The segment below is what I think was cut from the beginning of, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road in editing.

Why? he asked

You’ll be safe there

You don’t know that.

I grew up there. Some of my family might still be there

The man looked out the window he saw the sun faint in the distance like something that is about to go away forever. There was no clear answer to where they might go. The south is warm but the west is empty. No threat there or at least that is what he could make out. There was no direct source of news just half a paper article floating down to the darkening ground.

The boy wont last long enough to get all the way south

The boy will do as you ask, he will respond to how you treat him. So treat him harsh but explain yourself.

A sound came from outside. You say it like you wont be there. The ground shakes, the house shakes, the table shakes. Everything is still.

We’ll see

It is not safe here anymore. Pack your stuff we are leaving.

The two of them, man and wife, pack as much as they can into a small cart. They are quite so to not disturb the boy sleeping. Only the most important things would make the journey. Canned foods. Blankets. A tarp. A pistol.

This is my rationale for why I chose this segment for this project.

In the story The Road a man and his son walk down a long road, seemingly to nowhere, until tail end. At the end it is revealed that their plan was always to head south, but there is no explanation for why. I thought it would be helpful to the reader to have insight as to why they choose to go south. For this segment I brought in a character that was not often referenced in the book, the boy’s mother. By having the mother tell them to go south it gives a logical reason as to why they are continuing south, through this connection wouldn’t be made until later when the reader learns that the mother is dead. I chose to include the mother giving the man parenting advice to build the character of the father. It gives more personality to the parenting decisions he makes further along in the story. It was important that there still be an obvious divide between the woman, and the man and the boy.  I wanted to foreshadow their relationship and hint at the boy and man being alone on the road from the very beginning.

In the story there is the lingering question of why are they on this road? My segment, placed at the beginning gives a rational end destination. It makes it logical that they would choose to go to the south even though they have no idea what is waiting for them at that destination. They travel down this long road with out question in their mind that this is the way they are supposed to be going. I thought even though the mother did not have a prominent role in the story, she would be the perfect explanation for the decision. In McCarthy’s writing there is a lack of women’s roles. Inkeeping with that I wanted to foreshadow the woman’s absence as well as have her be vague as to not contradict any other part of the story.

This project was completed by Melissa and Naomi. Through this project we explored the college process. We both felt that this is a subject that is very confusing and a system that isn’t completely fair. We decided to put our findings into a children’s book. We tell the story of a boy named Trevor that comes from a college educated family. It is assumed that he too will attend until his father loses his job. It is then up to Trevor to find a way to get to college.  

“And the gold medal goes to Ot Muller!!!” There is cheering and clapping. This was Ot’s second gold medal in the olympics and he was determined for it to not be his last. This was a dream of his since before could run a 8 minute mile. He had trained long and hard for this moment. His feeling of joy..of relief.. he never wanted it to end.

*Ring* *Ring* *Ring* Ot rolled over to snooze his alarm clock, and then rolled back, thinking of his dream. This wasn’t the first time he had this dream, it was a recurring nightmare for him. He had won an olympic medal once when he was 21, but while training for his second he suffered a traumatic leg injury. He had a follow up appointment with an amputation doctor today, something he neglected to tell anyone in case it  ended up like all the rest had.

He climbed into the bath where struggled to clean himself. Once he was finished, the slipperiness of his body and surfaces made it even harder to get out.His friends had offered to help him unit he adjusted, but he didn’t want to seem needy. He knew that wasn’t their intent but it made him feel uncomfortable. They were there for him after he went into a year long depression following the accident.He had gone through many therapists, his trainers said he was being too picky but he was not about to tell a random person his whole life story. Running was a big part of his life, maybe his whole life and he was not ready to give it up. He did not want to see they pity in the stranger's eyes as he told them his life was now meaningless.

He called a car to pick him up outside his apartment complex at 8:15; it was now 8. he had to start heading down now,it was always a gamble as to how long it would take him to get down to the lobby. As he waited he thought about the questions the doctors would ask him, “How did it happen?”, “How much pain are you in? On a scale of 1-10?” He’d been asked the questions 100 times and he wished he could just hold up a sign instead of wasting his breath. He hated having to think about the accident but he knew it was inevitable. His town car finally pulled up and he wobbled over to it and pulled himself in. The driver kept looking at him like he was trying to figure out where he knew him from. Ot wanted to say “your wheaties box” but instead just let him figure it out himself.

After the accident he was on the news a lot. They called it “The biggest tragedy in sports this decade”. Ot was Germany’s first olympic gold medalist in the 100 yard dash. Strangers used to leave flowers, cards, fruit baskets, and stuffed animals to send their hope his way. As they pulled up the the hospital the driver made a move to open the door for Ot. As he helped Ot out of the car he asked, “Do I know you from somewhere?” Ot responded, “Do you eat wheaties?” His driver started laughing and said “Oh yes, you’re the runner that got his leg…” his eyes then trailed down to Ot’s leg.He started to fidget and pull at his collar, he didn’t know what to say.

“Yes I’m the runner that got his leg amputated during the olympics”, Ot said trying to not sound like he had said it hundreds of times already. Trying to hide how much it still hurt to say.

“If you don’t mind me asking, I never quite understood how, rather why, you had to get your leg amputated. How did it happen?”

Ot was getting ready to resist his speech when he realized his driver was leaning down to show him something. He had a prosthetic leg.

“How did you get yours?” Ot asked.

“I asked you first” They both chuckled.

“Well after I won the race, I collapsed on the side of the track, with all the adrenalyn it was hard not to. I fell on top of a screw that was meant to hold the track down. It went straight through my calf. I couldn’t even feel it at first because of the adrenalyn,but when I went to stand to receive my medal, I noticed something coming out of my leg. Myteam rushed me to the hospital where they told me the nail had some sort of rust or chemical of some sort that had already formed a clot in my leg and the only way to stop it from spreading was to amputate it.”

“Well my story isn’t that good.”

“I’m sure it was something worth hearing.”

