Savants

         The book Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet is a memoir about a man who has Savant Syndrome. The book touched on how the authors mind was different than normal humans. People say that the abilities of a "Savant" are inhuman. They can perform complex mathematical operations easily in their heads. They have and extraordinary ability to remember things. And they feel a sort of special connection towards numbers. In one of the first chapters of the book Tammet describes his feelings towards numbers as if they have their own characters. For example 9 is awkward and shy. Because of this, he has always felt comfortable around numbers. And because of his ability to remember, he holds the record for the most numbers of Pi recited consecutively. He also knows many languages that he learned moderately easily. Some call Daniel Tammet a genius, others call him a retard. 

         As a child Tammet was thought of as a retard and was bullied in school. He was never very good in social situations and talked to himself at times and did things that other children associated as weird. His parents, even though they loved him, didn't exactly realize that he was a genius. At the time, being a Savant was not a known thing so people thought of him as retarded which did not bode well for him socially and mentally. When he graduated from school, he had a very difficult time finding a job because his talents were not used very often as jobs. But because of his ability to learn languages easily he was able to teach people in Lithuania english. There, people finally realized that they were dealing with a genius and not a retard. He learned lithuanian, a very complicated language, very quickly and was a good teacher.

        Many people we meet in the world today have diseases like aspergers that give them social problems and marks them as mentally retarded. But they are actually as, if more capable mentally than normal humans. You cannot judge somebody by how they react in social situations. Many people behind their bad social skills and reactions to simple things are smart, generous and fully capable humans.

This Boys Life

            The book This Boys Life by Tobias Wolff is a memoir about his life as a child. He looks back at his life with regret for the things he had done. He writes about his childhood as if he was admitting his mistakes as a child. Sometimes he writes about a particularly bad thing he had done and writes a subtle excuse for his misbehavior. But the interesting part of the book was reading how a boy that was a terrible-behaving teenager became a famous writer. He forged his report cards. He forged his own checks and shot squirrels from his window. Everybody expected him to become a high school dropout and eventually go to jail. But no, he is now a famous writer, who is able to write his own autobiography. That is the reason that I enjoyed reading this book, because it was about a boy that could have amounted to nothing that became something. 

          Tobias Wolff described how he managed to get out of his isolated hometown of Cement, Oregon. He forged notes from his teachers and coaches and sent applications to boarding schools. Because of the fact that he skipped school most of the time, didn't play sports, and was a thief, the only way to possibly get in was to forge his documents. Somehow he got into Hill Boarding School. But like he did with his other educational opportunities, he couldn't take advantage of his luck and ended up getting kicked out of school as a junior and joining the army. Wolff described his time in the army as what he needed in his life. He described the army as the reason he was able to break out of his juvenile delinquent behavior. I thought it was very interesting to hear that the army can put a person in their place. I think that it makes sense, for a person that could never be disciplined, perhaps the army is the only way to discipline them. This Boys Life is an example of that, Tobias always had an interest in guns, he was always tempted to point his gun at a human and pull the trigger. But the army could teach him why that is not something humans can do to each other, when Tobias Wolff was actually supposed to kill people, maybe he realized the horror in killing other human beings. 

                This Boys Life was very interesting to me because it was about a boy that started out badly behaved but pulled it together by going to the army. It was interesting to see how Tobias Wolff finally realized who he was in life. As a teenager, he stole, he fought and he drank, just to be difficult. But in the army all he could do was fight, and finally he got sick of it. He got sick of being difficult, I think it's very important for people to realize that its pointless to be difficult.

       

Tybalt's Hate

          After reading part of Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare, the character that interests me most in the play is Tybalt, the mean-spirited Capulet. Shakespeare, being the writer that he is, would never make a character purely evil. Tybalt may not be purely evil, but before he died, I saw no softness in his character. He seemed to me like he was filled of hate and deceit. All he wanted to do was fight Montagues and protect his family name. But when Romeo kills Tybalt, the Capulets seemed so full of despair that Tybalt must have brought more than sadness and impatience to his family. When Tybalt died, Juliet's nurse says, "O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had! O courteous Tybalt, honest gentlemen,". From what I had seen of Tybalt in the book, he didn't seem like a courteous or honest gentleman, he also didn't seem like he was the type to befriend a nurse. Was Tybalt truly a good person when he was not talking to a Montague, or were the mourners of Tybalt remembering only the good things done by Tybalt and ignoring the bad qualities?

          In the first scene, Tybalt says in response to Benvolio's attempts to keep the peace, "What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word. As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee." Tybalt never looked for peace, he was always looking for a fight against Montagues. One thing that I wondered about after reading this line is why Tybalt hates all Montagues. The rivalries between the rivalries are very old. Tybalt was probably born told to hate all Montagues. But does Tybalt hate Montagues because he is supposed to? The Montagues never seemed to do anything to Tybalt, in fact, they repeatedly tried to keep the peace. When Tybalt challenged Romeo to a duel, it was not a Capulet that took him up on the offer, but Mercutio, a member of neither families. Only when Tybalt slayed Mercutio, Romeo's best friend, did Romeo think it time to fight Tybalt. And Tybalt had nothing against Mercutio either, he just killed him for the point of killing. This seems to me like an unnecessary taking of a life to me. That doesn't seem to me like something a courteous and honest gentleman would do. 

