It’s Kind of a Funny Story Blog Post

SPOILER ALERT!!!

It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini is an intriguing book about Craig, a stressed out New York City high school-er and his experience in a mental hospital. Craig suffers from teenage depression because of all the stress he’s experiencing at his school, “Executive Pre-Professional High School”, a fictional high school in the book. Though it’s fictional, it’s quite similar to many high schools in New York City. Craig has been yearning to get into Executive Pre-Professional since the seventh grade, when he began studying like crazy to pass the entrance exam. He studied for hours every night and barely made any time for anything other than studying. He passed the exam with a perfect score, but when he got to school, he realized he wasn’t nearly as smart as the other students there. This book had a clear message; that you need to be the best person you can be. You are good enough for anything, and if you find that you need to change yourself for something (like changing your life to study everyday for two years just to pass an entrance exam) it’s not worth your time and might end up hurting you. However, I also found hints at another message directed towards the educational system that what they’re demanding of their students might be hurting them instead of helping them.

            What Craig did to get into his school was drastic, but it’s not too far from what some students do to get into the high schools of their dreams. Some students have private test prep tutoring, go to test prep classes at school, buy test prep books to do at home, get private coaching for auditions, etc. just to nail their test, audition, or interview. It seems extreme to someone who’s not used to it, but it’s pretty normal to someone applying to high schools in any major city. This winter I went through the high school process myself, and it really was stressful and extensively thorough. There’s a lot you have to do, and as a 13/14 year old, it can really take a toll on you. You doubt yourself a lot, and with the mindset that your high school can determine the rest of your life that’s implied by many of the adults surrounding you, it’s easy to become obsessed with the high school process. This being said, the majority of kids don’t get so depressed that they end up in a mental hospital, but the process can really be crazy and unfair when you think about all the incredibly intelligent and dedicated kids who try so hard to get into the schools they desire to get into and don’t.

Craig ends up switching schools at the end of the book, which reinforces the clear message that you shouldn’t waste your time on something you need to change yourself for. Since Craig needed to change himself to succeed in Executive Pre-Professional, he started to get depressed because he wasn’t enough for the school. After his stay in the mental hospital, Craig realized he wasn’t happy at Executive Pre-Professional and decided to transfer. This is one major hint of the message Ned Vizzini is sending the educational system, that the requirements of their students are too much for them to handle, and that their students are beginning to change themselves for a school. Ned Vizzini is writing this book in the hopes that powerful people in the educational system will hear of it and read it, seeing what possible future consequences of their actions will occur sooner or later. This, along with other, subtler hints, will hopefully influence these powerful people to limit their expectations, and to remember that these students are only children, and that they need to enjoy their childhood while they can, not waste it on worrying whether they will get into this high school, and whether they’re doing enough extra curriculars for that college.

"Romeo and Juliet" Essay

            Having a strong relationship with your mother, or a maternal figure, can benefit both of you in so many ways. A mother will love you, stay with you during highs and lows, and will be able to help you make the right decision for yourself in life. In William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, Juliet, the main character, does not have a strong bond with her mother. Juliet is very obedient, and loves her parents just as they love her, but they aren’t close, and there aren’t many moments where you see the mother and child type bond between Juliet and her mother, Lady Capulet. Her parents are very strict with Juliet and won’t tolerate any nonsense or disobedience. Juliet and her mother’s relationship is so “loose” because of their impetuous culture of marrying and having children early which may have marred Lady Capulet’s attempt at motherhood since she was so young.

            Juliet is not only getting married to Romeo at a young age, but also to Paris. The culture in Verona (where the play takes place) seems impetuous because it’s quite common for marriage to be so early in one’s life. Lord and Lady Capulet are unaware of Juliet’s marriage to Romeo (which has a significant age difference), but they are aware of her marriage to Paris, which also has a rather large age difference that they are not opposed to. “But saying o’er what I have said before./ My child is yet a stranger in the world./ She hath not seen the change of fourteen years./ Let two more summers wither in their pride/ Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.” (1.2.7-11) Here, Capulet is telling Paris he doesn’t think Juliet is ready to get married, but in two years she will be 15/16, and then she’ll be ready. That’s still a very young age for someone to get married at, but the process speeds up in act 3. “CAPULET Monday, ha ha! Well, Wednesday is too soon./ O’ Thursday let it be.– O’ Thursday, tell her,/ She shall be married to this noble earl.–/ Will you be ready? Do you like this haste?/ We’ll keep no great ado: a friend or two, /For hark you, Tybalt being slain so late, /It may be thought we held him carelessly,/ Being our kinsman, if we revel much./ Therefore we’ll have some half a dozen friends,/ And there an end” (3.4.22-31) Now, Capulet has changed his mind, and makes Juliet marry Paris to cheer her up after Tybalt’s death, while Juliet is still only fourteen, though it doesn’t seem to be much of a concern now that he’s made a decision. Capulet, who at first wanted his daughter to wait two years to marry, is now proposing to have the wedding in three days, while Juliet is still only fourteen.

