Global Rationale

I am an independent girl who likes to think before acting. On the contrary to others I usually like to make decisions by myself, take a lot of time deciding what to do with important dilemas and really appreciate moments with my family. Many times, I just need a moment of silence, to wake myself up and to get calm time to think, however, this many times discomforts many people who like to answer things quickly or who are very active. I really like people who don't lie, people that I know I can trust, on the other hand I also like to hang out with people who like adventure and fun, however, I tend to avoid people who are very superficial, demanding and egocentric because I think that this type of people never bring any good to our lives.
As a group we all tend to be very friendly, usually, nobody is afraid to speak or say what they think, however, there are still people who are more conserved and shy. In a group, I'm not scared to express myself, however, there are always some things that I prefer to keep to myself. In our class we are all very united and cliques are not noticeable, however in other class with our age similarity cliques that are really outstanding. In other classes, there are two very clear. There is the group of the "popular girls," who are the girls who are not afraid to speak and who know a lot of people from Blue Valley or other schools. On the other hand, there are the "isolated girls," who tend to be very shy and just hang out with their particular small group. When I hang out with a small group of friends I only accept or agree with things that I think that are correct or okay from my point of view. If the group's mentality differs from mine I still speak out and say what I think.
  For me, a hero is someone who help the needed, someone who places other people before themselves. Mother Teresa of Calcuta is for me  a hero. She was a person who's goal was to help the poorest of the poor. Once, she helped some people who had a strong sickness and she didn't care if she got contaged, or how disgusting it looked, she always kept helping them no matter what could happen to her. She was a catholist, who beleived and did everything for her religion and for the poor. She is now considered a Saint.

Big Ma and Uncle Hammer

We have the same blood, and we will protect our loved ones, but we clearly have different brains. Big Ma and Uncle Hammer are two characters from the historical novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor, this story is about an African American family in the 1930's who experience racism and discrimination in their lives in rural Mississippi. In the 1930's people were experiencing the Great Depression, meaning economic issues, also the Jim Crow laws and white people that felt superior provoked racial and social issues in many parts of the United States, including the small town in which this family lives. In this African American family Big Ma is the oldest family member and Uncle Hammer is her son. In this novel even though Big Ma raised Uncle Hammer, Uncle Hammer actively confronts injustice and has an instinct for fixing change whereas Big Ma keeps her feelings to herself and has an instinct for survival, however, their main point is always to protect their family, yet differently.

A. Big Ma and Uncle Hammer both have had very tough life experience, this experiences  must influence their actions. 

B. Even though Big Ma and Uncle Hammer might act in different ways to discrimination they think similarly.

C.Although Big Ma and Uncle Hammer might have the same thoughts and ideas about racism and discrimination, they have different personalities and act completely different to discriminatory acts in public.

   Big Ma and Uncle Hammer

    Uncle Hammer and Big Ma act quite differently to racist situations, but they still think in similar ways. They both think that racism and discrimination is not right, even though they show it in different ways. Also they both care a lot about their family. For example, when Little Man came crying to Big Ma telling her that the bus had splashed mud all over him, Big Ma acted sweetly like she never did and explained him why they didn't have a bus and that even though she couldn't do anything that she knew it was wrong. Uncle Hammer, though, shows that he feels this way by acting. Uncle Hammer is more outspoken, he is even willing to use violence to stop racist and discriminatory acts. However, even though they might think similarly, they act completely different to situations. 

    Big Ma is a very submissive person. During her life she might of have seen many people die or get hurt because of racism and discrimination. Even though she knows discrimination is wrong she keeps it to herself to avoid trouble and to protect her family. Big Ma is obedient; she obeys the law in order to protect the ones she cares for. In the book, for example, when Cassie accidentally bumps in to Lillie Jean, Big Ma came and forced her to apologize: Big Ma looked at me again, her voice cracking as she spoke. “Go on, child…apologize.”
“But, Big Ma—”
Her voice hardened. “Do like I say.”
Even though I seemed like Big Ma didn't agree with Cassie apologizing, she forced her to do it because she didn't want Cassie to get hurt.  

    On the other hand, Uncle Hammer is more like an activist. Uncle Hammer came from the North to visit his family in the South, he has gone to the war and has a lot of experience with racism. He is the kind of person that is unafraid of authority and someone who is capable of killing for justice. When Cassie tells him about her trip to strawberry and gets furious. He says, " Unnecessary trouble! You think my brother died and I got my leg half blown off in their German war to have some red-neck knock Cassie anytime it suits him?" After this happened he got his gun and headed to the Simms. He was willing ti risk his life to defend his family.

I Wish I Could Stay for Long

I hate to go away,

but I have to,

if I want them to survive.

No matter what I'll have to do,

I will always be standing,

trying, always giving my best,

I can't wait to go back home.

I want to hug them all,

I want to see my kids' faces filling with excitement

I want to see my wife and my mom smiling

I want to forget about work and focus on love

I want to fill my heart of  joy instead of fear

And what I really wish is to stay,

Stay for long

   When Papa comes home

     Cassie's father is a lot like my father. Even though he doesn't go away for such a long time as Papa, the situation is similar. When my father comes home I can see his face turning completely cheerful and happy. I know he really cares about us and that he will do anything for us, just like Papa would do for his kids. I know he doesn't enjoy being far away from us, that he is only doing it for us to have a good life.

    My sister and I also get really excited when he comes back home, just like Cassie and her brothers. As soon as my dad enters the door we go running to hug him. We really dislike when he goes to another country, but we know that he has to do it because its part of his job. We really like having him at home, even though he works almost all day, we can see him at night and least spend some time with him. However, Papa may be confronting many problems and dangers when he goes to work. On the other hand, I know my father is safe.

                                                                  Vocabulary Summary

      When the African American slaves were set free in the Southern states, Americans didn't feel comfortable with all of them being near them. They felt like these slaves were inferior and that they shouldn't have the same rights as they did. For these reasons the Jim Crow laws were created. Their purpose was to keep African Americans and Americans completely separate. It was like they were living in two separate worlds.  It was supposed to use the concept of "separate but equal," but this didn't really happen. There was a lot of inequality. Inequality is not being treated the same as the others. This happened because African American's schools, restaurants, etc, were worse than the ones for Americans, so because of this between the 1950-60s there was a great civil rights movement that finally ended segregation.

     Segregation is the behavior of society dividing by skin color, age, nationality. A very serious case of segregation was in South Africa. This segregation was called the Apartheid. This was an official policy saying that white skin people and dark skin people had to be apart. It was very similar to the Jim Crow laws. This continued until Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa. He completely changed South Africa by ending the apartheid.
 
       Discrimination today forms a great part of our society. Before, there was a lot of discrimination because of racism. Racism is is the discrimination of a human being because of their skin color. Today there is still racism, but there are many other types of discrimination. On these days there is a lot of discrimination because of having a disability of any type, being a boy or a girl, or simply because of being different. Even though some types of discrimination have even sometimes been prohibited it will never be ceased.