True Love VS Youthful Rashness

Shakespeare's  Romeo and Juliet is a famous play of comedy and tragedy based on love. Two young teenagers, Romeo and Juliet, come from two rival families that are enemies and hated each other for a long time. These teenagers, Romeo, a Montegue, and Juliet, a Capulet,  fall in love and get married. They were destined to be together but fate had some other decision. When Romeo is banished from Verona, Juliet's parents force her to marry Paris, the Prince's kinsman. To prevent this marriage, Juliet fakes her death with the help of Friar Lawrence in hopes of Romeo and Juliet to be together. Unfortunately Romeo doesn't get the the message, believing that Juliet is actually dead, drinks poison. Juliet, on the other hand, waking up to see her beloved Romeo dead, kills herself with Romeo's dragger, dying in the arms of  her love. Their heartbreaking death put an end to their parent's strife. However the big question is is Romeo and Juliet's love true love or youthful rashness? I believe in some ways, it was true love but their love was taken in rash.

Romeo and Juliet's love was true love in many ways. For example, in act 2 scene 6 lines 6-8 it says, "Do thou but close our hands with holy words, Then love-devouring death do what he dare; It is enough I may call her mine." This shows that all Romeo wishes for is to get married with Juliet and that he doesn't care about any obstacles that come in their way. In addition, it conveys how much Romeo loves Juliet to be able to face and sacrifice everything, including forgetting his name. Both are willing to love each other despite the fact that they are suppose to be enemies. Also after the party where they first met, Romeo risked his life just to see Juliet again. In act 2, scene 2, lines 63-65, Juliet says, "The orchard walls are high and hard to climb, And the place death, considering who thou art, If any of my kinsmen are no stop to me." followed by lines 66-67, Romeo says, "With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls, For stony limits cannot hold love out." This shows that Romeo went through many obstacles just to see his true love. And despite the fact that he may get caught, he decide to risk it. Another thing to keep in mind was that Romeo and Juliet practically died for each other. They couldn't bear to be separated. Nor their parent's strife or death itself could not separate them. Love is truly magical.

Romeo and Juliet also conveyed youthful rashness. For example, in act 2, scene 3, line 93, Romeo says, "Let's get out of here. I'm in a rush," after speaking with Friar Lawrence of Romeo and Juliet's marriage. First of all, in first sight Romeo and Juliet feel in love and in that same night they decided to get married. Two people can't fall in love so quick. They first have to get to know each other well. Secondly, deciding to get married on the first day you met your lover, conveys youthful rashness. Romeo and Juliet are rushing things without waiting to think about all the consequences along with it and how they would deal with their families. Moreover, when Friar Lawrence ask about Rosaline, Romeo replies in act 2, scene 3, lines 45-46, "With Rosaline, my ghostly Father? No. I have forgot that name and that name's woe." This shows that Romeo forgot about Rosaline really fast. Just before coming to the party, he was weeping of the sorrow Rosaline had caused him. Another thing to consider is that Romeo and Juliet are not adults yet, let alone 18 years of age.In fact, they're still young teenagers; therefore their brains haven't developed completely. They have not matured yet, so how can they truly be in love?

Overall, deciding if Romeo and Juliet was true love or youthful rashness is a difficult to choose. However, by analyzing all the evidence, it does prove that their love was true love, just taken in a rashful way. Love does conquer all in the end. This debate of true love vs youthful rashfulness led readers to critically analyze and understand deeper and meanigfully of the play. 

Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano

          When you're life is so miserable and hopeless, you just have one dream. To escape the torture. But how would you feel when suddenly one more thing is added to your life to make it more miserable? Devastated? Heartbroken? Inconsolable? Maybe all these emotions all together. Wouldn't these emotions affect your personality as well as others around you? Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano is about a girl, who was named Nearly at birth just because she nearly survived and her mom didn't have a name in mind; but her bestfriend, Jeremy, later makes up the name Leigh to make her get rid of her insecurity. On top of a strange name, her father left her and her mom alone to be independent and live by themselves. However this was not all. Nearly is very ambitous and she tries her best to receive the scholarship that is like a ticket for her to escape her horrible life. Soon students from her school  gets murdered brutally and all the exidence points at Nearly as the main top suspect. Nearly is on the verge of getting arrested and no matter how hard she tries to save the innocent lives of the students, she fails. Nearly's personality affect other characters in many ways.
          No matter what, Nearly is a person full of determination, hope, kindness and stubborness. Everyone thinks of Nearly as a quiet girl who is very intelligent. Ironically Nearly's personality is what gets her in trouble and affects other characters in a negative way. For example, everyday Nearly reads the personal ads found in the newspaper, in hopes of some clue to find her father. But oneday when Nearly noticed an unusual ad that seemed to have some connection with the first victim, she decides to tell a police detective about her discovery. When the police detective ask Nearly why she came, the text says, "Telling someone seemed like the right thing to do, that's all." (Page 72) Despite her efforts of trying to help the police solve the case, the police detective, Nicholson, became more suspectful of her. Nearly's personality of trying to do the right thing caused Nicholson have someone to spy on her and make her feel more insecure. Nicholson now suspects Nearly as the murderer of the victims. Another way Nearly's personality affects other characters is by getting them annoyed. For instance, when Jeremy finds out that Nearly has been reading the personal ads to look for her dad, it says, "Jeremy shook his head. "It's beein five years, Leigh. Are you ever going to just let it go?" "I can't. What if he comes back?" "He's not coming back, and you're wasting your life waiting for him..." (Page 151) Although its been many years, Nearly is still hopeful about her father's return. However Nearly's hope and determination annoys her bestfriend, Jeremy. Jeremy really cares about Nearly and in the end, doesn't want her feelings to get hurt. It makes Jeremy sad to watch his bestfriend hang on to a hopeless dream. And finally when Teddy, a student Nearly tutors, come to talk to Nearly, he says, "Mrs. Smallwood is taking us to the Smithsonia next Friday. I asked if I could bring a date, but she said it's just for the special ed kids." He blinked both eyes in lieu of a wink. "I think you're special, but she says you can't go." I ruffled Teddy's hair, soaking him up." (Page 95) Although Teddy is a special ed student, Nearly still treats him as equal as all the other kids. She doesn't discriminate him among her other friends. She believes he's a special person in her heart. This side of Nearly's personality makes everyone love her, trust her and become friends with her. All in all, Nearly's personality affects people in ways that can make their day happy or in ways that can start suspect or annoyance.
           In conclusion, the main character's personality affect other characters in various ways. I learned that your personality could have a big or small impact on someone's life. It can either save them or at least bring a smile to their day. But sometimes it can hurt their feelings. Therefore, we should always be careful about how we act. We have to learn to control our emotions in order to have a good personality. Everyone should read this book. It's a "brilliantly plotted murder mystery with a math/science twist."

Immigration: Obama vs. Congress

          The article, "Immigration: Obama vs. Congress" by Patricia Smith, is about the controversy of President Obama's executive order which protect 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation and allows them to work legally in the U.S. for the first time. There are 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States from all over the world, and every time they're out in the streets they walk in fear of deportation. While the immigrants cheer, the Republicans are outraged because they believe the president abused his authority by passing the executive order without consent from Congress. Democrats believe in legalizing the people who came to U.S. illegally, but the Republicans, on the other hand, work to tighten border security, with some already talking about increasing deportation. Throughout the article, the author  talks about both sides of the argument, however, the author seems to lean more towards the fact that the executive order was great. 

          The author clearly believes that President Obama did the right thing to pass the executive order.The author portrays her views by using narratives from immigrants stating their opinions/ feelings. One of the immigrant, Paola Fernandez, who came to the U.S. illegally from Mexico at age 4, says, "We've been here close to 25 years. On a very personal level, this is a very amazing moment." This shows that the immigrants were very happy. Many of these immigrants came to America in desperate hopes of earning money for their family back in their national country; For many years, some of these immigrants weren't able to see their families. Throughout the article, the author wants me and other readers to feel the sadness and fear the immigrants feel of getting deported and how content they feel about the executive order. 

          Overall, I believe President Obama did the right thing to issue an executive order protecting undocumented immigrants. Immigrants are part of our society; they're shopping, working, helping and even could be our friends or relatives. The United States is believed to be a safe place to live in, so the immigrants should not have to live in fear. Besides, many years ago, if people from other countries came to settle in America even with Native Americans already living there, why should we (Americans) have a problem with immigrants coming to our country? In this article, I realized that in the U.S. there are many undocumented immigrants and that they constantly live in fear of getting deported. This is yet another step to make America a better place for everyone, regardless of race, color or country of origin, to live in peace.