        In modern-day literature, there is commonly a character like Tybalt in a novel. The character usually seems purely evil and it is hard to find a reason for their hate. Voldemort is one of those characters, you read the books and think about why they could possibly be so evil. In Tybalt's case, I see no reason for his evilness. He lives with a rich family, he goes to parties and seemingly has an overall good life. Why does he feel the need to pick fights and kill people? I think that the character of Tybalt is a mystery.

Letting Go

 Lupe Fiasco's new album Lasers

       When Lupe Fiasco was asked about his recent song, Letting Go, he said:"It’s my declaration of independence from the clutches of the record industry, the blogs, the fans, the press, the lifestyle." Like many rappers, Lupe Fiasco had a hard time dealing with fame. "My self portrait shows a man that the wealth tortured", Lupe Fiasco says in his song, so now he is trying to let go of his lifestyle. There are many rap songs about mainstream rappers looking back at their previous selves and wondering whether their previous self would have thought that he had done good. In this song, in different verses, Lupe is talking to himself, as if he has two different egos in two different verses. The reason I like this song is because of the lines in his song that really makes me think.

        My favorite line in Letting Go  is "I don't get high. Life keep me at a decent height." This could be deciphered to be saying that he doesn't get high off marijuana anymore, but I interpret it as him not being able to become high off of life anymore, and he always stays at the same level. I think that is a very powerful thing to say because it makes me think about what fame can do to you. What if you get to a certain point where you cannot experience the emotion of elation anymore? I think that is a big downside to being famous, you cannot enjoy the small things in life anymore and I think that is why Lupe Fiasco felt the urge to rap about letting go of his lifestyle. I think what he's saying in Letting Go is that he wants to enjoy himself again. 

        I like to think of this song as if fame is a drug and him letting go is trying to stop using the drug. Many people in the world are suffering from trying to stop taking some kind of drugs, whether it's literally drugs, or something like it such as alcohol or cutting yourself. I think that it is an important message to spread, no matter what you're letting go from. "Let me in and let me go.  So I can roam around this wilderness. See it for what it really is." The message is to let go from what's holding you down. I think this is a very important message to spread.

Kite Running Should be Happy, Right?

After reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, I had a sudden urge to read picture books and never read another chapter book. That is not because it was bad but because it was overwhelmingly sad. Sure it was happy in the end, but that still means that it was sad. In the Kite Runner, it wasn't the violence or death or the things that the main character did that made the book sad, it was what the character didn't do. The book is about a rich privileged Iraqians relationship with his slave. It is also about a boy who's father has done much in his and find himself under pressure to be like his father. After reading this book I couldn't help that feeling that without regret, there would be no story in the book. I think that regret is good for people, regret tells people what they need to do. In the book, the main character finds himself overwhelmed with a feeling of regret of how he treated his slave. I couldn't help wondering if he had done anything to try and help his situation, would he be feeling the regret that he did in the book?

After reading the book I thought of the song Words I Never Said by Trey Songz, one of it's lyrics is: "As I'm Drowned in my Regrets, I can't take back the words I never said." This suggests that instead of not doing anything, which will just lead to regret, you should say something because at least you can take back words that you've said. After listening to this song I had a bit of an epiphany that lasted for about an hour. Never do anything that will give you regrets, in the Kite Runner's case, it would be better to get a few bruises than to have regrets for the rest of your life. I think that is what the main character realized when he goes back to his home country to leave his regrets. 

I think the book Kite Runner is a great example of why the lines said by Trey Songz are true. In the book the main character goes back to his country to explain his feelings to the person that he wronged, only to find that that person was murdered. When he learns that that person's son is in an orphanage, he knows that the only way to quench his regrets is to adopt the baby. he realizes that if he had just done something than he wouldn't be drowned in his regrets. Regret is a very strong emotion but there's a very simple way to vanquish regret.

Guns?

NRAs new video game, "NRA, Practice Range"

                  I have not being paying very much attention to the gun policy debate. I have listened to my parents complain about the NRA all the time, but only now do I see something that in my opinion is an outrage. The article NRA spits on the graves of Newtown massacre victims with release of mobile shoot-'em-up app for iPhone, iPad is about the new game created by the NRA that contains the player shooting with the same gun used by the killer in the Sandy Hook killings at coffin-shape targets. I think that making this game just a month after the Sandy Hook shooting should not be done. Adding to the outrage, in Apple's review of the game they suggested the game for people of ages 4+. I think that Apple should  be sponsoring games that support gun usage and the fact that it has references towards the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary.

                In the game, in between practice rounds they give you firearm safety tips in the game for four year-olds. Why will gun safety tips be of importance to 4 year-olds? This is just another example of the NRAs attempts to oppose the anti-gun petitions going on. While many politicians are trying to tighten gun laws, the NRA opposing this and are suggesting putting armed guards at all schools. After hearing this, I couldn't help but wonder if the NRA realized how ridiculous this sounds, putting more armed guards in school would just raise the possibility of school shootings. NRA also suggested that teachers be trained in gun violence so that they can protect their students. The NRA initially blamed the Sandy Hook Killings against violent video games. Now the fact that they are making a violent video for 4 year olds, I don't know why they have influence in the world of politics. 

                
              
             The deaths at Sandy Hook Elementary were a catastrophe. The NRA is giving us both a reminder and a encouragement for this catastrophe. By making a video game, the NRA is keeping the killing alive. But I think the biggest outrage done by the NRA is the message they are sending out. They are aiming specifically for children and supporting gun use. This is a major issue in the world right now and I hope people realize the ridiculousness of NRAs video game and ideas.