Importance of the Trial in To Kill a Mockingbird Essay -- Kill Mocking

Importance of the Trial in To Kill a Mockingbird      Ã‚   The trial of Tom Robinson is central to our understanding of racial and social prejudice in Maycomb. Harper Lee uses Tom Robinson's 'crime' to bring tensions in the town to a head and the author uses the trial as a way of making the ideas behind such tensions explicit for the reader.    The two people involved in the so-called crime, Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell, are at the very bottom of Maycomb society. Tom is black and Mayella one of the poorest of the poor whites. However, neither of them fits into the stereotypes held by the people of Maycomb. Tom is honest, hardworking and dependable, as Mr Link Deas's shouted testimony and his demeanour in court demonstrate. Mayella is a member of the poorest and most shiftless families in the town yet she looks after her brothers and sisters, keeps herself clean and tends to her geraniums in the most difficult of circumstances. It is clear that before the alleged rape a sort of friendship had grown up between Tom and Mayella.    Tom Robinson was probably the only person who was decent to (Mayella).    Unfortunately the ideas about race and society held at the time meant that contact between them could never be anything other than distant and respectful (quite apart from the fact that Tom was married anyway). But Mayella's yearning for some form of close human contact emerges during the trial. She had saved for almost a year to have enough nickels to give her brothers and sisters a treat in order to have her house empty when she invited Tom inside. When she made her advance to Tom he was caught by his inability to hit a white woman and the extreme taboo that Maycomb placed on any form of... ...arrated by Scout is that her childish understanding is free of adult prejudice and expectations. She and Jem measure the proceedings against simple child-like ideas of truth and justice and find them grossly wanting. On the other hand Jem is an expert on court behaviour from watching her father on other occasions so she is able to give an insightful account into most aspects of the trial.    The Tom Robinson case shows the ugliness of both racial and social prejudice. Ultimately the jurors choose to vote along racial lines without regard for truth or justice. Mayella and Tom are both victims of Maycomb's prejudice but only Tom has to pay.    Works Cited Jones, Carolyn. "Atticus Finch and the Mad Dog." The Southern Quarterly Summer 1996: 56-63. Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York City, NY:   J.B.Lippincott Company, 1990.   

Poverty is a state of mind Essay

Even though some people make millions, poverty is still a problem in today’s society. There is an increasing gap between the wealthiest and the poorest people. This is also a problem in Britain. But is poverty really a state of mind? That is the controversial statement made by freelance writer Bernard Hare who in an essay from 2012 writes about his childhood in poverty in a mining family in Leeds. As an adult, he experiences a different kind of poverty. Bernard Hare was born in 1958 into a poor mining family in Leeds, but he never felt the poverty as a child. His explanation for this is that their house was warm, the neighbors were welcoming, and that he spent a lot of time with his grandmother who lived across the street. Because he did not want to end up in poverty like his parents and also after being encouraged by his grandmother, he got into grammar school and later college. He started to get into fights at stadiums because he supported the football club, Leeds United. He was also arrested on more than one occasion. When Hare got to college, he started to drink and smoke. But he turned it around and became a successful social worker in London until he also had to provide for his father due to mining strikes. After that it all went downhill for Hare. He took drugs, drank, and sold drugs and stolen items. This changed in 1995 when he met the Shed Crew who was a group of 10 to 14 year olds living in an old shed in Hare’s old neighborhood. It put things in perspective and in 1997 he decided to become a writer because he wanted to tell the world the story about the Shed Crew. The final product was a memoir called Urban Grimshaw and the Shed Crew. Hare uses contrasts in this essay to get his point across. First of all, there is the contrast between his childhood life and his adult life and the differences between the two kinds of poverty he has experienced. Secondly, there is the contrast between the poverty he lived in as a child and the poverty he sees with the Shed Crew. Bernard Hare has lived in poverty for the most of his life, but it has been two kinds of poverty. As a child he lived in absolute poverty where there was not always food at the end of the week. His parents drank and smoked occasionally but according to himself he had a good childhood anyway. He was loved and cared for even though the means were limited. However as a young adult, he went down the wrong path which included drugs, drinking, and criminal behavior. There he experienced a different kind of poverty. In a  way, he chose to be poor. As he also says so himself, he was capable of making good money but he chose the criminal way of life. You can take the boy out of poverty, but you can’t take poverty out of the boy. (P 3 ll. 163-164) As previously said, Hare was loved as a child even though they were poor. That is the biggest difference between Hare†™s childhood and the