“No it really wasn’t. I was a dumb teenager racing down the highway late one night. It started to rain, which we thought made it even more fun, then came a sharp turn and I hydroplaned. The whole car spun around. The car I was racing hit us and we flipped. I don’t remember anything after that but when I woke up I was missing a leg and they told me I was lucky that was all I lost.”

“You’re telling me this after I’ve hired you to be my driver?”, once again they both laughed. “Well I’m late for my appointment, I’ll call you when I’m done?”

“I’ll be here.”

Ot was nervous to walk in. He had poked around blogs from other people that had gotten prosthetic legs. There was mixed feelings about it but Ot knew he needed to be able to walk again no matter how hard it would be. As he made his way to the counter he thought about all the different things he had read and wondering how much of it was really true. He read that one man was able to program his leg to do different things. He wondered what he would program his leg to do if he could.

“Hi, how can I help you?”

“Hi, I have an appointment with Doctor Tomko at 9.”

“Let me just check… Mr… Muller!”

“That’s me”

“Great, if you’ll just take a seat we’ll be with you as soon as possible.”

“Thanks”

He continued to think about what he would do if he could program his leg. He didn’t really believe that this was true, how do you program a piece of plastic to do anything?

“Mr. Muller?”

“Here”, he made his way to the nurse.

They walked down a hall where she pointed him into a room, asked if he needed anything and then left him. He decided he would ask the doctor if he he had heard of anything like what he had read. The doctor walked in,

“Hi, I’m Dr. Tomko”

“Ot”, they shake hands, “nice to meet you”.

“So what’s the nature of your visit?” He was typing information into a computer.

Ot stops and looks at the doctor. Tomko turns his head to see why he hasn’t answered, he sees his leg, “Oh I see.”

“It was amputated about a month ago and I was told to come see you about getting a prosthetic leg.”

“Okay well I’ll take a look at it. I don’t know if you know but not everyone is a good candidate for a prosthetic.” He paused to look at Ot’s reaction, he wasn’t happy.

“I need to be able to walk again. My whole life revolves around my legs, it’s bad enough that I’ll never be able to compete again, let alone walk!” He was yelling now. The doctor looked surprised.

“Do I know you from somewhere?”, the doctor asks.

“Yes, I won gold in the 100 mile dash in the 2012 olympics.”

“Oh yeah, I think you’re on my cereal box”

“Yeah that’s great, my leg?”

“Right, let me run a few tests and we’ll go from there. Sound good?”

“Whatever you need.”

After being poked and pinched, tugged here and pushed there, and many needles later, the doctor came back in.

“What’s the news Doc?”

“It looks good. Your cut has healed nicely, there doesn’t seem to be any sign of aggravation from the spoke that did this in the first place. I think we could even get you fitted for one today if you are up for it?”

“Are you kidding me? That would be great!”

“Okay, do you have any other questions?”

“Actually yeah, one. I read somewhere that a man programmed his prosthetic leg to be… bionic?” The doctor seemed to get nervous when he heard this.

“I’m not sure where you heard that but do us all a favor and forget you did.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means forget it!”

“Am I missing something.”

“You’re missing a lot and be thankful you are.”

Ot does as he’s told. He finishes his appointment and calls his driver. He gets back in the car and can’t stop thinking about why the doctor was so abrasive when he asked about the bionic leg. The doctor told him to return the next day to get his prosthetic leg, and he does. When he gets there a man in a black suit with a white shirt, black tie and perfectly shined shoes standing at the door. Ot pays him no attention and walks in but the man stops him.

“Are Ot Muller?” he asked

“Um, who’s asking?” Ot responded

“The United States Government.”

“What do you want with me?”

“Are you him?”

“Yes…”

“Please come with me.” The man in the suit shows him to his car. Ot gives a little nod to his driver who has now exited the car and looks about ready to pounce if needed.

Ot get’s in the car, “Where are we going?” there was no response. He started to regret his decision but then again why would the U.S government want him, it’s not as though he did anything wrong. They pulled into a tunnel that spit them out on a runway. Ot’s eyes grew to the size of oranges. The fear rushed through his veins as he didn’t expect to be taken. He just thought he would talk to someone over the phone. They pulled up infront of the plane and the man in the black suit opened the door and told him to board the plane. Ot did as he was told. Once they were aboard the plane Ot saw someone sitting in a chair facing the wrong way, as they walked towards the back the man turned around to face them.

“Good afternoon Ot” said the man

“Mr. President?!”

“Sorry for the abrupt way you were brought here but it was very important that we meet face to face, as soon as possible.”

“What am I missing? Why is it so important that I meet you? I mean you’re the president, what do you want with me?!”

“Well I must say I’ve been a fan since the olympics. I thought you ran that race impeccably. But the real reason you are here is because you have been exposed to some information that you were not supposed to be.”

“Are you talking about what I said to Dr. Tomko? I didn’t realize it was sensitive topic and if it is going to get me in some sort of trouble I can forget I ever read it…”

“No, no, no, we wouldn’t want you to do that. We want to enroll you in a secret service program that would use your prosthetic leg as a weapon.”

“How can I use my prosthetic as a weapon?”

“Well we would program it to be able to… There are some things we have to take care of before we get into all of the details.”

They were on the plane for about 45 minutes talking about the olympics before the captain came over the loudspeaker and said they would be landing soon.

“Where are we going?”

“Look out your window” replied the President.

Ot looked out the window and saw green lawns with perfectly trimmed hedges surrounded with flowers of all different colors. Finally he saw a big building with rows and rows of windows. The house was perfectly white and had an american flag on top.

“The White House?!” Ot asked . The President smiled and nodded his head. They got off the plane, walked across the lawn to a door that was being held open by two dressed officers.

“Welcome to my home,” said the president.

“You have a lovely home,” Ot said, as he looked around the room.

“Thanks. I hate to pull you away even before you settle in but we have a lot we have to talk about.” He guided him down a hallway, down steps, left, right, up, down, right, through another door that led to yet another door that was sealed close. There was a man guarding the door put his thumb on a pad that unlocked the door. Ot walked in, “what is this pla…” he turned around to face the president but realized he wasn’t there. “Hello?” There was no response. He looked around. It looked like a tin can. The door unlocked again and a middle aged man walked in with a brief case.