            The nurse serves as a “bridge” or “translator” for Lady Capulet and Juliet because she’s able to help Lady Capulet and Juliet connect with one another, despite their “loose” relationship. Since Juliet and her mother aren’t very close, Juliet’s nurse helps them communicate using her inappropriate sense of humor and her undivided love for Juliet and the Capulets. “This is the matter.– Nurse, give leave awhile./ We must talk in secret.– Nurse, come back again.” (1.3.8-9) During this scene, Lady Capulet attempts to talk to her daughter by herself, but when she realizes she doesn’t really know Juliet very well, and doesn’t know what to say to her, she brings the nurse in to help her. Juliet and the nurse have known each other since Juliet was a baby. Sometimes that makes Lady Capulet jealous, because she didn’t get to spend precious moments with Juliet like the nurse did. “I never should forget it. “Wilt thou not, Jule?”/ quoth he./ And, pretty fool, it stinted and said “Ay.”/ LADY CAPULET Enough of this, I pray thee, hold thy peace.” (1.3.51-54) In this scene, a hint of jealousy comes up when Lady Capulet asks the nurse to stop telling a funny story about Juliet as a baby. Since Lady Capulet didn’t get to experience these moments, she resents the nurse for having experienced them. Lady Capulet might regret not having raised Juliet as much as she would have wanted to because now their relationship is not as strong as it could have been.

            Lady Capulet was no older than Juliet is now when she had her. Lady Capulet must have married at quite a young age, and had a baby at about fourteen years old. This might have been a factor in her and Juliet’s weak relationship, because she was so young and perhaps didn’t know how to be a mother. Since she didn’t know this skill, or was too young to fully understand it, it evolved into the unfamiliar relationship between the two of them that we read about in the play. Since she wasn’t able to be a mother to Juliet when she was a baby, she struggles to act like a mother for her now, but will never have the chance to be baby Juliet’s mother again. “Well, think of marriage now. Younger than you/ Here in Verona, ladies of esteem,/ Are made already mothers. By my count/ I was your mother much upon these years/ That you are now a maid. Thus then in brief:/ The valiant Paris seeks you for his love.” (1.3.75-80) This just enforces the idea of Verona’s impetuous culture of early marriage. For generations, women have been marrying and having children very early, but Lady Capulet doesn’t seem to think that it’s an issue. “PARIS Younger than she are happy mothers made./ CAPULET And too soon marred are those so early made./ Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she;/ She’s the hopeful lady of my earth.” (1.2.12-15) In this scene, Capulet is telling Paris that Juliet will be unhappy and won’t have as good a future as she might have had if she married at a later age. He might be referring to Lady Capulet’s early marriage to him, and how that may have marred her. It seems like Lady Capulet has no problem marrying early, but Capulet does. This disagreement may be a factor in their odd relationship that doesn’t seem like they truly love each other (probably because it was an arranged marriage), which may influence Juliet’s perspective on love because she doesn’t have a relationship to model her own after.

            Lady Capulet and Juliet’s relationship may be so unfamiliar because of Verona’s culture, including early marriage and conception, which marred Lady Capulet’s attempt at motherhood because of her age. I can connect this to the present day controversial issue of adoption, using the TV show “Teen Mom” as an example, as crazy as it seems. In both “Teen Mom” and “Romeo and Juliet”, teenaged girls are becoming mothers. In “Romeo and Juliet”, Lady Capulet and Juliet have a loose relationship in which they don’t really know each other. They obviously love each other, but don’t have an ideal relationship where the mother and daughter can easily confide in one another. In “Teen Mom”, many of the moms give up their children for adoption, an incredibly hard process. I am by no means against adoption, but as they’re giving up their babies for adoption, they’re giving away their opportunity at motherhood with that child, just like Lady Capulet did when she chose to have the nurse raise Juliet. But as they say, when one door closes, another door opens. When mothers give their children up for adoption, they might be giving up their chance of motherhood, but they’re also giving the adoptive mother a chance at motherhood she may never have had if not for the biological mother choosing adoption. Maybe that’s what Lady Capulet was doing when she let the nurse- who lost her chance at motherhood when her daughter passed away- take care of Juliet, giving her another chance at motherhood but losing her own simultaneously.

