2 in 1

Eck. it's my sweet 16 and I'm sick. it's cheap irony. well, life goes on. I didn't do the last post so I'm rolling both hope and change into one post. I really don't have a lot of hope for getting over this sore throat and cold that i have. I stumbled across a poem of hope by Joaquin Miller entitled "Colombus"

It reads:
"Behind him lay the great Azores,
Behind the Gates of Hercules:
Before him not the ghost of shores,
Before him only shoreless seas.
The good mate said, 'Now must we pray,
For lo! The very stars are gone.
Brave Adm'r'l, speak; what shall I say?'
'Why, say: Sail on! Sail on! And on!'
Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck,
And peered through darkness. Ah, that night
Of all dark nights! And then a speck-
A light! A light! A light! A light!
It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!
It grew to be Time's burst of dawn.
He gained a world; he gave that world
Its grandest lesson: 'On! Sail on!'"

Columbus kept his faith and he gained a world, he found a hemisphere. I believe that this has significant relevance to the times now. As Obama said, we must quit bickering about the past, quarreling and playing the ever familiar, politician's favorite game: the blame game.

SAIL ON! Move on america. Wall st. Get your act together. quit spending millions in private jets and bonuses. Enough is enough.

I was looking through a book by President Gordon B. Hinckley (late President of the LDS/ Mormon Church) entitled: "Standing for Something: 10 Neglected virtues that will heal our hearts and homes."

In reading through a section focusing on learning a passage reads:
" Many events that take place around us provide constant reminders that
there is cause for alarm in our nation. It is shcoking to read, for instance,
that illiteracy is on the rise. It is almost unthinkable that, in such an
abundant society, many adults cannot read. A story in the New York
Times published under the headline 'Study Says Half of Adults in U.S. Lack
Reading and Math Abilities' offered some sobering statistics based on a study of
more than 26,000 Americans above age fifteen:

Nearly half of the nation's 191 million adult citizens are not proficient enough in English to write a letter about a billing error or to calculate the length of a bus trip from a published shcedule, according to a foru-year Federal study. The study, released yesterday by the Education Department, presented a bleak statistical protrait of the nation's literacy. . . . Businesses estimate that lose $25 billion to $30 billion a yeat nationwide in lost productivity, errors and accidents attributable to porr literacy" (Hinckley 63).

I find this quite fascinating. Later in page 63 he quotes the Chicago Tribune in its false surprise that this phenomenon has occured. A society with the manners of a rock band, the morals of a soap opera, and the decision-making ability of the Simpsons wants to pay for government on Visa and American Express? DUH!! All we want is quick zip-zap remote controlled patch-er-up solutions so that I have to deal with all this crap. At 16 years of age, I'm already confused and wondering, "Where'd all my college fund go?". We need to change our habits and work hard for the things we care about. That's what I have to say.

Gender Roles

Nectar in a Sieve presents gender roles in a very straight forward way. Women bear children and men work the fields to provide for the family. Though, this can go on beyond men and women. The firstborn of any family prepares to inherit the land of his father, so, he must work in the same area of expertise as his father: farming. However, we see that in Nectar in a Sieve the roles flip-flop for a short period of time. We see that, "With her earnings Irawaddy was able to buy rice and salt, and milk for [Kuti], who was too weak for anything else" (Markandaya 99). Ira supported her family during the drought from her earnings by selling herself. Granted, that may pose a very unmoral decision, but, a decision that she resolved to make. So, I think that gender roles present a very biased view on the woman. People should not view women as weak, dependent people, but rather as people who can contribute to society.

Different Cultures

The Indian culture is different from ours in many ways. They have different dances, food and clothing. Very tired right now. Haven't really found any texts about this subject. night.

I found a passage in Nectar in a Sieve that eludes on the subject of trying to get over a difficulty or facing a challenge. Ruku and Nathan are trying to keep their hopes up even when the drought has the best of them and they're barely making end's meet. She says, " That ye3ar the rains failed. A week went by, two. We threw ourselves on the earth and we prayed./I thought she [Ruku's goddess] looked at me with compassion and I went away comforted, but no rain came" (Markandaya 71).