This I believe blog post

This I Believe                                 Lucie Pascarosa               705

I believe in care for animals. I believe that all animals deserve care, even if that care is leaving them in their natural habitat. I am not just talking about “no abuse” or “stop tying your dog to that pole in the basement.” I am talking about caring for your pets the right way, and remembering what they need. Food at least every day, fresh clean water, a friendly environment and most of all love from you. I am not talking about fish, who just need water and food. I mean animals like dogs, cats, horses if you have one. I personally love my animals. I have two cats and fish. My cats love me and my parents because we give them warmth, food, and a nice place to live. I wish I could adopt all of the cats and dogs on all of the “Sally needs a home” posters and on those television shows about animals being abused and need homes. I think that if you don’t care for your animal, you shouldn’t have one in the first place.

I believe in care for animals because there are so many out there that don’t have anyone to care for them. I mean abandoned kittens and cold puppies, starting to feel weepy yet? There are many rescue centers that take in lost and abused animals, but then put them down if they are not adopted quick enough. There are different dog breeds that take the most abuse. A couple common ones are pit bulls (fighting), and grey hounds (racing). Other commonly abused animals are horses (too much riding, racing  and using too much force), and livestock (pigs, cows, horses). If you ever see a dog on the street for a long period of time with a thick, short, heavy, metal chain  keeping it tied to a lamppost, and it is a pit bull, chances are, it isn’t cared for as much as it should be. I personally don’t think dogs ever have to be tied up, they don’t like it. These animals are the most commonly abused animals that you will hear of. Remember, these stories don’t always have a happy ending. The ASPCA doesn’t always find them in time, that is why they need your help.

  

Even though there is a lot of animal abuse in this world, there are ways that you can help. Many cats and dogs need homes and people who will take care of them, unlike their previous owners. They deserve people who will treat them right, and respect them. As corny as this sounds, I believe that these animals deserve a second chance. There are many places you can go to help out. Find out where your nearest animal shelter is, and ask if you can volunteer. You can adopt pets from the ASPCA near you. In New York City, we have an ASPCA, and they often have many different cats and kittens, puppies and dogs. I believe that getting your pet from a shelter is better than getting your dog or cat from a breeder, as they are not helping animals and can sometimes have birth defects. I think that even though there is abuse in this world, there are little things you can do like adopting and volunteering. Keep that in mind if you ever get a cat or dog

All in all, this is why I believe in care for animals, no abuse, and adopting instead of breeders. There are thousands of abused animals in the world and I know we can’t treat them all right now. But hopefully over time, there will be more care for animals, so that we won’t have to have to have a law telling us so. I believe in unconditional love and care for animals.

Blog about the author of Crank...

Lucie Pascarosa                       705

              I have been reading the book Crank. It is about a girl who goes off to live with her dad, who she hasn't seen in years. She goes off and well, makes about the worst mistakes of her life. She gets drunk, addicted to cigarettes, addicted to crank(is that the same thing as cocaine?), and well, ruins her life as a goody-goody. After, she comes home to her mom and sister with a tattoo, and a boyfriend(long distance). I wonder, where did the author get these ideas? Read on to find out.

            In the story they call crank "the monster." In the brief paragraph before the book starts, it says the author based this book around a true story. Not completely, but based on one; her daughters. Apparently, her daughter battled with drugs, just like Bree/Kristina in Crank. See, the character split herself into two, good girl Kristina and bad girl Bree. I wonder where the author got that idea. What happened to her daughter? Did she end up getting raped like Kristina did? Or was she able to find help sooner?  I have not finished Crank, but I am halfway through, and she is not getting any better. I think she made a huge mistake throwing her whole life away for drugs. It might get you high, but the long term affect is horrific. Look at her dad, he got divorced from his wife because he was a drunk and a drug addict, and Bree's mother got full costody because he was such an unfit father.  Doing crank and smoking with his daughter and her boyfriend isn't doing anybody any good. In fact, it is hinted in the book that Adam's (Bree's boyfriend) brother died from an overdose of drugs. Let's just say this neighborhood is not a clean, happy, friendly place. It's not Oz.

            All in all, this is what I thought about the authors choice in storyline in the book in verse, Crank. Lesson is kids, don't do drugs!   

The Help and what the heck? Part 2

Lucie Pascarosa                                               705
                                   The Help and What the Heck? Part two: I finished it!

                 I just finished the amazing book, The Help. It was an amazing book that I could never put down, even when I was doing a project, or homework. I loved it so much, that I read it between classes. Not joking. When math ended, I would pull out my book and read it until I got to science or whatever class I was going to. Not many books are that worthy. Now, you might have noticed that I am not saying what the heck and complaining about the problems in this book. Well you are impatient, and need to learn how to wait a paragraph. There were a couple things I understood, but can't believe happened. Now this post is a complete SPOILER of the end, and if you have not read the help, DO NOT READ IT OR YOU WILL BE SAD! This is what was wrong and right with The Help.

            First, I will start about the bad things about The Help. There is one character named Miss Hilly, who will do anything to get the maids, or any person of color in trouble. She sent her maid to jail for stealing a ring that she hated in the first place. She did not treat her maid very nicely in the end. When the book came about maids experiences in Mississippi, she was telling every one is Jackson that it was about that town. Until she got to the last chapter which was about her. That chapter was about when Minny, a maid worked for Miss Hilly's mother. Minny was more infuriated than ever at Minny and she made a pie for Hilly with her feces in it. Yep, Her poop. And she ate it. After she finished the book she yelled at everybody who said it was about Jackson, and got Minny fired. hilly was also friends with Aibeleen's boss. Miss. Lefolt, who read it and fired Aibeleen. That isn't even the most depressing part. Minny has five children and is pregnant again. The only reason she wants to be pregnant is because her husband won't abuse her. When he found out she had a part in writing the book, he threatened and almost licked her in the bathroom and burned the house down. So she took the kids and left. And as the book says, she and Aibeleen were free. That was the biggest "what happens next" moment for me. You don't know. But that is the best part of the book because you don't know what happens next, and it leaves you with questions. But sometimes life is like that, and you just have to deal with it. I thought it was better not knowing what happened. They were free, and anything else would have been too much.

