Response

During class today, the overall theme of what we did had to do with discrimination. The test was just strange. I feel like it really wasn't accurate because it gave me results that I don't necessarily agree with. Listening to the Face to Face videos made me realize that the 9/11 and Pearl Harbor events really did effect the lives of people from Japan and Middle Eastern areas. The story that stuck out most to me was about a Japanese guy that was harassed by the FBI after Pearl Harbor. He got so fed up and sick of it that he hung himself in his barn. Nobody should ever have to deal with being harassed, especially by the government to the point where you feel the need to commit suicide.

While watching A Class Divided, I kept thinking about how the children's parents reacted to this study. It seems logical that the teacher must've had to get permission from the parents because it'd be a bad situation if a child came home from school and felt bad about their eye color. I wasn't surprised how easily the 3rd grader's views were changed because they believe about anything an adult will tell them, especially their teacher. Also, I wonder if the students were skeptical about simple things the teacher told them after the experiment. If somebody convinced me of things that turned out to be false more than once, I would question everything else they said.

Reading Response #3: The Fault in Our Stars

After Hazel and Augustus returned from their trip to Amsterdam, the couple's love for each other just grew and grew. At first, Hazel was really timid because she didn't want to get into such a deep relationship then die and leave her significant other with a "scar", as she called it. Augustus said, "You realize that trying to keep your distance from me will not lessen my affection for you. All efforts to save me from you will fail." As things progressed, she finally gave into the idea that being with Augustus was okay because he gave her a sense of life that she's never experienced before.

Over time, Augustus's health rolled faster and faster downhill due to the long battle against cancer. Hazel really didn't know when the last "goodbye" would be her last memory of him. In some ways, I can relate because I have a great grandpa that's 97 and lives in Wichita. I only get to visit on holidays and summer vacation, so each time I say my goodbyes, I don't take it for granted. When Augustus reached the end of the road, it hit Hazel really hard. Over time, she accepted it because she realized that just the experience of falling in love with such a beautiful person, inside and out was the best thing that has ever happened to her. After Augustus passed away, Hazel found a letter to an author that he wrote, talking about her. In the last line, he said, "You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers." The couple knew that their relationship would eventually hurt them in a way they've never experienced. But they chose to love each other, regardless of the heartbreak and consequences. In the picture above, Hazel is laying with Augustus in the hospital bed, where they spend some of their last moments together.