The Sky is Everywhere

This week I started to read a book about a girl who is in grief after her sister passed away. The book is called "The Sky is Everywhere". Lennie's sister fell dead one day, with no warnings at all. Lennie and her sister Bailey were very close, and losing her was very tragic. Lennie and Bailey lived with their grandma and uncle. Their mother had left them at a young age, and they only had each other. Losing Bailey was a big challenge in Lennie's life. She wanted to disappear into the wind. Everyone was trying to give her and her family their condolences, but she just wanted to be left alone. "I don't want to take the roads home, don't want to risk seeing anyone from school, especially Sarah, who informed me that while I've been in hiding, she's been reading up on loss and according to all the experts, it's time for me up talk about what I'm going through—but she, and the experts, and Gram, for that matter, don't get it." She feels as if her world has ended, and no one understands, but there is one person who does. Toby. The boy Bailey was dating before she passed away. He as well as Lennie, were going through a really tough time. After a while of not knowing anything about him, he shows up at their home. He was the only one to know how she truly felt. "I want to thank hi for not making me say a word, and getting it all the same, but I just remain silent as the sun pours hey and light, as if from a pitcher, all over our bewildered heads." Lennie knew her grandmother and uncle were also in deep despair, but she felt like Toby was the only one to understand. Lennie then starts to develop something more than the feeling of friendship, but less than love. She can't explain it to herself. She feels guilty and scolds herself for it, but she doesn't want to stop what she feels. Will this feeling affect everything between her and Toby? 

The genre of this book would definitely be, teen fiction or realistic fiction. Such tragedy like losing a family member could happen to anyone, and feeling isolated and alone is common if the person you lost was close. Lennie wishes people understood why she wants to be hidden, but people want to desperately help her. "Gram raises her hands in distress, and I go back to scibbling a poem I'm the margin of Wuthering Heights. I'm huddled into the corner of the couch. I've no use for talking, would just as soon store paper clips in my mouth." Lennie wanted everyone to back off, but people just kept trying to get her to open up. In real life, some people keep their feeling to themselves, because they feel as if no one will ever understand. Personally, realistic fiction and teen fiction combined are very interesting. When those to genres are put together you get to see either the pain one goes through in tough situations, or the way people deals with their problems. These genres show you many different perspectives from possibly the same problem. In "The Sky is Everywhere", we are showed how Lennie deals with the loss of her sister. But in other books, the characters may not react the same way. That is the mystery that realistic fiction and teen fiction hold. You never know how something plays out, and your life can just take an unexpected turn. 

Marganilized Native Americans

For many years, Native American's were pushed aside. People who were ignorant and judgmental, thought of them as reckless and violent. The pushing away went as far as taking the children of the Native Americans and sending them away to schools. At the schools kids were prohibited from being themselves, any Native American tradition, food, or language, was taken from them forcefully. Ota Kte was part of the first school for Native Americans. They stripped him of his nature. "His long hair was cut short. His leggings and moccasins were taken away, replaced by an itchy wool uniform and black leather boots that squeaked with every step." He felt like he wasn't himself anymore, he felt lost. He no longer could openly be himself. Everything started to effect the children in the boarding schools. In his school- the first one built for the stripping of Native culture -Carlisle, the children started to rebel against the teachers and staff. "Two girls tried to set their dormitory on fire. Others tried to run away." Children were becoming tired of the cruelty, they began to try and escape it all. It wasn't easy. The kid tried many times to get help but no one would listen. The people who did this to them thought that it was the best.

The essay was to describe the new life of the tribes. She talked about how Native Americans were not reckless beast, but in fact civilized people. She showed that there aren't many Native Americans around today, but they still keep their traditions. In her reservations people tried everything they could to keep the Native American spirit going. Shanice explains it's hard to Native American out in the open world, because there aren't many left. Now she is in college and it's rare to find someone like her. Although her ancestors past has been difficult, she doesn't let it affect her negatively. On the contrary, she embraced the past and showed that Native Americans are strong together. Never were they a danger to anyone. They were just different from everyone else. She holds no resentment to the past, she saw that people were just close minded. Her essay showed that Native Americans are different in their own ways, but that they are still normal everyday people.