Jesse

Jesse is kind of a sad book. It is mainly about a Mexican boy named Jesse who lives with his brother in an apartment in Fresno. Both boys are real young still in their teens but they moved out really early together because of their alcoholic step father. The book is rather poetic as the author makes a lot of easy comparisons, metaphors and similes. The book is sad in that the boys are very poor. They live off of what they make in the fields on the weekend and their dead fathers social security check. The whole book has an environment of poor, dingy, dirty but with an odd sense of mild happiness. This book is far different than Stir It Up. The boys in this story lead a much less fortunate life than young Anjali. The book seemingly has no plot, or at least not one that is exciting enough to realize but is a very easy read and some how keeps the reader engages. I will be interested to see how the book ends. 

Stir It Up

Stir It Up turned out to be a nice book. Anjali enters the Food Network competition. She is the youngest of the contestants and does really well. She ended up having to lie her parents for a while about the big test that she was supposed to take. Finally she admits that she did not take the test and that she entered into the contest. Her dad gets really mad at her and tells her that cooking turned her into a liar and grounds her from and special cooking aside from working in the restaurant. Much to Anjali's surprise her mom, dad, and grandma ease up on her and realize that they should have supported her passion all along. Anjali finds out that she has become a finalist in the contest. She goes with her grandma to the finale but does not win. She feels really sad about loosing but her family cheers her up. The book as a really good message of life being a journey and failure being the necessary stepping stones to success. 

Stir It Up

Stir it up is about a girl named Anjali from who is Indian. Her dad owns a restaurant and she cooks in the restaurant and helps out. She is only 13 years old. Anjali was born in America. She loves food and loves to cook. She gets to experiment with cooking all the time because she works/lives in an environment where she has access to those types of things. But, her family does not really support her cooking endeavours so there is a mild amount of frustration and secrecy. The only one who really encourages her in cooking is her grandmother. Her grandmother takes her to cooking classes and that is where she learns about a cooking contest for Food Network. She enters in the contest and is accepted to the next round. But the next round is on the same day as an important test that her dad wants her to take because he feels like her education is more important than her cooking. He is scared cooking wont take her far in life.

Hunger Games

The Hunger Games was a fantastic book. I was on the edge of my seat the whole way to the end. I don't even think we had to finish the book but I could not stop. I have seen the movie but the book was truly better. I thought the whole idea of the games was both disturbing and brilliant. The Capital used the games to punish the districts for their rebellion. There is no better way to punish people than to take their sons and daughters and force them to slaughter each other in the most cruel of ways while you are forced to watch on your TV at home unable to help or stop the danger. The whole thing is really quite sick but smart if your a sadistic government. I think the set up of the Hunger Games is similar to that of many countries. The government and rich live lavishly while the majority of their people live in poverty and destitution. The games were also very close in resemblance to the gladiatorial games from Roman history. The book ends kind of badly though. There is such a big cliff hanger. You find out the the games have only just began for Katinis and Peeta after they win the 74th Hunger Games. They embarrassed the Capital and where going to pay...

Ukraine Crisis, War, and America: A Rambling by Aaron

I have been intently watching this Ukraine fiasco unravel and I find it quite troubling. More troubling is the polls I see online, asking if we should put boots on the ground, and the secret rumblings and rumors coming from capital hill. I think this country has neither the will nor the continued resources to go to war with Russia in even the smallest of capacities. I look at the last three wars we have fought in--Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. All three, in my opinion, saw no clear victory. While I did and still do support a majority of decisions made by the Bush administration after 911, I feel strongly that we do not fight wars the way we ought to. If we, as a country, are going to pick a fight with another country, we need to be all in and ready to win. I am tired of men in ties in D.C. making poor decisions or not having the moral fortitude to make the hard decisions necessary in war that ultimately results in the pointless loss of our sons and daughters overseas. I would very much appreciate if we did less world policing and a little more focusing on the internal war here at home. America is slowly decaying, and we will soon reach a point of no return if we don't focus on the issues and make real changes to the way we do things. Both parties have become childish in their political endeavors and care more about re-election than about the people they were elected to protect and serve. And the American people grow more apathetic each day as they sit, idle, while things fall apart. Russia is a formidable adversary; they have been since after WWII. We, as a country, need to take necessary steps to protect ourself from our enemies. If someone wants to do something militarily about Ukraine, let it be Europe. It is their back yard that Putin has decided to play in and will affect them before it affects us. Ukraine tried to join the EU some time ago and they were denied. Now sometime later Ukraine's people are divided and trying to latch on to someone to survive. Maybe if Ukraine had joined the EU, some of their people would not be so apt to join Russia. We should not pretend that we are friends with Russia, because we have not been for some time. Heck, two decades ago, we were training and arming Afghan soldiers to fight Russia. The same armed and trained Afghan soldiers we are currently fighting in the 21st century. Boy, isn't hindsight 20/20! 

I love my country very much and would have given my life for her gladly. But, I am distressed about her current state. America needs her edge back. She needs her dignity and grace back, because somewhere along the way she has become beaten up, bruised, and weary. She walks in a lie, avoiding the truth and veiling her shortcomings. She needs to face the truth, reflect and reorganize, and commit to the road to recovery. This country needs a little rest and rejuvenation for a decade or two before we continue to play world police. 

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/2014/03/07/bill-oreilly-america-decline
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/2014/03/04/bill-oreilly-how-handle-putin

A Sinking Ship

As I read chapters 14 through 20 I was intently focused. Chapter fourteen rather grossed me out when it spoke of all the horrible things the packers did to the meat. Using science to take old meat and make it look good. And science has only gotten better so who knows what they do to our food now. The book spoke of what they do with the bad meat and how it often gets turned into sausage. All I could think about while I read this chapter was the salami I have in my fridge and how I know nothing of what is in it or how it was made. The story really turned for the worst and kept me reading when Ona went missing and then we find out her boss is doing her dirty. I was greatly disapointed that Jurgis did not killer Conner! And then the readers former fears where realized when he is sent out of prison to indeed find out that the house they had purchased was a scam and they had been evicted. And THEN to find out his wife is dying and stumble upon that mean dutch lady who did not have an ounce of sensitivity in her. I am quite sure I would have ended up strangling her and going back to jail. Needless to say I will be finishing the book. I just have to know what becomes of the main character, as his life just seems to be a sinking ship bound for the depths of the perilous sea.

The Jungle

The Jungle, has been an interesting book so far. I am slowly getting pulled in and attached to the characters. I can not personally relate to being immersed into a culture of which I do not understand nor speak the language of but I can only imagine the fear and unease that would come with that. I can only imagine what it would have been like for Jurgis and his family if they did not run into there old friend who had been in America for a long time. Luckily for them he showed them the ropes and helped them settle in. I found the part where they were going to buy a house to be very interesting. They were so responsible with what little they had and gave great thought to their purchase before making it. I compare that to the housing collapse very recently in the early 2000s. It is quite common in America to buy a home but even today if things go south you can be financially ruined. With the recent recession many families lost a lot to include their home and almost six years later things are not getting better all that quick. So I really found this part of the story interesting and relevant to today. This book is slowly working the reader into how gross the meat packing industry is and I fear it will only get worse. In fact the whole town seems to be a slum all owned by a few wealthy people who probably live towns away in prosperity.