Shed Crew’s childhood. The Shed Crew had nobody to care for them, and they had been let down by society. Nobody is there to take care of them and to make sure that they will get a decent childhood. He uses his own experiences to shed light on how horrible the Shed Crew’s childhood has been. Hare was poor in terms of money but was rich on love and supporting company – mostly from his grandmother. However, the Shed Crew is poor both in terms of money, but they are also lacking love and support from responsible adults. They are lacking both in the spiritual and the materialistic way whereas Hare’s childhood was safe and good. Throughout the entire essay, Hare uses a lot of pathos in this essay while reflecting on his life story. He shares little, happy anecdotes from his childhood which are written in a humorous way, and he tries to create a mental picture of his childhood. As the years go by, the stories get darker and darker. There is not as much humor in his teenage and adult stories as there is in the childhood stories. This shows that the childish ignorance has disappeared from his mind and that he is now more aware of what is going on around him. Hare also writes that sometimes the decisions you make can effect whether or not you end up in poverty and more importantly how sometimes your choices in life can prevent you from getting out of poverty. For instance, Hare’s grandmother, who was teetotal, said this to him because his parents drank and smoked. â€Å"You’ll never have any money if you drink or smoke† (†¦) I was becoming aware that there might be a self-inflicted element to some people’s poverty. (P 2 ll. 93-94, ll. 98-100) Is poverty really just a state of mind? The state of mind of the person in question might be a contributing factor to whether or not that person is in poverty. However, to say that it is exclusively the state of mind is an exaggeration. There are a lot of contributing elements to why people are poor and the mindset of the person could be an important factor. In some cases it is and in other cases it’s just a matter of not having enough money to live. At least, it was a question of a state of mind for Bernard Hare.

The Stagecoach Non Verbal Communications And Social Classes

The Stagecoach: Non-verbal Communications and Social Classes The Stagecoach, a critically acclaimed film, which followed the adventures of a group of unlikely and unfortunate passengers escaping from the brutality of Geronimo’s Apache warriors, established the precedent of the classic Western movie, containing crucial Western archetypical elements such as Ringo the Kid that has not hardly changed today. Furthermore, Stagecoach espoused social issues of the time by including passengers of varied social status and standing and emphasizing on such interactions that cross the rigidly defined and impermeable social divides at the time. The iconic movie was produced during the transition between silent films and films with spoken dialogue, and the remnants of the former film style are conspicuous throughout the film. Although explicit and spoken plot was crucial for the storyline, non-verbal communication offered implicit cues to attentive audience members. Moreover, the fact that t he passengers were representatives of different social standings further amplified such non-verbal communication and cues. While the film Stagecoach established the quintessential Western movie, the film also underscored the importance of non-verbal communication in the genesis of the spoken dialogue era and emphasized the interactions between rigid social classes in a seemingly disordered environment that is the Western frontier. In Stagecoach, non-verbal communication complements the spoken dialogueShow MoreRelatedBrand Building Blocks96400 Words   |  386 Pagesadvantages - in part because the cost of the brand management team, sales force, and advertising is lower and can be spread over hundreds of product classes and in part because of logistical advantages. The result is more price pressure. Sales promotion is both a driver and an indicator of the price focus. In the 1950s, about 10 percent of the communication mix was devoted to price promotions. Those were the days when distribution was simple, retailers were concerned with building new stores rather

Psychological Disorders in A Rose for Emily - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1066 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2019/04/15 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: A Rose For Emily Essay Did you like this example? A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is one of the most popular short stories written by Faulkner. By Faulkner writing about the political and social ways of the South, Faulkner was creating an illusion of the New south, as being what we know today as America. To give background to A Rose for Emily, the story is divided into five sections. