Hannah Baker just can’t seem to get the thought of suicide of her mind. Ever since this gigantic chain of reactions started, everything has snowballed into one big fiasco. Coping with the rumours, ignorance, and her own self destruction, Hannah is on the road that know one wants to be travelling. Reality and the surreal are clashing together and soon this distraught teenager can’t deal with it any longer. Ending her life, Hannah leaves 13 tapes to be mailed anonymously. In these tapes are 13 reasons why Hannah committed suicide: all of these reasons being 13 people who played a serious part in her death.
Clay Evans recieves a mysterious shoebox and is shocked at the message lying within Hannah’s tapes. He begins to realize what caused her death, and how much pain she endured when she moved here just 4 years earlier. Rumours and snickering began to haunt Hannah the day she moved to her new hometown. Rumours turned into “supposed truths” in which Hannah couldn’t defend herself against. As the lies built up, Hannah found herself in a devastating situation. Finally, she made the choice to end her life.
We see ourselves in a different light than others see us. Sometimes, it is positive and sometimes, it is negative. So why is it that we see oruselves differently than others? Mostly I believe it depends on how much self confidence we have. No matter how bad it gets and how hard people try to bring us down, if we have a high sense of self confidence, we can get through anything. No one can tell us that we won’t accomplish our dreams and they certainly cannot tell us who we are or what we should be like.
Author Jay Asher captures the personality of a teenage girl going through high school drama precicly as I see it. We try and try to be who we want to be, but with todays society it is impossible to know our true self identity. Media, social situations, and the internet greatly contribute to the self image issues girls face. Hannah’s decision to commit suicide was based on the fact that she couldn’t even love herself any longer.
If no one else saw worth in her, why should Hannah believe that she had any? Tired of fighting for the correct answer of this question, Hannah finally decided it was time to make a huge impact – one that would change a significant amount of peoples lives; and end hers. But while I read this book, I realised that there never is a correct answer to this question. Any decision we make involves knowledge, possibly some research, and non biased thinking. But it all comes back to self worth and self confidence. If we can’t believe in ourselves how are we supposed to stand up for what we think is right? Making it through that hardships in life is all about holding your head up high and sticking to our values.
Emotion effects of death are common in everyone we has to go through the experience. Hannah’s “thirteen reasons” were forced to suffer even after her death. But the tapes taught them valuable life lessons that now are making them see why someone might feel worthless and alone. They are now recognising the snowball effect even before it begins. If we could all simply know when a decision that we make would affect someone for their entire lives maybe we would think twice before acting.
My internal well-being can be affected by several different aspects. I find that if i’m eating healthier, excersizing regularly, and am hardly experiencing any “high school” drama, that I typically tend to feel better and happier with myself. The relationships that I share with people generally determine my internal well-being. If I am fighting with someone close to me I find myself extremely down, and if things are going great, I am in an excellent mood. Emotions need to be balanced in order to fulfil our well-being. Mixed emotions, anger, sadness, fear, anxiety and many more undesirable emotions cause me to slacken in my other areas that affect my well-being such as diet, exercize, and intellectual aspects. I might find myself not eating healthy or having no motivation in school or sports. Internal well-being to me, is the source of how we choose to live. It is my responsibility to make the best of my life in order to accomplish a positive attitude and positive well-being.
Gender determines some every day factors and issues that we deal with today. Although we have come a long way from the past, it seems that we still have to face gender discrimination. Whether it’s in the workplace, at school, or out on the streets, which ever way we turn it is in our faces. To me, this is a very important issue that seems to get squashed every time someone brings it up in our justice system. This especially is for women.
Since the beginning of time, man has ruled – man has been in power, and women just simply have to “obey man”. Even evidence from the bible suggests that women were about as useful as dirt back in the day. I’ll have to admit, gender inequality has come a long way since biblical times. Today the most common issue that women face is involved with the workplace. Constantly I hear comments such as, “Women aren’t as strong”, “Men can do it better”, and “Let a man do it, you’ll do it wrong”. Shaking it off is something we all have to do, but sometimes I find that this really does eventually get to me.
Sometimes men are better than women when it comes to a hard job. But what about all those jobs that women do? They might seem insignificant to some, but to me it means quite a bit. We are much better when it comes to cosmetics, hair dressing, and maybe even nursing. Not saying that men can’t do these jobs, because they do every day. But women are the majority in these businesses and workplaces.
If we grow up around discrimination, it is easy to believe and easy to fall into carrying it on. When I go to school, I hear lots of guys tell me that i’m not good enough to do something that they do. Yet, I am on student council, I play hockey and soccer, and I achieve marks well into the 80’s and 90’s. Women deserve more appreciation for everything they can do, not what they can’t. As for the men that take on something that a woman would normally do.
Inequality to me is something that just shouldn’t exist, especially among genders. We would never look down upon someone in society because of their color or their class. And if you object to that statement, then maybe our society isn’t as refined as it should be. Everyone in society should be considered equal, and equality should be considered something we all believe in.