May Non-Fiction Blog Post

This week I  read “Private eyes: Parents using hidden cameras to monitor nannies, baby sitters” by Ryan Haggerty, a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. It was mainly about how some parents install video cameras to see whether their babysitters are mistreating their children or not when they aren’t home. It also touched upon whether it was ethical or not, but remained very unbiased. The article quotes “Harold J. Krent, the dean of the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Chicago-Kent College of Law” to say that hidden cameras may not be ethical, even though they’re legal. This shows the side of the article that is against the cameras.  This quote from the article, ‘“Frankly, people do things in front of cameras," Myers said. "Despite the fact that there are cameras, they either forget about them or they don't think you're watching them."’ shows how the article is unbiased, because it doesn’t say that it’s good to install cameras and to see what really bad things are happening, but it also doesn’t say it’s a bad thing either. Another quote from the article ‘"I think it's a sign of respect," Krent said. "You wouldn't want a nanny to work there if they felt uncomfortable that they were being videotaped."’ shows the side of the article that is pro-cameras. Since there are both pros and cons to the cameras in the article, and an unbiased opinion at the same time, it all evens out to make an unbiased article. The details help readers choose what “side” they’re on, if any, and show the reasons behind why some people install cameras, whether they’re hidden or in plain sight.

            The author wants readers to think that installing cameras to “spy” on babysitters is quite controversial, since there are two very valid opinions presented in the article. Since it’s very unbiased, they want readers to feel conflicted between whether to install and camera or not if they have children, and maybe even feel concerned that their babysitter is harming their child without their knowing it. The author achieves this by providing opinions from both sides of the issue, and including incidents where babysitters have been caught hurting children on camera. “On Thursday, a Chicago nanny was charged with aggravated battery after she allegedly was caught by a hidden camera choking and shaking a 15-month-old girl.

Also Thursday, a woman in Ohio was convicted, based on video captured by a hidden camera, of smothering the children she was baby-sitting to stop them from crying. Earlier this month, a Long Island nanny was charged after video allegedly showed her drugging an infant to keep the girl quiet.”

            After reading this article, I will take away both the pros and cons of installing a camera to “spy” on a babysitter, and even some loopholes to installing cameras, like putting them in plain sight, and telling a babysitter or nannie that they will be recorded as a sign of respect, as the article mentions, to show them they should feel comfortable with being recorded if they want to work for you. My thinking has definitely been changed, before reading this article I used to think it was unethical to record babysitters, but it was useful if you could catch them  harming your child. Now, I think installing secret cameras is unethical, but installing a camera in plain sight and telling the babysitter before they come to work is not. You can still see what they’re doing at work when you’re gone, but there’s more trust between the boss and the babysitter because they’ll know that the boss trusts the babysitter enough to tell them they’ll be recorded. So if I was to hire a babysitter, I would install a camera in plain sight, and let them know they will be recorded as a safety precaution. I’d still like to know whether there’s been an incident where a secret camera’s been installed and a babysitter harms a child, the parents find out and install a camera in plain sight, tell the babysitter, and then they stop harming the child. I’d also like to know why babysitters harm the children, and whether they harm every child they babysit. 

Bossypants by Tina Fey

I just read Bossypants by Tina Fey. It is a hilarious book about Tina Fey’s life, from her childhood, to her career and starting a family. Since this was a biography, it was also nonfiction. I don’t tend to read much nonfiction, since I find it boring because often there’s no plot. Biographies are different, however, because when you’re reading about a comedic person, like Tina Fey, the book tends to be more comedic, which for me makes it much more interesting. I think that since Tina Fey is an actress and a comedian, her book was more interesting for readers like me, who don’t usually like nonfiction, because it was humorous.

            Bossypants was a very funny book. I usually test that out by how much the book makes me laugh out loud, and Bossypants definitely passed the test. Tina Fey wrote about embarrassing stories from her childhood that many people can relate to, as well as funny anecdotes from starting her job at Saturday Night Live and evolving to 30 Rock, and experiences from starting a family. There was never a dull moment in the book, because it was kept upbeat and interesting almost all the time. I wouldn’t say I was on the edge of my seat, just waiting for what’s going to happen next, because it wasn’t an action type book. It was exciting in a different way, because there was always a joke, and a good punch line on almost every page. A lot of the jokes in the book were making fun of Tina Fey, and that gave the reader even more of a glimpse inter her personality because it showed her sense of humor- a big part of her life.

            I think Tina Fey made her biography more interesting than regular non-fiction because she added humor to it. Typically, non-fiction bores me, and biographies are more interesting because they reflect the personality of the main character. That’s why I chose to read biographies and autobiographies of people who are interesting, or very funny. Obviously, with Tina Fey being a comedian and an actress, the book is bound to be funny. However, Tina Fey didn’t just recite events from her life as they occurred, but she included her feelings from the time, nom matter how embarrassing or humiliating. I feel like biographies can either be good, or amazing, depending on how much of yourself you include in the book. I think Tina Fey made her book amazing by completely releasing all of her experiences and feelings into the book, so that her readers could better relate to her.