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Psychological Disorders in A Rose for Emily" essay for you Create order In section I, the narrator recalls the time of Emily Griersons death and how the entire town attended her funeral in her home, which no stranger had entered for more than ten years. In section II, the narrator describes a time thirty years earlier when Emily resists another official inquiry on behalf of the town leaders, when the townspeople detect a powerful odor emanating from her property. In section III, the narrator describes a long illness that Emily suffers after this incident. Section IV continues the story of Emilys courtship with Homer; as the courtship went on, the townsfolk decided to take action to prevent it, believing it to be improper. Last, but not least, section V returns to the present. After Emilys death, Tobe leaves Jefferson and never returns. After Emily is buried, the townspeople explore her house, which none of them had seen in decades. In an upstairs room, they find the remains of Homer Barron in a bridal suite. The room is covered in dust and appears to hav e remained untouched for decades. On the pillow beside Homers corpse, they find a strand of Emilys iron-gray hair. Analytical themes in literature are what makes a story become relevant; when writing a story, you should be sure to tie in some type of critical lens, and thats exactly what William Faulkner did. There were two categories, out of the many critical lenses, that A Rose for Emily fell into: Marxism and Psychoanalysis. Marxism studies how upper classes oppress, restrict, and use the lower class. It also studies struggles between classes, and struggles for wealth and power. Often times, racism is used as a distraction for poor people so they wont unite, while Psychoanalysis studies text for psychological symbolism, motives, and themes; a psychoanalytic critic analyzes the characters as well as the story. Although there were two critical lenses, I believe that Psychoanalysis was the dominant theory. Throughout her life, Emily was constantly barraged with her fathers insistence upon maintaining the bloodline of the Grierson family, and she had no mother to speak of to help combat that immense sense of duty and responsibility as the only child. By the time she was thirty, she still had yet to marry, which leads to the inevitable for a woman of that time: low self-esteem. Low self-esteem is the belief that we are less worthy than other people and, therefore, dont deserve attention, love, or any other of lifes rewards. Indeed, we often believe that we deserve to be punished by life in some way (Tyson, 2006). With the mantra her father engrained into her mind of keeping the bloodline alive and strong, how could her mind resist the fall into low self-esteem? The text gives reason to imply that Emily eventually lost even her will to maintain her thin figure and her health: When we next saw Miss Emily, she had grown fat and her hair was turning grey (Faulkner). Unfortunately, low self e steem is not the only conflict Emily seemed to be dealing with psychologically; I will say that Emily is experiencing a fear of abandonment, too. It is safe to say that this situation is a perfect example of the idea that one core psychological issue can lead to another psychological issue. Also in the story, Emily is seen as a loner, and she deals very minimally with the outside world. Because she decided to detach herself from the outside world, she doesnt allow anyone to get close to her, and she eventually kills the one man that became her friend before he could leave her. I believe that those two core issues, together, made up Emilys largest psychological issue, which was the need for control; the need for control ended up ruining her life in the long run. As stated previously, psychoanalysis studies text for psychological symbolism, motives, and themes, and in A Rose for Emily, Emilys childhood made her into the women that she was then. Her dad tried to control her, and it carried over to her as she got older. I personally believe that Emily was miserable and because she was so miserable, she didnt want other people happy. She ended up killing her friend, Homer Barron, for no reason, in my eyes. From a psychological standpoint, Emily Grierson is the definition of a psychologically impaired woman. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a qualified individual with a disability is one who, with or without reasonable modification to rules, policies, or practices, the removal of architectural, communication, or transportation barriers, or the provision of auxiliary aids and services, meets the essential eligibility requirements for the receipt of services or participation in programs or activities provided by a public entity. (2018) To start, a person with a disability is anyone with a physical or mental impairment that significantly limits one or more major life activities such as walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, caring for self, performing manual tasks, working, or learning. According to Academics Speaking Intensive Program, Psychiatric/psychological disabilities (including, but not limited to, depressive, anxiety, and bipolar disorders) are considered disabilities under the ADA if a major life activity is substantially limited; a diagnosis by a licensed mental health professional, including clinical social workers (LCSW), professional counselors (LPC), psychologists, psychiatrists is required and should include the license number and date of the evaluation in the report on letterhead stationery. (2018) Emily was a Necrophiliac; a Necrophiliac is a lover of the dead. When her father died, she kept his body in the house for three days, and when she killed Homer Barron, they discovered that she kept his body in the house for years. Not only did she keep his body in the house for years, she slept with his body. Living a silent life, Emily Grierson becomes uncontainable and uncontrollable by the patriarchal society she is a part of. Her linguistically inexpl icable existence constructs her as a counter discourse against the Law of the Father. Dreaming of a lost body and lost desires, she was psychologically impaired and needed help.