“Who are you?” Ot asked

“I’m your worst nightmare… Ha I got you! You should have seen your face!” Ot just stared at him blankly. “Sorry I’m Henry Davis. I work for the president. I’m here to give a thorough exam of you and see how you function.”

“Okay, well, here I am. What do you need me to do?”

“I just need you to be yourself.” Henry pick up a needle and flicked it.

“Woho there! What the hell is that for?!”

“It puts your mind into different situations that you may have to face while an agent in order to make sure that you can handle it.”

“I hate needles” Henry walked over to Ot, Ot jumped back. “Really. I hate them.”

“Well then don’t think about it.”

“How am I not supposed to think… Ow!”  

“See that wasn’t so bad. Now count to 10 please.”

“Fine. one… two… three… four… fi… ve… si…” he was asleep.

“Ahh they go quicker every time. Maybe I gave him too much, we shall see.”

Ot opened his eyes and to see a pretty young girl fly past him. He had no idea where he was. All he knew was that it was hot and dry. He looked around and saw nothing but mountains and below was covered in sand. Another car zoomed past but this one was closer to him than the last. He started to walk down the hill thinking there would be someone that could tell him where he was. There was a faint buzzing sound in the distance but he couldn’t place it. It seemed to get closer and closer, so he turned around. There were 5 men on motorcycles coming at him at what seemed like 95 miles per hour, he dove to the side. He rolled to try and get out of the way of them but rolled off of edge. As he was falling he noticed a button on his belt that wasn’t there before. In a last hope to save himself he pushed it. It sent something flying from his prosthetic leg, which he didn’t have before, into the cliff. He hung from his one leg. He realized that there were all different kinds of buttons on his leg. He started to click them, he found one that was like a jet pack and allowed him to hover over the surface. He finally got close enough to the ground to just fall. When he hit the ground woke up.

“How was it?” Henry asked.

“What do you mean how was it? I almost died!”

“And how did that make you feel?” Henry was holding a clipboard and was walking around Ot writing his observations.

“It scared the living daylights out of me!”

“How did you survive?”

“I pushed all these buttons that were on me.” He looked down to see that he had a prosthetic leg. “Where did this come from?”

“Everything you were going through was being broadcasted to a panel that was determining if you were suited to protect your country, when they decided you were, we operated.”

Ot just looked around the room. He saw no one. He heard a phone ring. Henry answered it.

“Hello? Yes… Yes… Right away, Sir. Yes… As you wish.” He hung up. “Ot come with me.” He banged on the door and it opened. Ot followed Henry down the hallway back the way they came but then down a flight of stairs. When they go to the bottom, Henry ordered him to put on the clothes that were laid out in front of him. Henry walked out of room and closed the door behind him. Ot looked down at the floor and started to get dressed. He realized he had just walked all the way down the hallway and got a rush of energy. He realized these people had granted him his one true wish and for that he would do anything to repay them. As he finished getting dressed Henry walked back in.

“Are you ready for your first mission?”

Ot nodded and followed him out the door.

A Love We Didn’t Think We’d Get

The William and Kate Story; Taming of the Shrew

     Taming of the Shrew and The William and Kate Story may seem like two very different stories but when analyzed deeper the audience can see that their characters have many things in common. In Taming of the Shrew Baptista is the father of two girls who are both of marrying age, the problem is that one of them, the older, has to get married first and she isn’t exactly turning all the guy’s heads. She is a tougher girl that doesn’t want to be defined by a man. The William and Kate Story is a lifetime movie about Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton. It follows them from the first time they met until they got married. Both stories follow children in royal families and them on their way to getting married. In both stories there are conflicts with how the children are to be married. Being royal children is hard because all they have is family but now a day it is easier than it ever has been.

“Gentlemen, importune me no father, For how I firmly am resolved you know: That is, not to bestow my youngest daughter Before I have a husband for the elder.” - Baptista (Act 1. Sc1. Line 45 - 51)

  At this moment in the play, Baptista, the father of Katherine and Bianca, is talking to his daughter suitors. He is telling them that no matter how many suitors come for his younger and kinder daughter Bianca that she is not getting married before his eldest Katherine. In The William and Kate Story William’s father, Prince Charles, is meeting his son’s friends for the first time, most of them commoners. Among the friends is his girlfriend Kate who is also a commoner. It is hard for the Prince to be okay with his son, a part of the royal family, dating a commoner.   

    At this point in the movie Kate is getting to know her boyfriends father. She tried very hard to fit into the role of a suitor for her royal boyfriend. William invites his friends for lunch at the palace and his friends do their very best but the viewer can feel the awkwardness that is felt at the table. The Prince tries his best to make conversation but they have so little in common. It is hard for all the characters in both situations. In The Taming of the Shrew everyone wants to marry the youngest daughter but are unable to until the eldest is married. In The William and Kate Story William has fallen in love with someone who his family won’t approve of because of her social status.

“Why, and I trust I may go too, may I not? What, shall I be appointed hours as though, belike, I knew not what to take and what to leave? Ha!” - Katherine (Act 1, Sc 1, Line 104 - 106)

    At this point in the play Katherine is ranting on why she doesn’t need a man. She feels as though if she was to get married the man would simply take over her life and control her. At the time the play was written that was a very legitimate fear. In Katherine Middleton’s case, 400 years from when Shakespeare was writing about it, has a legitimate reason to think her life is going to be taken over and controlled by the royal family.

    In the movie when these two screenshots takes place Kate is invited to William’s birthday party, where she believes she is going to be officially introduced as his girlfriend. Instead, she looks like a fool as he asks another girl to help him blow out the candles. Later, when Kate confronts William about it, he tells her that it was just for show and was something he had to do. He also stated he didn’t want to do it but because he is part of the royal family he has obligations that he had to conform to.

    Though the play and the movie were written so far apart it is clear to see that there are still clear similarities between how royal families treat their children being married off. In the play Baptista was very strict on the order in which his daughters could be married. In the movie Prince Charles is stuck in a situation where his son wants to marry someone outside of the royal family, that though is more common now a day is still not the normal way things are done. The viewer of both of these can see that though times have changed in terms of courtship and marriage has changed outside of the royal families, inside it is still very traditional.

