The change and hope of growing up

        Melinda Sordino didn't want to speak. She was quiet, collected and kept to herself. She didn't have any friends and she ate lunch by herself. Melinda just didn't know what to do with herself and with the people around her. But it wasn't always like that. And it didn't stay that way.
        Melinda experienced a realization that what happened to her, what IT (Andy Evans) did to her wasn't okay. And she finally found the words at the end of the book to tell people what happened. She had changed. She learned what she had to say. And what she had to say was that he did what he did, there's no going back and I can't just pretend that it didn't happen. It's hard to just bury experiences under the gravel of your brain. It's hard to just not think about things and then pretend that they didn't happen. Experiences make us who we are. If we forget some or just leave some behind and forget them, we won't know who we really are. And we won't know how to deal with people. 
        As children we tell everybody everything. When I was little I told my mom everything that was going on. What I had done at school, what I had done after school, what kind of homework I had what other people in my class were doing and it would be a play by play of every minute. My little sister who is three goes up to random strangers and tells them "this is my big sister Scarlett". When we're little we are open about everything because that's the only way we know how to be. We don't have anything to hide because we are apart of the innocents. Those who haven't done anything or have become apart of something or pulled away from something. We're just little kids.
        When we get older we start having things to hide. Things that we don't feel like talking about. Things that for the most part should just say to ourselves. Things that shouldn't be shared and should be taken to the grave. But how do we decide what those things are. So many things happen in one lifetime because of all the life that we live. What should be spoken and what should be kept a secret? This is where Melinda got confused. She didn't know what should be said and what shouldn't be said.

Melinda Sordino

        Melinda is the quiet kind. The kind that doesn't really speak much in class or talk to people. But it wasn't always like that. She used to have friends. She used to have her own school clan. People used to not mind being around her or sitting with her. Key word: used. Ever since some party at the end of summer where she called the cops, she has to keep to herself or risk being laughed at, teased and being sneered at. All that happens anyways but at least she can pretend to ignore it if it isn't done right to her face.
        Melinda is also scared of things at times. The thing that she is afraid of the most though is IT. I think the reason she called the cops at the party is IT. But that's just a guess. IT is Andy Evens. He did something to someone, it may have even been her, but whatever it was, it has Melinda shaking in her skin every time she see's him. And there is no one she is willing to talk to about it. Her best friend will barely even look at her due to what happened at the party with her calling the cop's and everything. So, she just stay's quiet.
        Someone might think that a best friend will stick their best friend no matter what. But Rachel pretends that Melinda never existed. And now Melinda has no one to talk to about what happened at the party. She can't really talk to her parents. They're so wrapped up in their own fights and their own problems that they don't even notice Melinda's. They kind of just leave her to her own accord even though she's only 14. Melinda even says "At first, Mom was pretty good at preparing dinners in the morning and sticking them in the fridge, but I knew it would end. I come home to a note that says "Pizza. 555-4892. Small tip this time" ". She has one friend though named Heather. Heather encourages her to try new things like go to prep rally's and try to join this elite group in school called the Martha's. But Melinda is just not that into it. She goes along, but she's not completely there.
        Melinda is also the kind of girl who has had to grow up fast due to family issues. Like I said before, her parents are always fighting. And according to Melinda, she herself was the only thing keeping them together. Because of those fights  they don't really pay attention to Melinda's life. And her mom get's way caught up in her work. It was only a few years before when her and her mom and dad went apple picking and she remembers "The sun warmed my hair, and a wind pushed my mother into my fathers arms, and all the apple picking parents and children smiled for a long long minute". It's like in just those few years, she and her parents have become different people. A change took place that changed her to the person she is now. And I hate the fact that this new person, has to fend for herself all by herself.           

Cooking, Cleaning and Sewing

        Evie is just an ordinary girl in the 1950's. She has a step-father (who she likes to think of as her father) and she has a mother, both of whom love her very much. But in What I Saw And How I Lied by Judy Blundell Evie turns out to be anything but normal. She gets caught up in a complicated web of lies, some of them started by herself and and she doesn't know what to do. But as a girl, she really shouldn't be doing anything because girls in the 1950's only cooked, cleaned and sewed.
        Throughout the book women are portrayed as people who have and need to do anything to please their husbands. During world war 2, it was the job of the women to save a mans place. Not take it, but hold it, like a bookmark. And when the men got back from the war it was their job to make their home as comfy as it could be. No matter what it took. For Evie and her family, that meant not talking about the war and any feelings they had about it had to be kept to themselves. It was her mothers job to cook, clean and sew the family back together. As if the war hadn't happened. Her mother even had to quit her job so men coming back could have a place to work. I think that was extremely unfair.
        Women are looked at as weaklings. People who needed someone else to take care of them. Someone to shield them from the wrong in the world. Well I think that women can do that perfectly fine all by themselves. When Evie was born, Evie's mom didn't have a husband, back then it was a sin to do that. But she kept her head held high and she plowed through. And now she has this wonderful husband and a beautiful daughter. What else could she ask for besides a loving family?
        Women today are no longer looked at as a lower species, but there is still sexism out there. Some women think that the guy has to ask out the girl and that he has to but her dinner and not the other way around. But I say that it's ridiculous. Any girl who sets her mind to it can take care of herself. I once knew this women who had to take care of two children all by herself. And she did. Now she's a great success and so are her kids. It's easy, people just have to try.       

