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. 

Should a Hated Word Be Banned?

In the article in UpFront Magazine article on word banning in relation to Nazi's, it brought up a good argument; should a hated word be banned? Words cannot be "banned" nor regulated. You cannot put someone in jail or fine them or make a law that says someone cannot say something. Especially if it were ever to occur here in America, it would violate the "freedom of speech" amendment.
I do believe however, some words should not be used. Words such as "nazi" for some families who had their ancestors killed by Nazi's during WWII do not want to speak of them and I believe it is their right to not want that word to be said. But you can not ban it. People should have the right to say whatever they want and it is up to them to make the decision on what they say to others. Some things are more hurtful than others, but it is part of human nature to make a decision on what you are going to say and who you are saying it to and under what context. It would cause too much of a stir if one person said something and was fined thousands of dollars because he pronounced the word "Nazi". It's one thing banning production of a product because it is wrong or harmful, but words are different. Anyone can say anything at anytime.
In conclusion, words should not be banned. I am all for that some words should be forgotten and carry around a bad definition and may hurt particular families or individuals, but overall, you cannot ban a word under the law. Freedom of speech is one of America's amendments and in other countries as well.

Sonnet: Freshly Washed Clothes

Shall I compare thee to freshly washed clothes
The feeling of clean and soft clothes delights
Taking out socks to pleasure your toes
Oh how I love my newly fresh running tights

Whenever i put my clothes in the wash
Time goes by very slowly as i wait
When they come out I'll look nice like Chris Bosh
If they do not dry I'll be very late

But what I do not like is spending money
On the water bill and the detergent
But why could they just not make cleaning free?
Getting my clothes washed is very urgent!

How I would do anything to look clean,
Because I am a fourteen year old teen.

Martín Espada Essay

            Martín Espada, a famous poet, has brought upon his Spanish heritage and roots and tried to relay different lessons of discrimination to his readers. Espada has always been active in trying to give Hispanics, and people with Spanish backgrounds more rights in the U.S. and for them to be treated equally. He tries to send messages in his poems, without directly attacking any particular group of people, to be aware of these discriminations made against the Latinos. Espada seems to be someone who will go after an issue, like discrimination, and bring a peaceful approach in ways of stopping it such as small lines in his poems that can target specific groups to stop discrimination. He uses poetry as a way to express himself with certain issues.

            In the poem “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson”, he writes “hijack a busload of Republican tourists from Wisconsin” this quote can be interpreted in many ways. But as it seems to me is that he’s aiming this at Republicans. Republicans are known for not being in favor of immigration and letting illegal Latinos get citizenship, which is against Espada’s beliefs. He wants for Hispanics and Latinos to be able to have the right to one day become American Citizens. So by saying “hijack” it sounds like he wants to show those Republicans his frustration through somewhat of a metaphor, or something we know he wouldn’t physically do, and show it through his writing in his poem. He also writes “whenever my name is mispronounced” which is interesting because his name is Spanish and when Americans say it wrong, it seems to be one of those things that upsets him because it seems to them as his name isn’t normal or it doesn’t sound right like they would pronounce it in America. This can be easily related with Latinos being treated as minorities and not as Americans.

            Also, in his poem “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California” it speaks about Mexicans that were lynched. “when forty gringo vigilantes, that cheered the rope, that snapped two Mexicanos” this line is a literal reference to when Mexicans had been lynched. But I think he more so writes this maybe to show some of the current day discriminations against Latinos. The lynchings could symbolize how they are treated in modern day. Issues such as immigration is a way of saying they aren’t citizens and aren’t regular people which in some ways is taking away their humanity and their lives.

            In another poem “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School” is a more direct ay he shows how Latinos are discriminated. It’s simply how the school principal hears Spanish in the bathroom and it obviously bothers him, making him “constipated” which is just a symbol to show that the Spanish bothers him, and bans it. This is more directly saying how Mexcians and Latinos are discriminated against and that it could reach points where American schools and people with more power, would be bothered by kids speaking Spanish. Also, the kids went to the Bathroom to speak Spanish, because they felt uncomfortable speaking Spanish in class, which can show how Latinos are treated by the rest of the people. And that they are the clear minorities who aren’t treated like everyone else.

            In conclusion, Espada shows different levels of discrimination in different ways in a lot of his poems. He tries to peacefully send a message to his readers, and maybe politicians about the on-going problems of immigration and Latinos being accepted in society. Some of his poems are more direct and the message is more clear, and some you need to think about, and really try to see what message Espada is trying to get across. 

Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth Part 2

In the book "Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth" Tyson reveals his rock-bottom upbringings that shaped him to become one of the best boxers of all time. Things that you wouldn't think a celebrity would ever have to go through; he lived through it all. For a multi-millionaire to have once been starving on the streets of Brownsville not knowing where he'll sleep that night, that's Mike Tyson. He speaks about how he is unable to find love or understand how to love. It seems contradictory that such a successful person had such a hard life early on, but without the early hardships, he would've never had the success he had.
Tyson wrote in his book a whole part about how when he had money, it was almost as if he had to buy love and friendship. Growing up, he didn't know how to love. He didn't know what it meant. His mother never showed him affection and he didn't even know his real father. When I personally think of a celebrity, naturally you think they have always had everything they wanted and were just incredibly talented at one particular thing. But that isn't the case. In fact, I've always believed it was the upbringing that made someone be successful. If you're always handed everything, there can't really be that feeling of really working hard at something and then getting rewarded. If you're handed everything, then there is no need to work for it. Not to say that sometimes you won't be successful if that's your case. But with people like Mike Tyson, Andre Agassi, Muhammed Ali, and a lot of other successful people, they had hard upbringings but that's why they became so successful in their fields. They wanted something so badly that they did everything in order to get it.
In conclusion, Mike Tyson seems like someone who was just successful and got rich and lived a happy life. But that's the complete opposite, he came out of nowhere, was rock-bottom poor, and fought his way (literally) to the top. It was with hard work, dedication, and motivation to completely turn his life around.