Analytical Essay:

War is a dangerous place. It is not only a place of life or death physically but also mentally. As it has been proven time and time again soldiers coming “home” from war are likely to have psychological issues. This is a topic that is talked about a lot in “The Yellow Birds” by Kevin Powers. The main character Bartle struggled immensely with returning home after war. “Home” is in quotation marks because as Bartle says throughout many of the chapters in the book, the home he left from never felt the same when he returned. His world changed the moment he joined and would never be the same.  As the world changes around a person it can be a shock to the system. People deal with this change differently, some may be ready to face their fears and face the change head on. Others that aren’t as ready to face the change seclude themselves so they do not to have to face the reality of their world changing. But the time will come, sooner or later, that they will have to face the change.

Bartle was in his early 20’s when he came back from his tour in Iraq. He had witnessed things that a civilian should never have to witness. When he was deployed he, and others, would often talk about going home and being reunited with love ones. What they didn’t know was how it would feel to be back home. Home was unrecognizable. Everything he had thought about as his home, now seemed to be totally different. “I was disappearing. It was as if I stripped myself away in that darkened bedroom… I would be another number for the cable news shows.”(pg.111) Bartle was going into a new phase in his life he felt as though everything he knew before, he was losing. He felt like he was losing himself. It is interesting how the one thing Bartle and his friends talked about was going home, but now that he was there, he wanted to be anywhere else. Such a big part of what was his entire life was before, was now changing right in front of him but he didn’t feel ready or comfortable with the change.  

Bartle thought on at least one occasion that the life he was now living, at home, wasn’t real. The mindset of being at war had taken over his mind and there was no going back. “The rest is history, they say. Bullshit, I say. It’s imagination or it’s nothing, and must be, because what is created in this world, or made, can be undone, unmade.” (pg. 100) Bartle is mad at the world. He is mad that it’s changing, and even more importantly, his world is changing. His world isn’t changing in a small way either, it is changing in a sever way in which it will never be the world he lived in before he went to the war.

He had gone through many different traumatic incidents but when one of the most traumatic happen his world changed possibly the most. He didn’t handle it well. “By the time autumn came again I was firmly settled in the old gasworks building at the edge of the river. My life was small. I lived in an apartment on an upper floor and had little in the way companionship.” (pg. 177) Bartle feels like he no longer fit in anywhere so he separated himself from everyone. He wanted to run away from the reality of his life. His real life was quickly changing and he felt as though he could not handle it. The best way for him to deal with this was to simply shut it out for as long as possible.

In an interview with the author, Kevin Powers, he said, "The most meaningful praise I've gotten is from other vets who've said that I was able to articulate something that they had been feeling for a really long time but hadn't been able to express." This shows that the author's motivation for writing this book was to articulate something that other soldiers and vets didn't know how to put into words. This gave other veterans a voice that they didn't have before. The story was written as his outlet. It isn’t always necessary for a support system to be a human being but anyway to talk about the feelings bottled up inside.

People deal with changes in the world differently and there are factors that play into the way they handle the situation. Some people that are  in the midst of a change, will introvert themselves and not share what they are going through with anyone. This leads to their emotions being bottled up. People that have found a way to talk about what they are going through usually have a healthier life. People have a different way of going through change, Bartle handled it one way and the author a different way.

Works Cited for Analytical Essay:

• "'Yellow Birds' Author Kevin Powers Talks about Iraq War, Returning Vets." Interview. Go Knoxville. Scripps Media Inc., 18 Oct. 2012. Web. 12 Jan. 2015. <http://www.knoxnews.com/knoxville/life/yellow-birds-author-kevin-powers-talks-about-iraq>.

• Powers, Kevin. The Yellow Birds: A Novel. New York: Little, Brown, 2012. Print.

Narrative Essay:

Change is scary. When I changed from elementary school to high school, I happened to go with a lot of my friends. For a while I would only hang out with my friends from elementary school because I felt comfortable around them. I had known them for years, they were familiar. We all stuck together, we had planned to do that for the next four years. I would say what we did was common. Not many people branched out at first. I think this helped me a lot. I could get over fear of being in high school and then I would later find new friends and branch out.

Bartle did not do this. He wanted no recollection of what happened abroad and would try his hardest to forget. This meant not getting back together with friends from his platoon. I think if he had gotten together with them it would have made the transition easier, like it did for me and my friends. When you have a support system around you it makes it a lot easier for you to be able to talk and face changes head on and feel more comfortable about who you are and the situation you are in. When you surround yourself with people that understand what you are going through they can not only be there for you but you can also be there for them. It makes the change easier to get through and less painful when you can talk about it.

My grandfather has been in a wheelchair my entire life. When I was little I didn’t like how much attention would be brought on me when I was out with him. I felt like everyone was looking at me, my solution was to hide. I would hide behind coat racks, my mom, anything I could find. Since he lives in England I didn’t ever have time to get used to it, by the time I would get any less uncomfortable, we would be coming home. It wasn’t until I became much more sure of myself that I was comfortable with others staring at us as when we were out. I realized that the most important thing was to have self confidence. When Bartle came home he was uncomfortable with himself, which made him want to hide. He became introverted and didn’t want to be around others.

Going to my Grandfather’s house was always like going to a new land, everything seemed to be new. I felt uncomfortable and didn’t know how to handle it. I, much like Bartle, handled my discomfort internally. I was uncomfortable with being somewhere new, Bartle wasn’t somewhere new, he was in the place he grew up the same place he had spent so much of his life. But to him it wasn’t old it was a whole new place with because he changed, he wasn’t the same. He wasn’t comfortable with what he had become into.

I was 12 when my step father moved in with my mom and I. It was the biggest change I have ever encountered. It had been my mom and I since I was 6 months old and I wasn’t ready for that to change. I felt like he was invading my world. My step dad is a really nice person, but he was a major change in my world. I couldn’t talk to my mom about it because she would think I was just being mean. I kept it all to myself and it felt like at any moment I might explode.

