Niño and La Niña, Africa has been suffering from climate change and serious drought repercussions. El Niño is related to the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean that cause weather and climate fluctuations and is usually followed by La Niña, which results in opposite effects of El Niño (Southern). Human impact has made Africa’s climate change much more severe as growing seasons for crops have been rapidly decreasing, resulting in a deficiency in food for both cattle and citizens of Africa (Butoyi). Not only are there fewer crops to grow, dams are at a new low water level, affecting businesses and farmers’ crops, and an inadequacy of water for the people of Africa (Onishi). Without adequate water supplies, farmers in Africa cannot successfully grow sufficient crops for African citizens and cattle cannot survive.

The article “Southern Africa and the Curse of Man-made Climate Change” has labeled the current drought in Southern Africa as "the worst drought in 35 years" by the UN, causing over half a million children to be malnourished and severely dehydrated (Southern). Although we in California have been enduring our own drought, the African drought has much more serious repercussions, as the nation’s citizens heavily rely on agriculture and steady water levels. The wavering unpredictable rain periods in Africa have created a shortage of crops grown by farmers and have left families in destitute circumstances.

The drought has massively affected the water availability in Africa, and the lack of water results in communities being cut off from the water supply. For example, Zambia relies on a hydroelectric dam for its water, as it transmits electricity to small businesses within the town. The unrelenting drought has proven to the citizens of Zambia that the dam is not limitless. The article, “Climate Change Hits Hard in Zambia, an African Success Story” reports that the dam has helped Zambia’s economy grow rapidly, but the drought has cut down water levels to a record low amount. Since the people of Zambia rely on the dam for water and electricity, the lowering levels of water result in multiple and frequent power outages. These power outages affect both businesses and citizens in Zambia, as workers have been laid off due to these power blackouts because companies cannot afford to pay workers when they are not able to produce goods without electricity. Not only are people losing their jobs, but businesses are rendered as unprofitable because they are unable to meet their production deadlines (Onishi). Deforestation has also contributed to a limited flow of water, restricting the use of water for farmers who are trying to grow crops and care for their cattle (Mounard). These two causes of water limitation have lead to malnourished and dehydrated children, along with unsuccessful businesses and citizens without jobs.

Man-made climate change has also affected the growth of crops, leading to malnourished children and dying cattle. Regardless of El Niño and La Niña, human action has worsened the impact of the natural phenomenons. A UN food and agriculture coordinator states that over forty million people will be affected by the drought since no new crops to have been grown, and crops from last year have already been used (Southern). Because of the drought, there have been water restrictions placed on farmers to save water; some farmers are restricted from using 50%+ of their water, while additionally not being able to use 30-43% from government-owned dams. (Karmo). Farmers do not have enough water to grow their crops or grow food for their cattle to eat with these restrictions in place. Not only do families have an insufficiency of food and water with the drought, these constraints have left citizens of Africa deprived of basic sustenance.

When looking into the open fields of what should be green grass and growing crops, anyone can see that Africa is plagued with climate change that has exhausted their natural resources. The dry grass and barren crop fields Africa and all of its inhabitants have been suffering from the severe climate change that has been affecting the water levels and agriculture. Unfortunately, Africa’s citizens will continue to suffer from global warming and learn to cope with conserving water and crops instead of consuming them. The citizens of Africa can only hope to have their dams and crops replenished.

Works Cited:

Butoyi, Rosette. "Burundi: Prepare for Short Growing Season, Experts Warn." AllAfrica.com. AllAfrica, 20 Feb. 2017. Web. 06 Mar. 2017

Mounard, Nicolas. "3 Key Ingredients to Achieve Food Security in Africa." News.trust.org. News.trust.org, 27 Feb. 2017. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.

Karmo, Henry. "Western Cape Agriculture on Drought Impact." South Africa Government (via Public) / South Africa Government, 6 Mar. 2017. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

Onishi, Norimitsu. "Climate Change Hits Hard in Zambia, an African Success Story." The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 Apr. 2016. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.

