The Leaf Men.
The Book of my childhood.
Every time I see it
or flip through its shiny, glossy pages
memories of happiness
freedom
and imagination
flashes before me in a whirlwind of my childhood.
This book made me dream like never before
This book made me look
look at the world as if I looking through a newly washed window.
This book
these Leaf Men
they taught me lessons.
Be strong.
Don't give up.
Fight for what you love.
Do things for others
and become a hero.
These imaginary
fantastic little Leaf Men
were the inspiration of my childhood
that still inspire me
and make me dream
to this very day.
The Leaf Men live on.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Argument Essay Second Draft
“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, by Sherman Alexie, is a wonderful novel and should not be banned because of its content. School libraries and English teachers are trying to censor “Absolutely True Diary” from their students, as well as many other texts, and I disagree with this decision. School libraries and English teachers should not censor texts, such as Absolutely True Diary, that deal with controversial issues, such as racism and drug addiction, because authors do everything for a reason and a helpful lesson can be pulled out of any mildly inappropriate situation.
Authors have a right to write whatever they want; their books are not bad influences. As the US Constitution puts it, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…”(Constitutionus.com). This first amendment makes it clear that speaking and writing whatever you want is a basic constitutional right, and for teachers to ban it is against the constitution. In “Darkness Too Visible”, an article about banning books, Meghan Cox Gurdon wrote, “Reading about homicide doesn’t turn a man into a murderer; reading about cheating on exams wont make a kid break the honor code.” In case you were unaware, the honor code or honor system is a set of rules or ethical principles governing a community based on ideals that define what constitutes honorable behavior within that community.
Authors have a right to write whatever they want; their books are not bad influences. As the US Constitution puts it, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…”(Constitutionus.com). This first amendment makes it clear that speaking and writing whatever you want is a basic constitutional right, and for teachers to ban it is against the constitution. In “Darkness Too Visible”, an article about banning books, Meghan Cox Gurdon wrote, “Reading about homicide doesn’t turn a man into a murderer; reading about cheating on exams wont make a kid break the honor code.” In case you were unaware, the honor code or honor system is a set of rules or ethical principles governing a community based on ideals that define what constitutes honorable behavior within that community.
Many parents feel,
however, that Y.A. (young adult) readers should be shielded from real world
issues in books, such as racism. In “Chicago Tribune”, Ruth Fuller stated that
“Some parents… want an assigned reading book [Absolutely True Diary] pulled
from… school[s’] shelves… because it uses foul, racist language….” This statement
makes it obvious that parents feel strongly about banning Absolutely True Diary,
and pay close attention to the controversial ideas in the text. I also read a
quote by Jennifer Andersen on Absolutely True Diary saying; “I can’t imagine
anyone finding this book appropriate for a 13- or 14-year-old… This [book] is
not appropriate for our community.” Clearly, some parents and teachers feel
strongly about banning mildly inappropriate books. Fuller does a great job of
showing this in her article.
There
is a need for Y.A. readers to learn about real world issues through minimal controversial
behavior in books. “The Banned Books We Have Loved” shows us that there are
countless lessons taught in countless books. For example, “From ‘Go Ask Alice’,
we learned… that drugs should be considered with caution. “Absolutely True
Diary” also taught us many good lessons. It states, “Life is a constant
struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community” (76).
These
books have such beneficial lessons to be learnt that banning them would most
definitely be a costly choice, in the way that students would miss the lessons.
If you find yourself reading something you find too mature for you, no one’s stopping
you from putting it down. Learning about graphic life lessons in the form of a
book is a great way to learn something like that. I mean, what else is there
that’s better than a well-written book?
Monday, November 11, 2013
Argument Essay Draft #1
“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, by Sherman Alexie, is a wonderful novel and should not be banned because of its content. School libraries and English teachers are trying to censor “Absolutely True Diary” from their students, as well as many other texts, and I disagree with this decision. School libraries and English teachers should not censor texts that deal with controversial issues, such as racism and drug addiction, because authors do everything for a reason, and a helpful lesson can be pulled out of any mildly inappropriate situation.
Authors have a right to write whatever they want; their books are not bad influences. Freedom of the press is a constitutional right. It is a basic constitutional principle to write what you want. I also read in “Darkness Too Visible”, an article I received in class about banning books, that “Reading about homicide doesn’t turn a man into a murderer; reading about cheating on exams wont make a kid break the honor code.” I agree strongly with this and find these two facts to be solid supporting details to my topic sentence.
Many parents feel, however, that Y.A. (young adult) readers should be shielded from real world issues in books, such as racism. In “Chicago Tribune”, the author stated that “Some parents… want an assigned reading book [Absolutely True Diary] pulled from… school[s’] shelves… because it uses foul, racist language…”. I also read a quote by Jennifer Andersen on Absolutely True Diary saying “I can’t imagine anyone finding this book appropriate for a 13- or 14-year-old… This [book] is not appropriate for our community”. Clearly, some parents and teachers feel strongly about banning mildly inappropriate books. I still support my assertion.
There is a need for Y.A. readers to learn about real world issues through minimal inapt behavior in books. As I read in an article called “The Banned Books We Have Loved”, there are countless lessons taught in countless books. For example, “From Go Ask Alice, we learned… that drugs should be considered with caution. “Absolutely True Diary” also taught us many good lessons. I even pulled out a line from the book stating, “Life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community.”
Authors have a right to write whatever they want; their books are not bad influences. Freedom of the press is a constitutional right. It is a basic constitutional principle to write what you want. I also read in “Darkness Too Visible”, an article I received in class about banning books, that “Reading about homicide doesn’t turn a man into a murderer; reading about cheating on exams wont make a kid break the honor code.” I agree strongly with this and find these two facts to be solid supporting details to my topic sentence.
Many parents feel, however, that Y.A. (young adult) readers should be shielded from real world issues in books, such as racism. In “Chicago Tribune”, the author stated that “Some parents… want an assigned reading book [Absolutely True Diary] pulled from… school[s’] shelves… because it uses foul, racist language…”. I also read a quote by Jennifer Andersen on Absolutely True Diary saying “I can’t imagine anyone finding this book appropriate for a 13- or 14-year-old… This [book] is not appropriate for our community”. Clearly, some parents and teachers feel strongly about banning mildly inappropriate books. I still support my assertion.
There is a need for Y.A. readers to learn about real world issues through minimal inapt behavior in books. As I read in an article called “The Banned Books We Have Loved”, there are countless lessons taught in countless books. For example, “From Go Ask Alice, we learned… that drugs should be considered with caution. “Absolutely True Diary” also taught us many good lessons. I even pulled out a line from the book stating, “Life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community.”
In
conclusion, despite what others may think, I stand strongly alongside my
opinion on the topic of banning books. These books have such beneficial lessons
to be learnt that banning them would most definitely be a costly choice. If you
find yourself reading something you find to mature for you, no one’s stopping
you from putting it down. But in my opinion, learning about graphic life
lessons in the form of a book is the best way to learn something like that. I
mean, what else is there that’s better than a well-written book?
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