Nothing is ever the same after the life change. The thing that distinguishes people is how they deal with it. For me in different situation I react differently. Bartle bottled his up all of the time and the author wrote all of his feelings in a book. There may not be a clear idea at the time of what to do but if you talk about what you are going through it will have a positive effect on your physical and mental health.

What comes to mind when someone says  “high fashion”? Maybe a ball gown, a cashmere shirt with a pair of slacks, or maybe a 800 dollar pair of shoes, but probably not yoga leggings and a cropped sweatshirt. There is a  new take on the way people dress and it has not only changed ideas of fashion but also the clothing market. Instead of people buying jeans, which have had a very high steady market since the first pair of blue jeans were made in 1873, they are now buying more leggings and yoga pants. In recent years, people have become enthusiastic about being active and having active lifestyle. This has changed the fashion industry, going from an everyday basic glam look to, “I just worked out but still look this good” look. The idea of having a simple, active life, has changed more than just lifestyles but the way designers in fashion industry display their high fashion clothing.

At the 2014 Chanel fashion show, leggings, sneaker and cropped sweaters took the runway. Showing off every abb and other muscle was very important. These articles weren’t always worn together but apart with a pair of slack or a loose skirt, maybe for a nice lunch out with friends. Chanel is known for their high fashion clothing, purses, shoes and make up, but they are now also taking part in the sport clothing market. "We found that there was a bit of a gap in our offering for someone who loves fashion and exercise and wants to look great doing it," said Net-A-Porter President Alison Loehnis. This quote shows how the fashion industry is switching from “fancy clothes” to “fancy work out clothes”. This is a change that not only Chanel designers are making but many other designers as well. With this change that Chanel has made, being one of the bigger names in high fashion, there will, and have been more to follow in their footsteps in making this change.

At New York’s fashion week, a couple of weeks ago, leggings were seen walking down the runway side by side with ball gowns and zip ups thrown over a pantsuit. Throwing a zip up jacket on before leaving on way to work is something some may never bat an eye at, but this wasn’t always the norm. Only about 70 years ago was the trend of women dressing in more of a masculine way controversial trend. In the 50’s the trend was a tight pencil skirt. All of these changes in fashion trends changed the fashion industry. The active clothing trend seems to be different, it goes farther than clothing. This is a trend that seems to go along with a change in lifestyle as well. “A 2012 study conducted by the highly respected, San Francisco-based publication Yoga Journal estimates that 20.4 million Americans practice yoga, a 29 percent increase from 2008, when 15.8 million were attending classes.” (BOF) This trend isn’t simply about the clothes but also the lifestyle that comes with it. The change in clothing has changed people’s lifestyles because this type of clothing is made tight and fitted. It makes people want to be healthier, to look better in the clothes.  

This new active way of dressing has not only changed high fashion but has helped companies like Nike grow in crazy numbers. Lulu-lemon, is another company that has benefited from this change. They were one of the first yoga clothing stores. “From 2008 to 2013, sales increased by more than $1 billion, hitting $1.4 billion in the 2012 fiscal year.” (BOF) This is just in the past 5 years. From 1998, when the company was founded, until 2007 the company raised $327.6 million. Obviously this trend is getting more popular.  In the past few years fashion has taken a turn for the fittest. Activewear has become everyday wear, not just gym attire. This trend is related to the new obsession with an active lifestyle. More and more people are taking exercise classes, buying healthier food and looking like it while they do so. With the change in the industry the “popular” stores are changing what they carry, as well as the stores that are known for their active wear sales growing.

Although people in high fashion might not think that gym clothes matters much, his/her/its influence goes beyond that of gym rats to all clothing consumers. The lifestyle that comes with active wear is a more non-chalet way of living, a more laid back, less stressful way of living. It is also healthier, more active and eating healthier. In the past few years the popular lifestyle has changed. This has brought a change in fashion, which has helped grow many companies that before were well known but now are larger than imaginable.

Work Cited:

• BRAZILIAN, ALEXA. "The New Trend in Workout Fashion." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 9 July 2014. Web. 21 Sept. 2014. http://online.wsj.com/articles/the-new-trend-in-workout-fashion-1404425123

• SHERMAN, LAUREN. "For the Activewear Market, There's No Way But Up - BoF - The Business of Fashion." BoF The Business of Fashion. The Business of Fashion Ltd., 15 Jan. 2014. Web. 21 Sept. 2014. http://www.businessoffashion.com/2014/01/activewear-lululemon-nike-hm-sweaty-betty.html

• Timberlake, Cotten. "Track Pants Grace Runways as Activewear Goes Up-Market." Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 10 Feb. 2014. Web. 21 Sept. 2014. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-10/track-pants-grace-runways-as-activewear-goes-up-market.html

• "Our Story | Levi Strauss." Levi Strauss. LS&CO., 2014. Web. 21 Sept. 2014. http://www.levistrauss.com/our-story/

Había una vez una escuela llamada SLA. Era un nuevo tipo de escuela a donde los estudiantes aprendían de una nueva manera. Todos los niños recibían  computadores personales que podrían traer a casa. Era el primer día cuando mudaron todas los sillas al edificio nuevo. Mudaron todo de los pasillos y lo pusieron dentro de los salones de clase. En ese día también empezaban a pintar las paredes de colores diferentes. El día fue muy emocionante para todos. Los maestros estaban alegre por tener un edificio tan bello para su nueva escuela.También está ban alegre de que el edificio de tenía personas ocupando el espacio, fui un largo hacía mucho tiempo de que no habían ocupantantes.

Después de que fueron todos los humanos, las sillas empezaron a hablar juntas. Hablaban de todos los maestros, cuáles fueron sus favoritos y menos favorito, cuáles fueron los más interesantes. También se dieron cuenta de que todos eran muy similares. Todos eran del mismo color, tamaño, no se podía distinguir uno del otro. Esto no les gustó a la silla. Decidieron cambiarse de forma. El problema fue que también no sabían cómo cambiarse. Ellas decidieron que era una buena idea pintar uno y otro. Había pintura en el pasillo que usaban los maestros para pintar las paredes. Todos ayudaban a hacer diferentes diseños y figuras con diferentes estilos y colores. Dejaron que se secara durante el noche y cuando vino la mañana todos despertaron con alegría. Cuando vieron que hacía falta la pintura, no se alegraron tanto.