"Southern Africa and the Curse of Man-made Climate Change." The Herald. IRIN, 8 Feb. 2017. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

Whiting, Alex. "African Countries Will Be Hardest Hit by Climate Change." MG Africa. MG Africa, 19 Dec. 2016. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.

Thinking on Fuzz

In Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, the author, Dai Sijie, uses the symbolism of the narrator’s sheepskin coat and Balzac’s book in order to exemplify the effects of the restrictions of intellectual liberty on adolescents.

Balzac Book

“The magic of translation! The ponderousness of the two syllables as well as the belligerent, somewhat old-fashioned ring of the name were quite gone” (56).

This quote suggests the limitation of western influence in China and also illustrates an analogy to how the Cultural Revolution deprived Chinese people of refined culture and intellectual liberty. When the narrator is in awe at the “magic of translation,” he hints that translation of Balzac’s French name into Chinese drastically changes the sound and the feel of the name. When he follows up by saying that the “ponderousness” and the “old-fashioned ring” of the name were “quite gone,” he suggests that the Chinese translation strips away much of the essence of Balzac’s name. One can infer that Mao’s regime accomplishes something similar by censoring and altering intellectual materials such as literature, music, and art that comes from Western cultures. This drastic alteration alludes to the fact that the Cultural Revolution took over people’s lives and stripped them of their intellectual liberty through the teaching of revolutionary propaganda and the limitation of outside influence on Chinese thinking.

“Picture, if you will, a boy of nineteen, still slumbering in the limbo of adolescence, having heard nothing but revolutionary blather about patriotism, communism, ideology and propaganda all his life, falling headlong into a story of awakening desire, passion, impulsive action, love, of all the subjects had, until then, been hidden from me” (57).

The lack of intellectual liberty during the cultural revolution greatly affects the adolescent youth. As one of many victims of resettlement, these teens are sent to the mountains to have all signs of western development wiped from their knowledge. While under the rule of Mao, the entire community of China is responsible to surrendering anything bourgeois to Mao’s communist views. However, with the great impact of western influences in only first edition of Balzac’s literature, it can only be inferred that with more reading, Luo and the Narrator are bound to resist their re-education even more. Luo and the Narrator’s growing thirst for outside knowledge can only seem to lead them into mischievous activities, getting them in trouble with the headmaster of the village while they could possibly watch their chance of going home dissipate.

Narrator’s Sheepskin Coat

“‘When she’d finished 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’” (62).

This passage compares the sheepskin coat to a holy object. The author is suggesting that the words written on the coat are “holy” and carry a special weight to them. This shows the power of ideas and how the right ideas can sway people’s opinions dramatically. Despite their lifetimes of communist propaganda, Luo, the narrator, and the Little Seamstress are all quickly enraptured by the western ideas inside of Balzac’s book. This quote shows that despite bad odds, intellectual liberty will always be able to break through.

“‘She ended up putting your wretched coat on (which looked very good on her, I must say). She said having Balzac’s words next to her skin made her feel good, and also more intelligent’” (62).

This quote shows that the sheepskin is an important object that relates to intellectual liberty. The narrator writes his favorite quotes and passages on the coat in case that the never get their hands on the book again after returning to Four Eyes. This shows that they really embrace Western literature. They are awed by the power of words, and their imagination expands drastically. From reading the book, they learn more about the outside world. Even though their life is about communism, they are still captured by the words of Western literature. This shows that just by reading and being surrounded by words itself makes them feel more exposed to the outside world and more intelligent.

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Fine Line

The hardworking and persistent will come out on top

And the lazy and unmotivated will lay still on the bottom

Which one are you?

Which one does your mind tell you to be?

The persistent won’t quit

until perfection.

The unmotivated will quit

before given instruction.

There seems to be a fine line

between reaching your goals and not

But the line is that of a gaping hole

between the ones on the bottom and the top

The difference is not small

and neither are the consequences

Because those who chase

are the ones who succeed.