Youth

Toshio and Kiyoshi shouldn't be responsible for their parent's debt because it is not their mistakes to pay for, and they're losing something so important; their youth.  Toshio and Kiyoshi were I believe 14 when they started working for the plantation and their youth is something they can never get back.  It's their father's mistakes that they're working for which is not teaching them to pay for their own mistakes. Too much responsibility for someone too young can be overwhelming and a loss of hopefulness. I understand that these ways are due to japanese culture's traditions and to them it's the only way they are living just to survive in poverty. They are a collectivists and to them it would be completely bizarre for the system to be any different than the way it is, but the way it is set up is completely unreasonable.

A lot of people look back and remember a time in their childhood being the most fun time of their lives, when they could just play and laugh and not worry about a thing.  Children are fearless they laugh really loud, cry really hard, scream really loud and love a lot.  Your childhood is something you can never get back and living with a family like his who has strong beliefs about how they have to act and little hope constraints the joyfulness of being a child.  Your teenage years are important as well, you become aware of the way you look and who you are, you are becoming a little man or women.  You make friends that mean the world to you and build memories together that last a lifetime. Having all of those good times taken from you and filled with stress and sadness is unfair.  Your youth is something that you can never get back and if you do not act like a child while your a child you will always look back and regret things you missed out on.  

It doesn't seem logical to me for the children to have to pay for their parent's mistakes. It seems like ineffective parenting, role modeling, and even morals.  If japanese father's make mistakes and they're making their families pay for them then their modeling to their children not to pay for your own mistakes. Their father's are not taking responsibility for their own actions, instead their depending on their family to save them.  It's not fair for the children and it's morally wrong for the parents. Why should the children have so much responsibility when their parents aren't taking responsibility for their own actions. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with living in poverty but it's shocking because parents should want what's best for their children and I would think that at least their mother would have been sensitive to their emotions. It wasn't like Toshio was complaining about taking the garbage out, or washing the dishes, but he was complaining about almost killing himself from working so hard. The sad thing is, Toshio's mother thought it was unreasonable for him to be complaining.  At this point, his health could be fairly at risk and she is disappointed in him for it.  Their father is the one that made the decisions to get them to where they were and so he should be the one to save his family and not depend on his young boys to do it for him.

It's unhealthy for someone so young to have that much responsibility.  They are children and they already have to worry about all the stressors that are too hard for even an adult to worry about when in poverty.  It's as if one day Toshio and Kiyoshi are happy they don't have a care in the world,  and the next day it is up to them whether or not their family survives.  It causes them to think less of themselves, and lose hope in life.  They cannot be anything they want to be, they have to be the families dependent. Toshio and Kiyoshi do not get to experience what they're passionate about. They do not get to join in on sports and organized institutions that others with money get to.  It allows them to not get their hopes up, and even not believe in good things happening to them.  It's sad that someone should be forced to think like that because they were forced to grow up so fast.  Being a teenager in itself is a crucial time for a person that any other stressors would just be too much.  I remember getting extremely stressed out about a pimple on my face as a teenager, I couldn't imagine having to put food on the table at that time.  When you're a young teenager your getting all of these hormones that cause you to feel all of these different things such as a pregnant women would feel.  Could you imagine a pregnant women working all of those long hours, it's unhealthy.  It is way too much responsibility for a young child to be adhering to.

When in poverty, you don't have as many choices as you would like about the way you live and there it's really sad that there is not more equality within the people.  To me, if you're in poverty then the one's with the least sacrificing should be the children. They didn't ask to be there they did not ask to live that life they were put there so how can they be expected to be making up for what their parents have done.  It's really sad that they would think that everything is depended on them.  It's unhealthy to have that much responsibility that young, and the time of being young is something they will never get back.  

All I Asking For is My Body Part III Dialogue

What is the meaning of the title?

The meaning of the title has to do with the desire for independence and freedom. Toshio and Kiyoshi have to spend a pretty big chunk of their lives giving back to their families by working for them like slaves and handing over their hard earned money. They do not have any control over their lives and more importantly their bodies. It must be incredibly hard to not have control over something as personal as your own body.  Toshio questions his actions unlike his father who worked for Toshio's gradfather for 12 years without one word of complaint. Toshio's mother sees him as weak because he had only been working for 3 months and had already been complaining. Toshio is smart to question the collectivist japanese ways and think for himself by wanting to go to school and learn.

Doing what everyone else is doing because it's tradition is like not having a voice or a mind. They are all like robots doing what others tell them to do without thinking for themselves.  It's important to live your life your own way because then you will always stay true to yourself. You can make mistakes and learn from them and build character along the way.  When someone doesn't have control over even their own body then who is that person?  You will never know the true person that lies somewhere inside that body, only the person that they've been made to be. Toshio and Kiyoshi strived for independence and freedom from their traditional japanese family to gain knowledge of who they are and fulfill their own desires.  The title of this book is very significant and it makes me feel really grateful that I had the opportunity to go to school and learn, and I have the freedom to make my own decisions.