Essay on White Collar Crimes in America - 3039 Words

Throughout history there have been many white collar crimes. These crimes are defined as non-violent and financial-based crimes that are full ranges of fraud committed by business and government professionals. These crimes are not victimless nor unnoticed. A single scandal can destroy a company and can lose investors millions of dollars. Today, fraud schemes are more sophisticated than ever, and through studying: Enron, LIBOR, Albert Wiggan and Chase National Bank, Lehman Brothers and Madoff, we find how the culprits started there deception, the aftermath of the scandal and what our country has done to prevent future scandals. In the 1920’s, Wall Street was a very different place than it is today. There was a great lack†¦show more content†¦On Black Thursday of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 Wiggin teamed up with other Wall Street bankers in an attempt to save the stock market. Wiggin and other bankers committed substantial funds for an investment pool in order to buy large blocks of shares of major U.S. corporations at prices that were above the current market. This stopped the slide that day and stabilized the market. However, in the Pecora Commission investigation of the Wall Street crash it was discovered that starting in September of that year Wiggin began selling short his personal shares of Chase. Using strictly family owned corporations, Wiggin was able to hide the trades and create a position in which we would profit by having his company fail. He was able to short over 40,000 shares and made over $4 million dollars tax-free because he used a Canadian company to buy the stocks. Additionally, Wiggin accepted a $100,000 a year pension for life but later declined the pension because of public uproar. All Wiggin’s money was made legally at the time and he was not alone in doing this. Due to all the other occurrences similar to this one, there was a revision made in 1934 of the 1933 Securities Act that created stricter regulations on insider trading. This stated that all companies listed on stock exchanges must follow the requirements set by the act. The primary requirements of the Securities ActShow MoreRelatedWhite Collar Crime in America Essay examples517 Words   |  3 PagesWe like every other person in this world, when we hear the word crime; we automatically get an image of a person from a low class in a bad neighborhood and coming from a troubled family. However, who knew that those who are educated and coming from a wealthy family can also pertain to the world of crime and mischief. We as human beings tend to also be judgmental, assuming that only unprivileged men have a drive to commit an offense against the law then a prosperous individual. Nevertheless, it isRead MoreEssay about White Collar Crime vs. Street Crime665 Words   |  3 PagesWhite Collar Crime vs. Street Crime One problem that plagues our society is crime. Crime is all around us in our everyday lives. Daily we hear of murders, robberies, and rapes. These are categorized as street crimes. For many people, such crimes are the only tragic crimes, the ones that are senseless and preventable. In Finsterbuschs book, Taking Sides, another variety of crime is exposed. This other form of crime is white collar crime. Both have victims, and the effects of bothRead MoreCriminal Theories On White Collar Crime962 Words   |  4 Pagesthat were discussed in the reading. In a page or two, explain which theories best explain white collar crime. The Strain Theory does a suitable but not a great job of explaining white collar crime. 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Studies show that criminal acts committed by white-collar criminals continue to increase due to unforeseen opportunities presented in the corporate world, but these crimes are often overlooked or minimally publicized in reference to criminal acts on the street. Many street crimes are viewed as unnecessary, horrendous crimes because they are committed by lower class citizens, whereas white collar crimes are illegal acts committedRead MorePrisoners Rights954 Words   |  4 PagesSociety Tiffany Horvath SOC 305: Crime and Society Instructor: Efua Akoma October 28, 2013 If you asked 100 random people to describe a criminal, they would describe someone uneducated, in and out of the justice system, a minority or just a basic street criminal. â€Å"National surveys suggest that when Americans think about crime, they see the face of a black jobless high-school dropout from a broken home† (Society, 2013). â€Å"Federal researchers found, for example, that many prisonersRead MoreEssay about The Invincible Criminal1400 Words   |  6 PagesCriminal Justice Commission estimated that the annual cost of white-collar crime is between $130 billion and $472 billion, seven to twenty-five times