R+J The Movie

        One of the things that really popped out at me in the movie was the setting. This book was set the in the Elizabethan Era. That's the 1600's. Most people were poor, the place was filled with violence, religion was huge and people openly carried around arms. It's kind of hard to make that modern. But Baz Luhrmann did. In fact, at the time he was making the movie, similar things were happening in Mexico. So off to Mexico they went. I liked how Baz Luhrmann didn't just recreate the Elizabethan Era, but used real life happenings as his setting. By doing that, he made the movie all the more real.
        Even the filming was real. In the scene where Mercutio died they were filming in a real hurricane. And there were others just like it that delayed filming for a while. People were also getting sick. Lurhmann was out for a week, shutting down all filming due to a tempature of 110. The head of hair and make-up was kidnapped and was only released on the payment of 300 dollars. And when  he was released, he was thrown out of a car. Basically, filming took a while.
        Another thing that stood out was how everything looked. Catherine Martin had a challenge in which she had to give you a time that had no date. A place that would be on the tip of your tongue, but you wouldn't be able to say what it is. "It's a celebration of the eclecticism of urbanism. A celebration of the neon sign, if you like. The kitsch, vibrant, exciting, edgy."
        Finally, the thing that I loved the most was the music. It really described what the mood was in the movie. The music was a huge mix of different kinds of songs including pop, orchestral arrangements of those songs and hymn-like treatments of dance-floor hits. When the mood was sad there was slow opera music. When the mood was like a cliff hanger there was fast music. The music was telling you how to feel and I loved it. 
             

Saving Juliet

        One thing that really stood out to me in this movie was the relationship between Juliet and her parents. They had no idea what she wanted or how she wanted to live her life. They arranged her marriage to Paris and when she didn't want to marry him, her dad nearly beat her. But in the end he didn't because he didn't want to mark body before the wedding.
         In the book Saving Juliet her mother understands Juliet in the end and let's her go off with Romeo. But in the original and the movie, it's Lady and Lord Capulets hate of the Montague's that drives them to kill themselves. I think that in a parent child relationship it's important to let your child explore the world. And that if you don't trust your child to make the right choices and you make all their choices for them, then they will never grow or learn about how to make those right choices.
        In the book Burned in the House Of Night series by Kristen and P.C. Cast, a character named Stevie Rai ends up saving someone who is evil. But it's not that person that's evil, it's their father. He is just living in his fathers shadow. I feel like Juliet and all those before her had grown up to live in the hate of the Montague's. None of them probably know who the Montague's really are. But none of them get the chance to know because they were taught as little children to hate them. It's not something that can be helped. As a baby if you are taught something and you learn it repeatedly, then it will stick with you forever.
        In order for things to change, a generation has to change And that's what happened with Romeo and Juliet. They learned to love each other, and through their death, the feud was put to an end. But they shouldn't have had to have died. They probably don't even remember what the feud was about. And that is just sad.     

Katniss Everdeen

        In Mockingjay By Suzanne Collins, Katniss is the girl on fire. And she doesn't let that fire go out no matter what happens. In the book she has some rough times; she refuses to speak or even move, she refuses to follow the schedule and would rather hide from the world and she refuses to do things other want her to and again would rather just hide. But even after all that, she pulls through. She gets back on her feet and try's again. And that's one of my favorite qualities of Katniss Everdeen.  
        No matter what, it's important to strive to do your best and never give up on anything. In The Hunger Games Katniss doesn't give up once. She keeps going. And she doesn't let her fear get the best of her. If you just give up on the first try, you will never know what might of happened and you will never get to find out. When ever I get stuck on something, whether it be trying to fit a bead with a really small hole on to a string or a really complicated math problem, I stick through it until I see it through. And that's always the best thing to do.
        With a finished necklace or a finished math problem you can be proud of your work. And then you can show it off. And you can say "yeah, that' right, I did it". Ask yourself "Do I tend to leave things unfinished?". And if you do, you should try to fix it.