The first thing I think of when I imagine a hero is the fluttering big red cape, their hands on hips, a mystified yet somehow terrifying expression strewn across their face, and bright colored tights. But is this truly the face of a hero? I don’t think so. My hero is even better – she’d put those guys to shame without any effort. My mom may have the hands on her hips, mystified yet somehow terrifying expression, and even tights but she doesn’t need the billowing red cape on her back to make her my hero. With her ability to wipe away tears, turn any house into a spotless clean home, make amazing meals, and somehow still tend to her 5 day-a-week job at the bank, I’d definitely call my mom: Super Mom. 
Saving the day is a typical task for my mom. I wouldn’t call it a “responsibility”, because she is always doing things out of the goodness of her heart. Society typically stereotypes our moms to be the women who stays at home, cleans the house and tells us what to do. My mom is so much more than that. Whether I ask her to make my lunch or pick me up at 2 in the morning, she is always willing to do it. Although one task may seem slightly easier than another I know that she deserves equal praise each time. The definition of a hero is as follows, “a being of godlike prowess and beneficence who often came to be honored as a divinity.” Some may think I’m jumping off the deep end when I say this, but my mom seems to fit this definition perfectly. She deserves the absolute best from her family and friends after everything she has done for them.
The qualities that my mom possesses, amaze me every day. She is a kind, caring, angelic person who is my role model. At age three I would put on my mom’s shoes, walking around the house and yell, “Look mom, I’m you!” Today I still feel like dressing up in my mom’s shoes and saying the same line. The only problem is, we both have the same shoe size and I don’t think she’d find it quite as cute. Whether we’re mistaken for sisters, or I am asked if I am her mom, I feel like the relationship I share with this hero is something I wouldn’t trade for the world.
Through pain and suffering or joy and happiness, we can find ourselves facing a variety of difficult situations. We are often forced to make decisions that we don’t necessarily want to make but is in our best interest to do so. Torn in two, we must ponder what will be ideal for us and the people who we are involved with. In the book, “The Breakup Bible”, a young girl named Jen Lewis is faced with the most difficult decision she had encountered so far. Her options consist of staying miserable and only thinking of her long lost boyfriend who broke up with her, or taking the courage to overcome the obstacle that God has put upon her. Now it is up to Jen to find the strength within her and search for a light at the end of the dark hallway. 
The author of “The Breakup Bible”, Melissa Kantor, expresses the life of a teenager perfectly. She talks easily about the struggles of high school relationships and how it makes you feel when you can’t quite find the strength to pick yourself back up again and carry on to find a ray of light – a ray of hope. I have found myself stuck in these sorts of situations many times. When a relationship ends for me, I tend to close myself off from the world and drown myself in my own sadness. After this happened a couple of times, I realized I cannot let someone impact my life so greatly that I need to put myself down. My mistakes have taught me that strength in the darkest times comes from within myself. The light I desperately searched for has been there all along. All it took was realization that I needed to love myself before I could love anyone else.
After many trial and error situations, I am now able to keep that ray of light with me always. Of course there are times when it begins to slip, but I know that within myself I will always have that light. Through patience the darkness will pass and light will rain over me when morning comes. It is my responsibility to get through the blindness the dark brings on. I wrote a poem called Secrets this semester in english. This poem relates to how love can be the destroyer and creator of all relationships. I think that Jen Lewis might have had similar feelings when she went through her breakup. Things always seem hard at first, but they can only get better from there. We can’t allow certain people to cloud our outlook on what life has to offer.
Thinking back to historical times, I recall the story of Julius Caesar. Within this story there were two different philosophies. In relation to our modern world today we can see that sometimes we still search for the same beliefs as the origins of Stoics and Epicureans. These people are separated by their beliefs and are almost afraid of one another’s philosophies. While one likes to party because their life will soon be over, the other lives in misery looking forward to their “afterlife”. Jen Lewis can be compared to a Stoic follower because she patiently waits for the time when her “afterlife” will begin. In other words she can then start from scratch and promise herself to live in the surrounding light she finds.
Many people panic when the darkness enters their lives. When a tragedy occurs in a family or when a disaster strikes, people are filled with so many feelings that their light disappears until they are able to decipher how to deal with the situation. Like in “The Breakup Bible”, Jen finds it hard to let her boyfriend go because she holds on to hope and will not face reality. However once she gets all her feelings sorted out she knows where the light is and has a map drawn straight to it. All it takes for her to get back on the right path is to believe in herself. Jen knew that she had always loved writing for her school paper, so when the opportunity comes, she takes initiative and applies for an internship with the New York Times.
Reality brings on the truth behind how to deal with real emotions. Sometimes we cannot know what “real” pain is until we lose a loved one or go through a breakup. Emotions tend to get in the way of our decision making. Melissa Kantor demonstrates the struggles of clashing feelings and decisions when Jen cannot decide if she wants to turn to the breakup bible or if she wants to try and win her sweetheart back. But soon Jen realizes what is worth fighting for and what is not. She knows that she cannot keep fighting a lost battle, so she turns to the one she knows she can win: the battle of self discovery and self love. Jen values her family and friends most and knows that without them she cannot find her light. Taking action, Jen reads the breakup bible and soon finds herself on the road to recovery, with that light growing larger every day.