Soy Father McEnroe, el sacerdote del St.Patricks. Ese uno en el escuela St. Patricks English School for Boys. Que esta ubicado en Santiago, el capital de Venezuela. Unos cosas que son muy importante para mi son los niños. Creo que su educación es muy importante y no importa su clase social. Puedes ser del clase obrera o el clase alta. Políticamente soy mucho mas al lado Allende, el presidente elegido. Soy un izquierdista,  no soy momio. Para mi es muy importante tener alguien en el gobierno que quiere dar todos un chance. Allende hace este para nuestro pais. Con Allende ayudando unos niños de el barrio a donde esta mi escuela que tienen pocos recursos participar y tener un educación bueno. Seria mejor si todos fue educado y no solo los que pudrían permitírselo. Creo que soy igualitario, significó que quiero el mismo para todos. En él situación que somos ahora creo que es muy importante que todos tienen los mismos oportunidades de tener un buen educación.  

En este obra por Melissa Griffin veo una niña. Así lo veo, la niña siempre es el centro de atención pero ella no le gusta. Ella quiere caminar de esta vida y entrar una nueva. Ella a mi vea como un bailarín. Puede ser que el estrés de ser un bailarín es tan grave. El estrés que pone en su cuerpo y su mente. Los colores que son usado son muy apagados. Todo es muy marrón, incluyendo el cuerpo de la niña. Es muy interesante los figuras. Todo es muy baja excepto la nina. El tono de el obra de mi punto de visto es ir a un lugar nuevo. Ella esta en un lugar pero quiere ser en un lugar nuevo.

En el ano 1973 mi escuela era bajo el microscopio. Yo quería tener una escuela que incorpore niños de diferentes clases sociales. En 1973 el gobierno cambio y de repente ellos no le gustaba mi idea a tener los clases incorporados. Un memoria muy vivido que tiene necesita que ver con el cambio en gobierno ellos vinieron a St. Patrick’s y de repente empezó a tomar niños para el ejército. ¡Tomaban niños para pelear en la guerra! Eso para mi era una manera de tomar el poder. A mi este cuadro podría representar como yo sentía durante esta tiempo. En realidad sólo quería caminar de el situación entero. En esta situación yo soy la nina. Los dow queremos cosas mejores. El desierto es como mi patria de Venezuela. Los dos están en un estado muy mal. Esta obra me da el mensaje que en realidad hay algo mejor, pero necesitas ir y encontrar lo. La obra es una obra muy simple pero con mucho significado. Creo sí lo veas con él mentalidad correcto es una obra muy linda. Me gusta los cosas simplest, esta en específico porque es tan linda.

“Ave Que Migra” por Gaby Moreno se trata de inmigración. Gaby está de Guatemala. Su mama dice que empezó de cantar en el útero. Cuando era 13 ella contra su tipo de ruido. Lo encontró en Nueva York un día caminando con su familia, ellos estaban de vacaciones. Cuando oí una mujer cantando “Jazz” en el camino, Gaby se amaro y desde ahí ella sabía que ese fue que quería hacer. Ahora Gaby es un ganadora de mejor nueva artista por lo Grammys Latinas. Gaby también escribe y canta sus propios canciones.

El mensaje de este canción por lo mojaría es de mudar de lugares. También tratando de encontrar si mismo en un lugar nuevo. Unos de mis lineas favorito de el canción es “Encontrando cielos azules”. A mi esto significa que a dónde vienes hay los cielos azules y estás encontrando esto en el nuevo lugar. A mi esto es muy grave y con mucho emoción. Creo que esta gana de tener un pedazo de su casa cuando mudas es muy importante. A donde vas todavía puedes tener el mismo cielo que tenias en su casa.  

Me gusta mucho el canción. Para mi tenia mucho emoción pero no es muy grave. Yo no e emigrada ni un vez pero a ido en muchos vacaciones. Cada vez que voy siempre busco cosas familiares y me da comodidad. El mensaje a mi es uno muy alegre con mucho emoción real. Creo que hay muchos canciones que tienen emoción falso y solo están escrito para dinero. No creo que esto es el caso con esta canción. Aprendí de como es emigrar a un lugar nuevo. Como se sientes y que le hace sentir.

Murales En Las Comunidades

 Los murales son un tipo de arte visual. Vivo en el Sur de Philadelphia. Mi barrio es muy residencial. Ha vivido allí hace 6 años. Me gusta porque la mayoría de mis amigos vive ahí y es muy fácil a viajar de. Aunque no me gusta que nunca araban el nieve de los calles. Me gusta mucho donde vive. Me gustaría un casa más grande pero lo que tiene es bueno también. Como lo veo yo en mi comunidad un cosa importante es las culturas diferente. Hay muchos diferentes culturas y lenguajes que están hablado en mi barrio. Creo que unas imágenes que pienso de cuando pienso de mi barrio es niños jugando en las calles y las aromas de diferentes comidas de diferentes culturas. Vivo muy cerca de los dos festivales Italiano que son muy divertido y rica en cultura. Creo que en mi barrio la única cosa que cambiaría es que plantaría más árboles. Mi mural va a ser en un pared en mi calle. La pared solía ser un casa, pero antes de yo mudé ahí, fue derribado.

Los diferentes formas que puede tomar el arte puede ser, pintura, escultura, dibujo, foto, baile aunque puede ser el graffiti. Unas características puede ser que expresa un sentimiento o un momento sentimental. El propósito de el arte es decir un cuento de tu punto de vista. No necesita ser atractivo porque puede ser un momento en vida muy no atractivo. Creo que sí necesita tener un mensaje o sentimiento si no solo en "ruido" ni son delitos. Todos los cosas son tipos de arte. Para mi, mi mural si va a ser arte. Va a ser un expresión de mis sentimientos y creencias de mi comunidad y las personas que lo hacen.  