Writing Topic Summary- Ch 52

In Rules for Writers Chapter 52 by Diana Hacker the main idea is supporting a thesis when writing MLA style papers. First you want to develop your thesis by gathering all of your evidence and considering all possible arguments and turning it into one sentence of your main idea. Then, you want to organize your evidence  by starting with an informal rough draft to gather your ideas without getting caught up in the complexity of them, then you can move onto a formal outline. Next, you want to use sources to back up your information in support of your thesis. A good way to do this is by explaining terms or concepts by quoting or paraphrasing a source, supporting claims using factual information, using experts knowledge on your argument, and acknowledge arguments against your own.

This is helpful because it's always important to write a good thesis, it is something I need to work on. Your thesis is like your contract with your reader telling them that this is what I'm going to be writing about, if you don't have a strong thesis you might not have a strong paper. It's important to show evidence of your thesis and to stay on topic, this information is helpful because I need to generate all ideas before I just start writing, and gather research to build my thesis so that I know it is strong.

All I Asking For Is My Body

 Makot is a rich boy who lives in a filipino camp, but is actually Japanese.  He plays with younger kids and kids his age always make fun of him. Makot's parents apparently are not the best people.  They are very rich, and don't have the best manners. They were different. Kiyoshi described how different they were, and Makot's mother laughed at him because he was being polite. It was as if she had never heard anyone say thank you before.

I do feel sorry for Makot because it is obvious that his parents are not modeling the best behavior.  It's hard especially as a child to fit in when your parents do not model appropriate social behavior.  I think Makot uses his money to buy the little kids friendship and he wins control over them. He copes with his feelings by bossing little kids around and rewarding them with prizes instead of an actual friendship, which might be what his parents did to him. Makots parents might be replacing love with money.

Understanding

The importance of forgiveness for Victor in Smoke Signals was the act of understanding.  I believe that he couldn't forgive his father because he didn't understand why he did the things he did, why he abused him, and abandoned him.  He probably blamed himself to a certain extent and he a lot of hatred toward his father.  He also realized in the end that forgiving him freed him of everything that was holding him back in growth and in life.

When Arnold became an alcoholic after saving Thomas's life from the fire, it didn't really make sense.  He had just saved someone's life and instead of acting like a hero he was acting like a failure.  Once Victor realized that his father is the one that started the fire by lighting a firework he understood that his father had to live with all that guilt of being responsible for the death of two people for all of those years.  He not only had to live with the guilt, but he was praised for it.  Guilt is one of the worst things a person could feel and I think that once it all made sense to Victor and he had all the answers he then was able to finally take the next step and forgive his father.

Victor seemed depressed in the movie, he was distant and he shut down emotionally. This is probably due to his fathers actions and the fact that he blamed himself in some way.  When your parents have no self worth, usually your kids won't either because they internalize it.  Children want to believe the best in their parents and sometimes that means that they're being blindsided by the truth. Victor didn't show that he blamed himself, he showed nothing but hatred toward his father.  He also probably felt like he was never good enough because of the way his father treated him that day in the truck, and he might feel like if he were better than he would have stayed. This was what the unknown did to Victor before he knew the truth.

Finally, when Victor was able to forgive his father it freed him of all his shortcomings.  He was able to move on with his life and start focusing on himself as a person rather than trying to figure out his past childhood.  It was like closure for Victor, he finally got that none of it was his fault. He understood that his father didn't just make bad choices because he wanted to but something severe actually happened to him that I'm sure no one could ever imagine having happened to them. Although, it doesn't excuse his behavior it makes sense of it all and perhaps if Victor can forgive him, he can forgive himself as well.

Forgiveness is extremely important because if you can forgive someone than you can move on and you don't have to hold on to that disappointment, hurt, and pain.  I do believe in second chances and everyone should get one. In Victor's case it took understanding in order for him to forgive. You can't truly forgive someone if you don't know precisely what it is your forgiving them for.  It was better for everyone in the end when the truth came out and Victor found an understanding and meaning of his life through forgiveness.

This is What it Means to say Phoenix, Arizona

I liked the story better because I could focus just on the story. I wasn't trying to figure anything out, I knew who the characters were. I knew what they looked like and how  they acted from the movie so the story made it really clear and I felt more emotionally attached to the characters. It was almost as if it seemed more real.

One difference that was interesting was how Thomas's parents didn't die in the fire. In the story his father died in the military and his mother died giving birth to him. I like the way Thomas talks he comes across as really wise, like how he says "She took her last breath" when he was talking about her giving birth to him with her last breath, it's beautiful.  Thomas is my favorite character.  When they dismissed the way Thomas's parents died in the fire and changed it it's like they took away the whole meaning of the movie.

Rules for Writers-CH 50

In Rules for Writers Chapter 50 by Diana Hacker the main idea is how to evaluate your sources when conducting research.  First, you need to figure out how your going to use your source in your writing by providing background information..etc. Then,  choose sources worth your attention and learn how to scan search results in all different types of sources such as books and databases. Then, you want know how to determine a scholarly source by looking for formal language and presentation, authors who are academics or scietists..etc.

Once you've learned how to look for and choose the right sources, you want to make sure your reading them with an open mind and a critical eye. Do not focus on judging it or putting your opinions in there but focus on evidence, conclusions, and assumptions. Distinguish between primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are original documents, and Secondary sources are comments, opinions, or interpretations of the primary source. Be alert for signs of bias, and asses the author's argument. Finally, make sure you assess and evaluate web sources very carefully by looking at authorship, sponsorship, purpose and audience,  and currency