I admire how Melissa Kantor proves that we alone can do anything that we set our minds too. Kantor expresses the attitude that determination is rewarding and that before we make any decisions, we have to consider our values and beliefs. Anyone can take away our material possessions and even our freedom; but the one thing no one can take is our values and beliefs. The faith within us will hold strong if we can just believe in ourselves. This brings me back to being able to find your own light. While some people will search and search, those who look hard enough and continue to have faith in their values and beliefs can find that light easily.
This year I attended the 2009 ASLC (Alberta Student Leadership Conference). I had a blast learning about a variety of ways to be a great leader. One of the things my group did in order to make our world a better place was write letters to soldiers who are overseas fighting in Afghanistan. Our good deed that we did made me feel like I could make a small difference in someone’s life. Although I don’t know the soldier that I wrote too, I knew what he was fighting for: our freedom. At first I didn’t think 
that I would have much to write about but in the end I had over a page written. This good deed put a smile on my face and I know all the other teens attending the conference enjoyed it also.
The city-state of Rome had been known as a democratic republic for just about 500 years when Julius Caesar announced to the Senate that he wanted to become king. Many were unhappy about this sudden decision and shortly after, Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators led by Brutus and Cassius. But why were the people unhappy? 
Most of the citizens of Rome were referred to as plebs. The plebs were not only poor, but they had few rights. Because they were destined to be unhappy, the plebs followed the philosophy of stoicism. Stoic people believed that everything happened because of reason. And because of reason, something could come from nothing, God could exist, and we have an immortal soul – but there was no free will. The stoics thought that everything was made up of tiny atoms. These atoms would always exist and never actually disappear; they could only break down and attach themselves to other atoms. This formed everything that exists on earth as the cycle just keeps repeating itself.
Now the plebs generally were below the patricians. This group of people were known as the upper class citizens and senates of Rome. Most patricians believed in the epicurean philosophy. This philosophy thought very differently than stoicism. Where instead of reason, the epicureans believed in chance or change. The universe had just always been here by chance, there was no god, and no immortal soul. But these people did believe in free will. The epicureans liked to make themselves happy because they knew one day they wouldn’t have their soul any longer. I guess you could refer to these people as the ones who liked to “party” in Rome. They wanted to “excite” their molecules as much as possible to make something of their lives.
You would think that the plebs would want to follow Pompey, who was also a stoic. But the epicurean man named Caesar was much more appealing to them. Caesar had a lot to offer to all of his people. The assassins went after Caesar because he knew they would be a threat to their democratic system where really, they held the power. If I was living back in ancient Rome, I think I would have chosen to be a stoic person. The stoic people had something to believe in and look forward too. Without this important mark on history, I think that our opinion on government and religion would be very different today.
“His heart was ice.” 
This metaphor is used to describe how someone can be very in-passionate. The metaphor allows you to imagine a heart that is freezing cold and glazed over, while its true meaning is the lack of passion the man has.
I find myself to be a very diverse person. I love to read and write, but yet I love to play almost every sport imaginable. Without my sports I don’t think I could be nearly as happy as I am. They allow me to take some time for myself and show my competitive side. I also love knowing that I am staying healthy and keeping in shape. My favorite sport that I play would have to be volleyball or hockey. It is a tie between the two because I am good at volleyball, but I find hockey to be both a pysical and mental challenge for myself. 
School to me is very important because one day I hope to be a paramedic doctor, pharmacist or speech-pathologist. Although many days I fight myself on whether or not I want to go, I know in the end it will be worth it. I push myself to my best academic level in order to acheive good grades. I love social class and phys ed the best. Both of these subjects are taught by my favorite teacher and in social I have the most fun learning abotu new topics.
Most people tell me I am a very stubborn person and refuse to move on anything I stand for. I like to call it self confidence in my decisions, but I suppose I could also call it stubborness! I like to think I am a friendly person, and am always willing to help someone when they need it. I have a drive in me to always finish something and I guess I could say I admire that about me.
Michel brings a sense of mystery to lots of her poetry posted in her blog. I like to read her poems because they keep me guessing and wanting to read more. Catching the reader’s attention is very important and she is able to demonstrate this very well. My favorite thing about Michel’s poetry is that she uses lots of detail in every line. I am able to stir up an image in my mind and imagine how I think the end of the poem will play out. The amount of imagery may be a little much, and sometimes I find my brain scrambling to keep up with every new desription given, but it also allows my imagination to wonder within each line. There is never a time when my mind goes blank while I read Michel’s poetry.
My favorite poem of Michel’s is Silence Speaks Louder Than Words. This piece seems truly professional to me. When I read the poem it defers a number of different meanings. I will read it over and over, each time coming up with a new image in my head and a new meaning in my mind. I think that Michel is an excellent poet, and I love to read her entries every time there is a new one. Her writing is very diverse and always captures my attention from start to finish.
