Busy Other Me

Here is a piece from what I wrote in my program called Sponsors for Educational Opportunities



Jeanette Abreu October 10, 2009
Critical Writing Delana
Section: D

Persuasive Essay

Change is one of the most difficult occasions to do in one’s life. They can be adapted to their surroundings for too long. Change is difficult because one has been adapted in a surrounding for a long time. Some change for the better, some change for the worse. But some people are afraid to change. Others can know when the change will happen when they feel powerful and infinite, knowing it will be the right time to change. In the book The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, change happens and it stays with the main character. For example, Brad is the jock with a reputation to keep and tries not to reveal his love life involving other men. Also, Charlie’s sister getting into a situation with her abusive boyfriend and dealing with anger issues towards her brother Charlie, and finally Charlie’s greatest friend Sam was going through tough times on finding a true love before she graduates. Some can be positive and others can lead to very negative things as well.
It seems that Brad has it all, the looks, the talent, popularity and respect from all his peers in school. He was a ladies man no matter what came across his way. However, one life changing night has made Brad think twice about his liking for girls instead of guys. Around November, Charlie’s friends, Patrick and Sam threw a party for all of their friends, not much of the popular crowd. Until, a couple of popular kids came along and Brad was a part of them. A couple of drinks were passed around and Patrick and Brad became dizzy and didn’t know what they were doing or saying. In the book, Charlie says that from what her heard and says “…Patrick kept it a secret to why Brad came to the party. When most people left, Brad and Patrick went into Patrick’s room” (page 44). The whole drinking situation was taken too far and everyone was at their worst behavior. Some people left to get out of the toxic house. On the other hand, Brad and Patrick stayed in the sole house. They both ran up to Patrick’s bedroom and had sexual interactions with one another. After that, Brad did not act like himself. He did not go around Patrick anymore, and was different around his friends.
In another case, Charlie’s sister went through ups and downs as well. Charlie’s sister had been in a relationship with many problems. In the book, Charlie refers to when the dance was going on and his sister with her boyfriend get into a “huge fight”. Charlie’s sister was maybe very social in her school, yet she has not been very committed in a relationship before. On page 115, it shows how badly her relationship went. While Charlie’s sister was on the dance floor the night of prom. “…it looked like they had a huge fight because he stopped looking at her, and she rushed off the dance floor to where the bathrooms are.” (pg 115)This meant that Charlie’s sister didn’t know what to do from the arguments she had experienced with her boyfriend. Everyone had tried to stop her from continuing her relationship with him, but she feels like she was in love. Charlie’s sister is afraid about how much commitment she has to put in this relationship, knowing that there wasn’t going to be any bumps in the road but it most certainly happened. But in Charlie’s point of view, his sister was never like that at all. She was a good girl, yet the ignorant girl on stepping on every guy she was with. However, it was different with her current boyfriend in the book, making her change throughout the relationship.
One of Charlie’s greatest friends, Sam, is going through some difficult stages as well as the two mentioned already. Sam can be best described as confused and predictable. Charlie had dreams about Sam and also wanted to date her, but she was sending wrong signals to Charlie. One night while Charlie and Sam were talking, Sam started crying and told Charlie about her feelings and ended up kissing Charlie. Charlie could have thought differently about the kiss and possibly wanted to be more than friends but Sam did not want it at all. Sam could of possibly crying to Charlie about being confused about love. Either being interested in another man named Craig or Charlie. Charlie describes his feelings “It was the kind of kiss that I could never tell my friends about out loud. It was the kind of kiss that made me know that I was never so happy in my whole life.” (Pg 70) Charlie was growing stronger feelings for Sam, however she didn’t. She has changed her ways after she kissed Charlie and picked Craig for a relationship.
Changes have been made for the better or the worse, but everyone needs to know that once a person there is no possible way that that person changes back again. These characters haven’t changed in the book, but possibly to Charlie, they can change over time and experiencing new things once they are out of high school and become a new person later on. Most people change because they feel like they want to accomplish better in their lives like all the characters in Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Busy English Bee

Jeanette Abreu March 9, 2010

The Rites of passage Hector Zambrana

Period 1

Bodega Dreams Essay

In the book, Bodega Dreams, Ernesto Quinonez has two characters that catch you in the first two chapters. Those two characters are Julio “Chino” and Willie Bodega. Those two characters are two different from one another, something like a battle of Good vs. Evil in this book. Chino is a young man that was going into high school where is best friend “Sapo” is involved in drugs, fighting and money. Chino has always wanted to get away from the conflicts going on in school and personal life, also meeting Nancy “Blanca” the girl that Chino has an eye for has talked about how he was going to stop his “bad” ways but never happened after high school. Then Willie Bodega comes into the picture and talks to Chino into bringing him back into his old life.

Chino is the main character in the book and voices his opinions on what he observes. Chino in the book talks behind some of the characters’ back for like Blanca and his feelings towards her, he would never say it to her face however; he would tell Sapo instead. But later on in Chino’s life, he gets closer to Blanca by not getting involved in his fighting and drugs. He ends up getting married to Blanca while they are both in college. Chino says in the book “With Blanca next to me, El Barrio seemed less dirty, life less hard, God less unjust” (page 13). By this, Chino mostly says that life is easier for him when he wasn’t involved with Sapo and the violence. Blanca has changed him for the better. Chino symbolizes at the guys at a young age, kind of confused if they should stick to their studies, or try to become “popular” and fight, wanting a reputation. A lot of foreshadowing happens also in the book from what Chino has said like wanting to get to know more about Blanca, and later on they were married.

Willie Bodega is a completely different person compare to Chino. Willie was ALWAYS a drug dealer, causes nothing but trouble but he “helps” people in need. He has done some help for old apartment buildings, making the rent cheaper for citizens in New York City especially in El Barrio. “Willie Bodega don’t sell rocks, Willie Bodega sells dreams” (Page 20) meaning that it’s not only the drug dealing that makes him have to return a favor also.

Both characters meet each other later on in the book about some business going on. Chino doesn’t want to get involved in the gang life anymore and because Sapo has told Chino to talk to Bodega about the “gang” life, Chino is not so sure anymore on what to do. Chino thinks that Bodega is just talking a lot of non-sense, but another side of Chino is thinking that maybe he is doing something good after all.

There is a conflict still going on in the book if it is good vs. evil but in general finding more about a character can really surprise you a lot. The “gang” life is really not necessary, either to be popular or just having a distraction from school and every single day.

Jeanette Abreu November 16, 2009

My community
My community is called Jeanettyville and a lot goes on in my community, ups and downs you might say. My community is a suburban neighborhood but a couple of miles away is a big city. Some people don’t like the big city or they get two things in this town that are benefits. How is the government you might ask? We run in a capitalism government. Everyone is different, from their pays to their houses and jobs. If you do your best in this community, then you get the best in your family and government also. The people in my community mostly spend their days working in the daylight, going to their homes later in the afternoon and enjoying themselves with their families. That is on the weekdays though. On the weekends they can enjoy anything they please that doesn’t involve violence.
My community would grow and change more over time if we get a bigger population in our community, if so we would also supple more space land for the community to increase as well. There are not much people in our community and I would love to increase and help the people in my community. The situation with the money in my community is again if you work your best and toughest, then great opportunities would come your way in this. The money would go well when people try to work their best.

Creative Me