greater than the cost of conventional or street crime (Conklin, 2010, P. 71). White-collar crime in America is considered larceny committed by the wealthy, respected, and legitimate enterprise which is not set up or intended to go out of business like an ordinary fraud or con game. White-collar crime offenses may involve forgery, embezzlement, or fraud inv olvingRead MoreWhite Collar Crimes And Street Crimes1431 Words   |  6 PagesCrimes are one of the many things that all humans have in common. Whether it be a serious crime or not, everyone can commit a crime and go to jail for it. There are two types of crime that can be considered complete opposites of each other. They are white collar crimes and street crimes. White collar crimes are considered nonviolent crimes committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his/her occupation such as fraud, embezzlement, or bribery. On the other hand,Read MorePolice Corruption968 Words   |  4 Pagesseriousness about the issue of white-collar crime. What is white-collar crime you may ask. White-collar is defined as, ‘a generic term for crimes involving commercial fraud, cheating consumers, swindles, insider trading on the stock market, embezzlement and other forms of dishonest business schemes. The term comes from the out of date assumption that busine ss executives wear white shirts and ties. It also theoretically distinguishes these crimes and criminals from physical crimes, supposedly likely to beRead MoreWhite Collar And Organized Crime Essay900 Words   |  4 PagesWhite Collar And Organized Crime In the twentieth century, White Collar and Organized Crimes have attracted the attention of the U.S. Criminal Justice System due to the greater cost to society than most normal street crime. Even with the new attention by the Criminal Justice System, both are still pretty unknown to the general public. Although we know it occurs, due to the lack of coverage and information, society does not realize the extent of these crimes or the impact. White Collar and Organized

Middle school or high school teacher, coach, counselor, or principle free essay sample

When a child is born, parents take care of him and raise him. He grows up with a lot of love and care. After that he goes to school. That’s where a teacher holds a hand of him. He learns to get ready to face the real world now. A teacher is not the one who teaches you science, math etc., but a teacher teaches up to apply the studies to the real world. It was my coach who taught me that. I never was a good student on benches until my coach told me, â€Å"It is the brain who thinks, not strength.† It changed my whole life. Now I am willing to be a doctor. â€Å"Today we will run ten miles.† these were the only few words he spoke in the early morning a five. We use to run the miles and then play a little volleyball and go to shower. We will write a custom essay sample on Middle school or high school teacher, coach, counselor, or principle or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It was the evenings we worked our plays on, it use to be tough but we learned a lot through it. I use to get really tired. The only the thing that kept me up was the spirit of our team and coach. Even after we lose, he either said, â€Å"It was a tough luck†, particularly when it was a tough team or would say, â€Å"This is not how we play volleyball.† He still was an encouraging teacher. We also made the state that year. It was when I was a freshman. The reason behind him is obviously not because he made us run ten miles, nor because the shouting we got from him, but because he did what he had to and never gave up on us. â€Å"If being my enemy, you would become a team, than I am willing to take that step.† He would say when we made a scene. He was one of my favorite teachers of my whole school years. In the Hindu religion, a story was put through. One of the greatest teachers, Droncharya was asked for his â€Å"guru dakshina† (something from the student to gift the teacher) by one of his best student, Eklavya. He was the best in bow and arrow, and the teacher asked for his thumb. He happily gave it to him. I could not do that, but surely put this through the paper to the people. There are no words for a teacher like my coach, simply excellent. (if that’s enough)

My Personal Memoir Argumentative Essay Example For Students