El propósito de mi mural sería traer color a mi barrio. En mi opinión hay un falta de color en mi comunidad. Mi motivo sería que no tenemos ni un árbol en mi calle y creo que necesitamos más color. Color para mi hace viviendo ahi mucho más agradable. Para mi vivir en una camina colorado es más agradable que no. Creo que necesitaba muchos imágenes de árboles, niños jugando y diferentes culturas juntando para tener una fiesta. Las frases que me gustaría usar seria, comunidad, cultura y unidad.

*Ring* Ring*

I pick up the phone, “Hello?”

“Hi this is Nathaniel Archibald, from the Boston Review, I’m calling for Ms. Bolton.”

“This is she.”

“Good, we have some good news about the job you interviewed for the other day... You got the job and we would like you to start on Monday.”

“Oh that’s great! Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome, Ms. Bolton. We are looking forward to seeing you Monday morning.”

“See you then.”

*Click*

*Click*

Monday Morning

My alarms are set for 6 am. I have to be there by 9 am. This gives me three hours, it takes a half hour to get there. If I take the bus and leave by 8:15 I will have time to spare. I take a shower and blow out my hair and put on makeup. I spend 20 minutes picking out the right outfit.

I have never been so excited to start a new job. It has been a while since I worked at job I liked. The last time was probably when I was in high school and I got a job a the pizza parlor where the cute senior worked. This new job is better than the best. I’m the new writer for the Boston Review. This is what I have dreamed about since I was a little girl.

I have my coffee and am out the door. I’m so ready for this day. I couldn’t sleep at all last night. The Buses are packed with men and women in their suits and nice shoes. Everybody is on their phones reading the latest news. I see one guy reading the Boston Review. To think in less than a week my name will be on these people’s papers, they will be reading my articles, that I wrote. The idea almost made me miss my stop. I jump off the bus, the streets are packed, but I nudge my way through. I see the building. I stand and stare. 36th Floor, suite 309.

When I get up there the receptionist calls someone and tells them I’m here. He tells me to sit and wait. I people watch. I watch people running around with clip boards and binders filled with papers. Everything is so energetic. It’s so alive. I snap out of my trans when I hear someone calling my name. It’s a tall man wearing a suit and tie, he gestures for me to come with him.

“Hi Ms.Bolton, I’m Tom Bradshaw, you can follow me this way.”  

I feel like a little kid in a candy store. Looking in all the offices. Seeing all the people hard at work. This is me. I am a part of this. I am this. For the first time in a long time, I’m really motivated to do the right thing. We stop in front of an office with my name on it. My name, is in gold letters on a black plaque. It was mesmerizing.

“This is your office, Ms. Bolton.”

It had a window and everything. It was picturesque.

“And I believe your first assignment is on your desk. You will be covering the school shut down in Cambridge.”

“Thank you so much, I will get started right away.”

Mr. Bradshaw walks away. I sit down at the desk and look through the file. I look through my new @bostonreview email. I have an email from an unknown name telling me that the rental car was waiting for me outside and that I should pick up the keys from the secretary. I assume that they want me to go get a closer look. I call the school to set up a tour. The most important thing they tell you in journalism classes is to never tell the people that you are interviewing that you are a reporter.. When people know they are getting interviewed it makes the whole experience a lot less realistic. So I told them I was a prospective parent.

When I get to the school it is almost empty, there were maybe 10 kids per class. Every student in a black blazer, girls in skirts, boys in slacks, both in white shirts with red ties. It was a very classy school. After the half hour tour, we were taken to a large bulletin board with all the students biographies. I couldn’t help but notice that every single one of these kids that went here were children to either famous or political parents. I thought I had enough for my story. I sat down and started to write.

 Many have heard of the school closings in the city and country but some of the schools making the biggest noise maybe should be the ones to be shut down. I recently took a visit to the 2nd most prestigious K-12 school, the Elizabeth Banks School. It is one of the many getting closed in the Boston area. With an annual tuition of 24,000 a year it does not seem like such a tragedy if it does get closed down. There are currently 100 kids in the entire school, the smallest school on record for this area.

The piece goes on with the many reasons why the school should be closed because they don’t meet the requirement for students, so on and so forth. I dropped it off on the editor’s desk that night before going home.  

I had slept easy that night. Proud of my achievements. I had written my first article. The next day I woke up proud. There was a different kind of bounce in my step that day. I got to the office and started researching my next article.

*Knock* *Knock*

There was a knock on my door, I look up from my computer. It is the head editor of the paper.

“Oh. Hello Mr. Smith”

“Hello Ms. Bolton”

“Please come in, sit down”

“Thank you, but I won’t be staying long.”

“Is something the matter? Did you not like my piece on the clossing of the schools?”

“It’s not that I didn’t like it, it is just that I’m not sure this is the right message we want to send to our readers.”

“I’m sorry I don’t think I understand. You told me to write an opinion piece and I did.”

“Yes and it is a great opinion, but I just think that maybe you should write for the opinion of our readers… not your own.”

“Are you telling me you want me to lie?”

“No not lie. Never that.”

There was a long pause.

“This company was started by my family years ago. It was passed down from generation to generation. It started off as just a little paper nobody would ever read, but then it blossomed and it was sold by the hundreds everyday. But the times have changed. People aren’t reading the newspaper anymore, it is all about the online stuff. The only people that read our paper are old men who drink their coffee and read their paper every morning because they don’t know how to work a computer.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, he smiled.

“Do you know what I mean? We have to keep our readers happy.”

“You want me to tell them what they want to hear.”

“Exactly! I knew you were a smart one, that’s why we hired you.”

It boggled my mind to think about what Mr.Smith had just said. When I became a journalist it was because I liked to write about current events. I wanted people to hear my opinions, but now it seems like that isn’t actually what is going to happen. I have two choices, quit and try to find a job that will let me write what I think is true but the chances of that may be slim, or keep my job and twist stories for the rest of my life into what the upper class of the Boston area wants to hear.

I would have the power as someone of the press that would be able to change the way people look at things by giving bias information just so they would buy and read our paper.  

Naomi Fecher-Davis

Una Oda a Margarita Neri

Una soldadera, una mujer poderosa y inspiradora

Cuando yo te veo pienso en las cosas que puedo hacer con mi vida.

