UpFront: Brazil

Felix Levine                                                                                                    5/15/14

811                                                                                                                 ELA

Brazil World Cup

            In June of 2014, Brazil will host the prestigious FIFA World Cup. It is always in the headlines of which country will host the World Cup every 4 years. But there always comes lots of controversy. And personally, I don’t agree with many of the things these countries do, and the money they spend, and morally how they treat the workers that have to build these incredibly large and numerous stadiums for an event that lasts barely a month.

            One reason I do not agree morally with how they handle the process of building these stadiums, is how they treat their workers. For example, Brazil is a country that has some very wealthy people, but also some incredibly poor people. Besides what is written in the UpFront magazine article, I have seen so many things on T.V. about the living conditions of some of the people who are working to try to build the stadiums on time. I’ve seen stories on TV that are about how some workers died from building these stadiums. As prestigious as the World Cup is, morally must take over. You cannot put someone or multiple people’s lives in Jeopardy just because you want to play soccer. Soccer is a sport, but humans should be the priority and having someone die, trying to work and make a living building the premises of the World Cup is something that can be avoided, and can just simply not happen. And now it’s gone to about 3 or 4 deaths. Especially since they aren’t sure if the stadiums will be finished on time, workers have to work extra hours.

            A second reason I don’t agree with what is going on is Brazil is the economics behind it. There is no sense of morality when investing their money. Brazil is not a wealthy country, and to be investing, as it says in the UpFront article “$11 Billion” to try to renovate and fix up the stadiums is absolutely ludicrous. And when you see that only 41% of the population graduates from High School nonetheless College, it’s shocking. They should be focusing on investing $11 Billion dollars in their schools and giving more education and once they’ve taken care of that and have extra money to spend, they can use it on trying to make the World Cup or the Olympics an incredible spectacle.

            In conclusion, I don’t agree with the way Brazil has been handling these huge economic and moral decisions. You can’t invest Billions of dollars in to something that has killed people, and eliminates the possibility of investing in things that are actually meaningful such as education. They must get their priorities straight or else they’re going to be headed into a serious debt. And the people of Brazil will be upset that they are still living in poor conditions just because they wanted to make a Soccer tournament look nice. Personally, these don’t match my moral codes and humanity should come before anything else. 

Romeo and Juliet

Felix Levine                                                                                                    5/15/14

ELA                                                                                                                 ELA

Romeo and Juliet Essay

            In the book “Romeo and Juliet” written by William Shakespeare, there has always been one question that’s always asked once you’re finished reading this legendary book, “Who’s to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet?” The people to blame for Romeo and Juliet’s deaths are their parents. Had the friction between Capulets and Montagues not been so tense and had they allowed for their children to be married at will and to whomever they wanted, Romeo and Juliet could’ve lived longer and peaceful lives.

            One example is, the two families had similar goals in terms of lifestyles, except they were in two different groups who hated each other. For example, in the prologue it says “Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.” The “ancient grudge” is speaking about the grudge that the Capulets and Montagues have had for years and years, and it’s implying that the families are forced to believed that the others are bad because there’s been a long and rough history between the two families.

            Another reason why the families are to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet is that there families completely deprive them of being happy with just being together. For example, Shakespeare writes in the prologue “Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,” this quote means represents that their love had death written all over in it from the beginning. Meaning that they were always going to be overshadowed by their families hating one another and they would be unable to make the most of their love and live a happy life together.

            A third reason why the families of Romeo and Juliet are to blame for their deaths are just simply for never really coming to terms with it and not being understanding that Juliet isn’t trying to provoke or to start a feud, but simply wants to be with the one she loves. As she says in Act 2 Scene 2 “Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.” This shows that she would do anything to be with Romeo and even go against her Father and on top of that, no longer be a Capulet. Her parents can’t force to her love someone that she does not love, and if they had realized that earlier, it could’ve saved not only her life, but also Romeo’s.

            In conclusion, the families of Romeo and Juliet are the cause of Romeo and Juliet’s deaths. A famous love story of two young people who had their families and a history standing in their way were unable to overcome it. It shows how much society and traditions can sometimes ruin a life, ruin a life to the point of death.