My Personal Memoir Argumentative Essay I live a pretty simple life. Not saying nothing happens in it or that I do not do anything to have fun, I am saying I live the clichà © life that I am lucky for, and I will start my story from the beginning; starting with my parents. My parents met in high school, my mom moved when she was fifteen to Venice, FL, where my Dad grew up. My mom was a cheerleader while my dad played football, and though they did not tell me how they met I assume that is how. From what they tell me, my Dad had a big crush on my mom in high school, and even though my mom did not like my Dad in that way she dated him for two weeks than broke up with him. They continued being very good friends all throughout high school, hanging out with each other and their group of friends, they used to party a lot and do hooligan things with each other. After high school my Dad went off in the army, while my mom’s grades got her into the University of Florida. They did not have cell phones yet, so they wrote letters back and forth to each other while my Dad was away. I am not exactly sure when it happened but my Dad confessed his love for my mom, and said she needed to decide if she wanted him too or if they should go down separate paths. My mom chose my Dad, and they have been dating ever since. They got married in 1994 and had me in 1996. So basically I can make a love story out of my mom and my dad’s lives. Now for my life, I was born on March 17, 1996. When I came out a redhead it was quite a shock to everybody considering nobody else in my family does. The constant question â€Å"where’d you get your beautiful red hair?! † is always asked, and I never know what to say because I have no idea. My mom and my dad are both brunettes, but even though my hair color is different, I look exactly like my mom. I have my dad’s features, his eyes, his nose, his lips, but when it comes to a general look if I stand right next to my mom a lot of people say we pull off being sisters. I lived for two years a lonely child, and though I do not remember it, my mom said I was a really good child, barely cried, barely whined, I was a very content baby. On August 14, 1998, I was no longer an only child; my not so little now brother, Kyle, was born. I adored my baby brother. The pictures show it, when he was growing up I was always with him, holding his hand, giving him my blanket, and sharing everything with him. At one point, though, that changed. When I was in middle school, my personality changed completely, like everybody that is going through the â€Å"awkward stage† at that point, I did not really know how to act or anything. I went to the same school from kindergarten through eighth-grade. It was a small charter school called Island Village Montessori School, and I think that may have something to do with it. I became friends with the people I grew up with, it was a small group where only we hung out with each other. Kind of like the clichà © snobby cliques in the movies. In seventh grade I got my first boyfriend. Erick Gasca, the cutest boy in the school. Everyone loved him, and I am not saying that just to make me look better, everyone had a problem with us dating because I was the awkward red head with braces and he was the tall muscular kid with tan skin and he had such a great personality, he was so funny. I loved being around him, whether we were dating or not. Kyle did not like that, he was always mad at me for bringing Erick home. He would always get mad at me, and whenever Erick and I would do as little as hold hands he was always there to yell at me. So I kind of started hating my brother. One night, Kyle and I got in our worst fight ever. He started telling my parents things to try and get me in trouble, like I was sneaking out at night to see Erick. So I got sick of it and started telling him off, calling him names, so he came up to me and tried to slap me in the face, and I punched him back. We got in this huge fist fight, I was the bigger sibling at the time, so I beat him pretty bad, and my Dad had to pry me off of him for me to stop. After that, I did not talk to him for a long time; I do not really remember Kyle in my life in the rest of my middle school life. I continued dating Erick, and hanging out with my friends, I was in Drama, and played softball. So I had the best life in middle school, I was basically the clichà © popular high school girl you see in the movies, just in middle school. It wasn’t until two weeks after middle school was over I felt as if my life was falling apart, I had been dating Erick for almost two years when he cheated on me. He made out with another girl, and even though it does not sound as bad as it should, I was heartbroken. He was my first and only long-term boyfriend I had. I went in kind of a depression state, where I did not want to get out of bed, I did not want to eat, I stopped hanging out with my friends, and as silly as it is now, I really did love him, even though I was so young. Finally a girl who I played softball with, Megan, came over one day and told me I need to do something, and we started hanging out all the time, and then another girl I played softball with, Rachel, started hanging out with us. We were the ultimate trio. Analysis of morality and accountability in legal s EssayI believe that friendship is important. I