Review Of Tess's Blog Post

    I read Tess's blog post on an article about internet security and cyberbullying. I really liked the way she organized her post, and especially her thoughts on the topic. I felt like I could connect and relate to her post in many ways.
     When Tess said "I know several websites, such as Omegle and ask.fm, where people are allowed to chat and ask people questions without knowing at all who they are, " I immediatley connected with her. I used to have an Ask.fm, a site where people can post anonymously on your wall. People in school were using it as a site to bully others. Thankfully, I was never bulled, but however, a "twenty year old man from India," named "Isaah," began sexually harassing me. Despite my efforts, and blocking him from the continuous new accounts he and I both made, he always found me somehow. Sick of being creeped out, I deleted my Ask.Fm. 
     I think that Tess stated perfectly how often anonymous bullying occurs, and what can happen when it does occur. Tess did a great job making sure people could retate to the article, and post itself. 

Good job, Tess!! :)

The Secret Life Of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

     I am currently reading "The Secret Life Of Bees," by Sue Monk Kidd. It's about a white girl named Lily in the 1960s who, along with her black housemaid, Rosaleen, in search of a connection to Lily's dead mother, travel to Tibourn, SC, where they end up living with three black beekeeping women. Lily is caught up in their culture, and often finds herself being judged for being white.
    In the American 1960s, the civil rights acts were going on, and racism against those not white were often discriminated against. However, in her situation, Lily feels like the roles have been reversed. June Boatwright, one of the beekeepers, hates Lily because she is white. The first thing anyone on the farm says to Lily is a remark about how she was white. Lily wasn't allowed to take part in the weekly religious ceremony because of her color.
     I think it is acceptable for the Boatwrights to be wary of Lily with what was going on in the world in that time period, but not acceptable for them to discriminate against her because of it.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

    I am currently reading "Beautiful Creatures" by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. It is a paranormal love story taking place in the deep south. All of the characters except for Ethan (the main character), the Ravenwood-Duchannes family, and his Librarian Aunt Marian, seem to be stereotypical southerners; uneducated, confederate, religious finatics. They speak in "yalls" and southern drawls, and are portrayed as stupid and bad.
    I think it was unfair of the authors to portray all southerners this way. Not everyone coming from the South this way, and Ethan is the only southerner in the book (although he has lived in Gatlin his whole life) who does not have a drawl.
    Why did Garcia and Stohl choose to make every Southern character stupid and stereotyped?

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

     I am currently reading book 2 in the Chemical Garden series, Fever, by Lauren DeStefano.
Having escaped her forced polygamous marriage (and the oppression of her terrifying father-in-law, Housemaster Vaughn), Rhine and her former attendant and lover Gabriel set for Manhattan to find Rowan, Rhine's brother. However, on the way, they are kidnapped into a 'scarlet district,' or a prostitution den. They face horrors they could never imagine. When they escape, they find that Rhine's former home is burned down, and her brother is gone. Throughout the journey, Rhine and Gabriel seem to be growing further and further apart.
     Their relationship started out in secret, with Rhine basically a princess, and Gabriel her servant. They hardly got to see each other- which was what made their love exciting and exhilarating. But when they escaped, they were able to see more of each other, different and deeper sides that might have changed their opinions of one another.
     The experiences along the way could have also changed their opinions. When in the prostitution den, Madame, the owner, didn't want to "sell" Rhine to other men, so she made Rhine and Gabriel be intimate and do things as a show for men for money, or else she would shoot them both. Gabriel also got addicted to Angel's Blood, a drug, and he said very rude things to Rhine when on it. The experiences they went through also drew them apart.