The Reservation

I think like Junior/Arnold everyone has something in their life that prohibits them from doing what they really want. For Junior it was his reservation and being an Indian that made him an outsider where he was. Once he was able to leave he was able to become something of himself. With myself I'd like to think in broader terms than just my neighborhood. For me I feel like just being a female Black-American prohibits me from so much.
 Being a female automatically makes me a second class citizen. My opinion is not valued nearly as much as a man's, I am assumed to be weak and fragile, and I'm viewed as unable to manage being in charge. Being born into an immediate family of five females and a single male for the first decade or so of my life was a blessing. I learned independence at a young age and I know I am capable as any man or woman to do any one person job. I'm not saying that I'm "a strong independent black woman who don't need no man" I'm saying a young woman who knows her work and capabilities and if I need help I know when to ask.
Being Black means that I'm hostile and aggressive when I'm annoyed or even slightly irritated. Or so some people think. I'd never experienced until just last week something so idiotic. In a small spirited debate with a white authoritive figure I was deemed as disrespectful and I guess I can see where he comes from saying that, but he then deemed me hostile and aggressive because of my body language. For him to say me slouching and having my face in a stoic expression is hostile is ludicrous. When my friend sitting two seats away was defending me and had the same look accompanied with the same posture as me is deemed just rude, but she was white so she wasn't a threat to him.
I'm singled out for being Black and ignored for being a female. In many'so eyes I'm worthless and ignorant. However, I know as do others that I'm much much more than that and wiser than most people I encounter, so I guess you could say the world is my reservation

A Principle to Keep

Given that we're reading The Road the most obvious principles that come to mind all have to do with very extreme situations. To think of a principle that everyone can start now and keep for the rest of their lives is a bit challenging. I think that I'd go with something along the lines of take care of yourself first; or do whatever it takes to keep your family there.

I feel as though people should take care of themselves first because I for one am a pretty giving person, and tend to put others before my own well being. That has led me into bad situations that have caused a drastic change in my life that I won't be able to change. If I had put myself first things would have ended up a lot better than they did and I feel like that would have even worked out better for everyone else in the long run.

I say do whatever it take to keep your family there because I feel like there aren't enough people willing to sacrifice for their families. This may contradict my previous statement above at times, but sometimes it's for the best as the other works best in different times. Even still, now and no matter what you need people who you love and who love you back around you because without anyone there isn't anything to live for.

Janie

I really dislike Janie's character in Their Eyes Were Watching God. I understand how the author's portraying Janie as a naive young girl in the beginning of the story set the symbol of the horizon up. I love the idea of the horizon being this thing we can never reach no matter how far we go or how much we do, but I hate that through out the story Janie cannot seem to get over this idea of love. It's always there somewhere lying underneath everything. When Nanny sends her off to get married to Logan she wishes to fall in love with him so in marrying him for Nanny she also isn't miserable. Years later when she realizes that she will never fall in love with him and runs away with Jody thinking they'll "...have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything..." love obviously is still what's fueling her decisions. Two decades later and Jody dies. She has this new sense of independence and her dream is still budding at the horizon. It seems she just wants to live without a husband or this idea of love and figure out what this dream is and finally achieve it. However, when Tea Cake comes into the picture things seem to change drastically. She had been pushing away all of the men trying to court her, but because she feels Tea Cake treats as more of an equal she's comfortable and finds herself falling for him and they begin to date.
We see that Janie has always had this dream she's been going after and at first it was obviously love, but after being with Logan and Jody she feels love isn't lasting or real or something of that sort. We then see she still feels incomplete and has something she wants to go after in her state as a newly single woman. We have no idea what it might be and Hurtson keeps describing Janie as this woman who realizes she doesn't or want a man in her life. Again love comes into play with Tea Cake and it seems that this must be her dream. I have no idea what the ending of the book is because the only conflict I can see is Janie trying to reach her dream on the horizon. Her dream doesn't seem obvious to the reader or even Janie herself and so I can only expect her to fail because the horizon can't be reached because it's not a tangible thing and it moves along with a person. I really hope that by the end of the book I feel differently towards Janie because she does have some qualities in her that I respect and feel that I embody as well, but this constant recurrence of love keeps disrupting those qualities and causing the book to go in directions I don't like.

Hemingway

I have to say I enjoyed the documentary on Ernest Hemingway's life immensely. I just feel like he himself was the perfect character and that the depictions of himself in his work do not do him justice. Though I did enjoy the stories of Nick Adams and see the similarities between him and Hemingway, I feel if Hemingway were to actually write not so much an autobiography, but a story of a character exactly like himself he'd see that the flaws he finds in himself are not flaws what so ever. Hemingway felt he was not masculine enough, but I feel that he was the epitome of masculinity. I mean just the way that he enjoyed going on his adventures either on safaris in Africa, on the seas of Cuba, or even on the battlefield of war exhibited tremendous amounts of masculinity; his work ethic was also a contributing factor to his masculinity; it seemed to me as if he was extremely hardworking and he would do anything to make sure his work was not only done, but well done. Hemingway to me was what a man should be: hardworking, intelligent, brave, adventurous, creative, and everything in between.

Set the roads the right way

The whole damn system is guilty
Oh my God! Look at her-
Phones are little boxes of anxiety
Two Parents. Five siblings. No family.
I can't take it anymore, please!
The owl's eyes reflected the sunlight

John Proctor: Hero or a Stooge

I can very easily say that John Proctor is a Hero; because the literal definition of a stooge being a person who is there to merely support and or assist others. While a hero is someone who is admired for their courage, bravery, or outstanding achievements.  He did not go to church regularly or even know the word of God by heart, but I still consider him as holy as the others in town. He thought himself no better than anyone else and felt extreme guilt for committing adultery with Abigail against his wife. He also chose not to voice his opinions publicly of disliking reverend Paris. This is why I consider Proctor the needle in the haystack of the Puritan town Salem. 

We can all see that John begins to exhibit the qualities of a hero when he admits his affair with Abigail to save his wife and the others who have been dubbed as witched or bewitched by Abigail. By doing so John put himself completely out their and on the line to be punished for his wrong doings. While any other in the town would have let the innocent go framed to save themselves. 

Proctor's hanging at the end of the book also leads me to see him as a Hero. Proctor was very brave to give his life under the false charges of witchcraft instead of signing the confession and choosing to only speak the truth of his sins instead of confirming false ones of the others being prosecuted with him.