Me inspiras a hacer un diferencia

Tu es mi inspiración

My father is lecturing my brother about decision making. He keeps using me as an example of good decision making. I went to a party last night and got super wasted. My dad picked me up and I probably did the smartest thing ever, I told him that everybody there was smoking and drinking and that I thought they were all really stupid for doing that. Of course after that he never for a second thought that I would be doing that stuff, I mean why would he. When I got home he told my brother how proud of me he was, and that he should use me as an example of what not to do, I think my brother saw right through the lies. My brother keeps shooting me looks like “thanks a lot, you went out and got wasted and I’m paying for it”. I feel a little bad, I didn’t mean for my brother to get lectured, but what can I say? I had to do what I had to do, I couldn’t get caught. My parents would never let me out of the house again. The way I think about it, I did what had to be done.

The problem here isn’t actually me getting my brother in trouble, but the fact that my head is pounding, my eyes can’ts stay open and I think I might be dying. Oh god I’m dying. (sigh) Okay well maybe not dying, but I honestly don’t know how I’m going to get through this.

Now my dad is yelling at my brother for God only knows what and why my sister is talking to herself. She’s mumbling things that nobody can hear. Why does she always do this? Or a better question, what the hell is she doing? God, she is so annoying sometimes. Why can’t she just be normal? She’s always off in her own world. I feel like when I was her age I was sooo much more mature. She might be the baby of this family, but that doesn’t mean she can be a baby her entire life. She looks “speecciall”, if you know what I mean. She looks like she belongs in a “speecciall” house. Why does anyone… Oh god all this thinking is making my head hurt.

“Hey Dad, are we almost there?”

I say words differently than you. You say words differently than me, and her and maybe him. My mom moved to a small suburb of London when she was not even one year old and stayed there until she left for college. So naturally she developed an English accent and nobody questioned it. She went to a primary school called Little Green. In England, primary school is Kindergarten through second grade. When she was going into fourth grade her dad, my grandfather, got a job as a dean of the High School at The American School In London (ASL). This is a very prestigious private school where families that worked in the oil industries and places such as that would send their children so that their kids would get an American education. My mom and her sister transferred there within two years. The kids there had mixed accents between American and British so she didn’t feel any need to change the way she talked because there were other people that spoke like her.

When she was in her sophomore year of high school she went to live with her aunt and uncle in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Nobody had a British accent there. My mom decided to change the way she spoke to fit in with the other kids. For a year and a half, she had an almost perfect accent that nobody questioned. One day she got tired of always switching the way she spoke, so she decided to stop faking an American accent and speak with her normal accent. To her surprise, people thought she was faking that. She remembers very clearly having a friend that told her to stop pretending to have an English accent and just speak normal. She had faked her accent for so long that people thought that an American accent was just her normal tongue. My mother says she was stunned, what she was doing it to fit in actually turned out to be what people thought was her norm.  

At this point, my mom has been in the US for about 17 years, almost longer than she had been in England. She hasn’t lost all of her accent but it isn’t as strong as it used be. It isn’t very noticable to me but there are still some words that I can hear that we say differently, for example “tomato” she says it the stereotypical British way. There are other words that I, myself, have poked fun at the way she says them but she does the same to me. When people find out that my mom is from England, they automatically ask me if I can do a British accent. I can but only because I have trained myself, not because I’m actually English.

We usually take a trip to England once a year at least because my grandfather still lives there. He was born and raised in Staten Island, New York. He has lived in England since he moved there with my mom, aunt and grandmother before my aunt was born. His accent hasn’t changed even the slightest bit and people are always very surprised when they find out that he has lived there for as long as he has.

Whenever I go to England, my mom and aunt’s accents always come back full force. The funny thing is I adopt a pretty good accent when I go back as well. People that live there think it is just how I talk. I think the reason I change my accent is because I say so many things differently than them. Whenever someone hears that I am from America, they start asking me all kinds of questions. I think the funniest thing anyone has ever asked me when they found out that I was from America was from a little kid. I was at the park with a friend and her son and some of his friends. I was pushing her son and his friends on the carousel and one of his friends asked me if I was from America, I responded “Yes”. Then, he asked me if I ate a lot of bubble gum. I was confused why he asked this but then he told me it was because when his grandmother goes to America she always brings him back bubble gum. I thought it was interesting to think of the different things people think of when they hear an American accent.  

In the movie “American Tongues”, there is a segment where they talk about how in Boston there is a very stereotypical accent but not everybody uses that accent. I think this applies in many more places than just in Boston. For example, in Philly, you have the North Philly accent then in South Philly, they have a very different accent. The same thing happens in many big cities such as New York and London. In Philly, I have noticed if you live in one of the areas, especially South Philly, and don’t have the very specific accent you are looked at as an outsider. I remember very specifically trying to change the way I said certain words to fit in with the kids that lived around me.

I moved to South Philly when I was about 10 years old. I had lived in the Fairmount area before that, the two areas are very different. When I moved there, my mom put me on a soccer team hoping I would make friends. When I got to my first practice, I realized all the other kids either went to school together or have lived and grew up next to each other, I was the outsider. The thing that set me apart the most was the way I talked. Everybody had a very specific way of pronouncing certain words that is really hard to explain unless you hear it. I didn’t say the words like they did because my mom talked proper English and that had rubbed off on me. When I finally picked it up, it didn’t sound right. It was too forced and it would sound weird with the other words that didn’t have the same accent. In the beginning of eighth grade, I tried really hard to adapt the full accent. It sounded absolutely ridiculous. It took me awhile to realize how ridiculous it actually sounded and when I finally I did realize, stopped trying and left my accent alone. The thing I didn’t expect was for some of the words to stick. After trying to adopt the accent for so long, I actually had kept some. Now that I’m not with the same kids any more, I get made fun of when I say a word like “yous” or “couffeee”. I have learned to stop saying these words, but when I don’t think about if and just say them they come out with a twisted accent.

Works Cited:

American Tongues. Dir. Louis Alvarez and Andy Kolker. Perf. Polly Holliday and Trey Wilson. Center for New American Media, 1988. DVD.