am a very independent person that likes to do things on my own, but if I did not have friends to support me through everything that I do, or to pick me up when I am feeling down, I do not know where I would be in life right now. Everybody in my life is doing something different, whether if it is staying at home and being in a band or going to University of South Florida St. Pete to be an artist, we are all there to support each other and catch each other when one person falls. I love that about my life, I am so thankful that I have so many supporters, including my family. I am also not saying you need friends to succeed in life, I just believe that they will help you a lot mentally. To give you advice when you cannot really figure it out for yourself. Also I believe that if you lose friends, you will make new and possibly better ones. Ones that are worth everything in the long run. I am lucky to have a supportive family too, my dad came to every single softball game this season, and a lot of the girls said they have never met a parent like that. My mom is more supportive about my grades, she always calls me to see if I need help with anything academically, probably because she was always the smart one and my dad was always the sporty one; but they make a great combination. My parents teach me a lot, I am more like my dad personality wise, my mom is a talker, and she will sit there and talk for hours. I do not really like talking, I would rather keep things to myself then to just sit there and talk about nonsense, like my dad. My mom also does not approve of tattoos, but my dad has two. I love tattoos, I love the fact that it expresses art in a different way that will last forever, and my dad backs me up on that. I am also more open with my dad then my mom because my mom has a big mouth, and if I tell her not to tell anybody, she does not count her family, which is her sister and mom, and they tell everybody else. And since my dad does not really like to people all that much in the first place I tell him everything, and he does not judge, he just tells me his opinion and moves on. Also that is another trait I picked up from my dad, I respect people’s privacy and will just tell them how I feel and move on. I picked up my music taste from my dad also, he listens to classic rock so I listen to classic rock, which I also started listening to modern rock, and pop punk, and post hardcore. A lot of people do not expect that from me, but it is kind of like my dirty little secret that I listen to post hardcore (which is screamo with singing in it) because I do not look like I do I guess? Though I wear a lot of black shirts I do not wear the dark eyeliner and dye my hair every color on the color wheel. Apparently that is the, â€Å"hardcore,† look. Speaking of that kind of music, my dad also accepts the fact that I like going to concerts, my mom does not like me spending money on them, but I do not think she understands that it is fun to get lost in the music when the band is right in front of you. Along with my friends, music is important to me too. Which they kind of mix because every best friend I have had listened to the same music I did Except for Megan but she dealt with it. Music I think lets you just get away from reality in a sense that nobody else understands. When you can listen to the lyrics and they relate to your life so much that you just listen to them over and over to help you get through any rough time you are going through I think that is what music is about. The rap they play now on the radio, talking about drugs and having sex over and over; I think it is gross. I am not saying that every rap song is like that, but almost every song you hear is, but anyways, the music I listen to does not have anything to do with that. This song called, â€Å"In Between,† is probably the best song I know lyrically, and it got me through a lot of rough times while I was homesick. Some of the lyrics are, â€Å"Up on the mountain, I see down below, It’s easy to lose yourself I know Everybody gets high, everybody gets low, life can be such over dose. † And then it says, â€Å"don’t run away. † So it is saying that even though life gets rough, do not run away from it, turn around a face it and get through it. I love it so much, because I think there is a point in everybody’s life, that they just want to run away from the tough time they are facing. So to sum up who I am, I am a girl that has gone through a lot of friends, but every time I lost friends I gained new and better ones. I learned a lot from my family, and value friendship. My friends and family are huge supporters and do not know what I would do without them, and music is a huge part of my life. I would not trade my life for anything in the world, and I have a lot of life to live still, so I am excited to see what the future holds.