                   All and all, that is what I think about the Help, the good and the bad. Don't think I did not enjoy every part of this book, I did. But I want to show how wrong and extreme these characters actions and words were. I want to show how big of a deal it was, to write a book about how much black people hated or loved white people or the other way around. That is why I think the Help is such a good book.

Published Revolt of the Evil faries

Revolt of the Evil Fairies           Lucie Pascarosa            705


   In Ted Poston’s Revolt of the Evil Fairies, the protagonist shows determination in the face of racism and discrimination, even when the odds are against him. He is a black boy living in the 1940’s or 50’s. He is aware that he lives in a prejudiced world because of the racism in his own colored school. He shows his awareness by fighting (literally) to get the part he wants, and to accept the sad fact that he couldn’t be Prince Charming in the school play that year, the year before, the year before that, and all the years that he would (or wouldn’t) be in the play.

   First of all, the protagonist tries out for the part of Prince Charming with all his heart even though he knows that he won’t get it because of his dark skin tone. The protagonist has been rejected each season for the school play because he is not as light skinned as some of his school mates. he has always been chosen to play the head Evil Fairy, who was always vanquished by Prince Charming in the end. In the text it says ”The good fairies wore white costumes and the evil fairies black.” also, “The good fairies usually turned out to be light in complexion” and “On a rare occasion, a dark skinned girl might be lucky enough to be a good fairy, but not one with a speaking part.” But even when the protagonist knows he can’t get the part, he still tries, and when he doesn’t, he plays the part of the evil fairy thoroughly, and well. This shows that the protagonist is really eager for the part of Prince Charming, and is willing to go crazy to get that part.
Second of all, he has a huge crush on a girl named Sarah Williams, who, no surprise, was a yaller. One year, Sarah was chosen to be Sleeping Beauty, and the protagonist tried ever so hard to get the part of Prince Charming. As you might have guessed, he did not get the part. A boy named Leonardius Wright got the part, he was also a yaller, and liked Sarah Williams. In the text, the protagonist said, ”They gave the part to Leonardius right. Leonardius, of course, was a yaller” he also said in the text that he “threw his soul into the part” and did indeed play the head evil fairy well. That proves that even though he knew he was “doomed from the start,” he still tried to do well in the play. It also proves that he knew he could be just as good if not better in the play than Leonardius even if he isn’t playing Prince Charming.

   Lastly, in “Revolt of the Evil Fairies,” the protagonist shows determination in the face of racism and discrimination in the third act of the play, when Leonardius Wright was chosen for Prince Charming, and when Sarah Williams was chosen for Sleeping Beauty. In the second act, Leonardius brained the protagonist with his sword when he ‘’slunk off into the shadows” for the second to last time. He took this as an insult, or as Leonardius saying that he was better than him, because he was lighter skinned. He was determined to show Leonardius up, and punched him in the jaw. All of a sudden, there was a huge fight happening on stage between the protagonist and leonardius, and . In the text it says ”For the minute I saw that evil gleam in his eye-or was it my own?— I cut loose with a right to the chin,” I think he fought Leonardius because he wanted to prove that he could still do something, even though society said he couldn’t be a star in the play or, have a better life in the community. He proved that he could do something to show that discrimination isn’t right.

   All in all, this is why the protagonist in Ted Poston’s “Revolt of the Evil Fairies” shows determination in the face of discrimination, even when the odds are against him. Because he, unlike others, still tried to be prince charming again, and again, and again, and finally found some closure, even if he still thought his racist community and country was unfair ( it was very), and knew that he could never be Prince Charming.

The help and what the heck?

Lucie Pascarosa            705              2012

             I do not understand the book the help. I understand it, but I can't comprehend a time when people were so darn racist! I mean, if i was Abeline, I would of smacked that woman every time Mrs. Leefolt smacked her daughter. It is child abuse, or as I like to put it, ILLEGAL to smack your child that hard when they are that young, or any time period. It is not right! This post is going to be about all the wrong things about the help, that were unfortunately, realistic.

           Around the hundredth page of the book, Mrs. Leefolt and Ms. Hilly are the two main women in a group of ladies who get together often and discussed the matters of the colored maids using the bathroom for the white and "clean" ladies. They were going to make the maids use a different bathroom, built for them outside that was most likely dirtier, and definitely not as nice as the ones inside.

         In "The Help," there is a character who always bad-mouths the white women if they say or do something racist, and she is constantly getting fired. But she finds a woman who lives in a grand house in the country with her husband. she gets hired from 9-4, and the husband leaves for work at 8, and comes home at 5. See anything weird here? Yes. Yes you do if you have average intelligence. The wife doesn't want the husband to know until the end of the year which is months away. If that is not racist I don't know what is. I mean, the woman doesn't want her to know she hired a maid because the maid is black!

       All in all, these are only some of the racist things that pose a problem in the help are. Even when you think you aren't purposely being racist, and you slip up a bit, it could really offend someone. So think before you speak! Or don't say it at all.