Shall I compare thee to a summers rose

Thou art more vibrant and far more lustrous

Thy heart is like a secret, not one knows

A rose falters while you stay sumptuous

Often too secured to come and enjoy

And sometimes so cruel it pierces thy skin

Even its allure gets to be like savoy

Whose leaves are wrinkled and teeming with sin

A roses beauty, equals its cruelness

But thy beauty is wholesome forever

And when I'm pricked by malevolent thorns

Your beauty pushes through my endeavor

So long as thorns will hurt and rose deceive

Vi do il mio cuore to be yours to thieve  

Espada in depth

The Transfer of Power.

an essay by Tabo Čeman about the movement of power in poet Martin Espada’s poems.

Martín Espada a very renown latino poet, writes many works about the mistreatment of latinos through time. In the poems Revolutionary Spanish Lesson, Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877 and The New Bathroom Policy at English High School a message that; power is a vicious being that is often taken with exertion.

 

The poem The New Bathroom Policy at English High School is a perfect example of this moral theme Espada wishes to convey. The poem about two boys who speak spanish in the bathroom while their principal is in the stall, shows how power is taken with force. In the beginning of the poem the boys are in power when they speak about the principal in spanish. They use the power of language to hide what they say and this constipates the principal; he cannot understand and they have power over him because of this. The principal takes this capacity away by banning their power, or language in the bathroom and as Espada writes “ now he can relax”. Showing that the principal felt threatened, that he might loose power , so he stole it back. Power is vicious because it stabs the children who were using it, right in the back, by making them lose it through the new policy. 

Another example of this lesson Espada wants to teach, is in the poem Revolutionary Spanish Lesson. This poem illustriously depicts what Espada feels like when his name is mispronounced. Espada writes that he would “buy a toy pistol, put on dark eyeglasses, push my beret at an angle, comb my beard to a point, hijack a busload of Republican tourists from Wisconsin,”. In this poem Espada takes power from Republican tourists from Wisconsin. Espada uses this very descriptive sentence to show the original source of power. The power is originally with these tourists because they are the classic anti latino depiction in our country. They hold power over latinos because they make them work low wages and have to fret over immigration; because it is they who vote against latino rights and increase the difficulty of getting into this country. The power is taken when he dresses up in a way that scares the republicans and hijacks their bus. He uses fright as his power; he scares them, and takes their power. Espada again show how power has a devious bite in the way it bites the republicans in the rear end, betraying them for Espada. 

Lastly, the poem Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877, also shows the ferocious moral. The poem tells of a mob of 40 Gringos that hanged two Mexicans. This poems power has no original source but just the one that is taken from the Mexicanos as they are hanged. Espada oozes the power out of them as their necks bow in the humility of death. He lets us understand that the power was also taken away from the Gringos when they died. Death took their power and made them as insignificant as “pennies”. He shows how the gringos who crowded into a photograph wanted credit for taking power from the Mexicanos. He shows how as usual power stabs them in the back giving itself to Death and Espada, as they ruin these people; through words and history and make them as negligible as pennies. 

In termination Power and it’s abilities are a reappearing moral in Espada’s poems; as it appears in three poems Revolutionary Spanish Lesson, Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877 and The New Bathroom Policy at English High School. He shows how abusing power will always cause power to stab you in the back no matter what shape or size of power you abuse. He teaches that power has to be used for good and not for one groups needs but everyones needs; not just the kids in the bathroom, not just the republicans, or Espada himself or even the Gringos and lynched Mexicans but everyone, or else power might turn on you.

After rereading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by Jk Rowling for the gazilionth time i realized one thing Jk Rowling does really well is with answering all problems. any former confusion or doubts in the past books are answered in her final piece of beauty.

One example is Severus Snape who says "i hate Potter" and makes it very clear that he'd be better of without potter. then you begin to see the true Severus Snape, the one who killed Dumbldore on Dumbldores orders and who has been trying to protect harry his entire life.  mrs Rowling shows this in a compelling and romantic way that moves us all. Severuses true love for lily. she shows the bond between lily potter and Snape and it truly leaves us loving Snape and understanding him.

Another example is Voldamort. he seems so strong and powerful but is yet scared. when harry dies and sees Voldamort there he sees an " childlike creature" in incredible pain scared of the outside. she also shows this with descriptions like "fright ran across his face" and " for the first time voldamort was scared" she leaves with and idea of understanding. understanding the motives behind such evil.

all in all after reading the grand finally i realized the great thing about harry potter is you are left with no question unanswered. we should all aim to write more like this.

tabo ceman blog 12/11/13

In the book Catching Fire by Sussan Cohen, I find that there is one great flaw. The missing POV. The book catching fire catches eyes right and left. With its famous author and even more famous prequel. The one main flaw in this great book is the missing POV.

In the book, the main POV is from Katniss, as she is the main character. This may be an author’s choice and it does fine in depicting the needs and wants of the rebelling group, but it does not show presidents snows views. This flaw makes it hard to understand all the characters in a substantial way. Why kill Katniss? Why not Peeta? These questions could easily be answered with some like a chapter intro that is in snows view. One book that does this marvelously is Enders Game by Orson Scott Card. Each chapter has an intro that is in col. Graff’s POV. This strategy helps depict a larger and better picture then the one we see. Another example is the movie, which has many scenes with president snow talking and explaining his motives.

All in all this great book in a personal opinion could have been better with a little more explanation and expansive background on its characters.

question at what point do you see yourself resisting the book? why?

In the book, or comic book; V for Vendetta by Alan Moore, I found myself resisting the story plot when V sends Evey through the journey he went through. This part of the book sent chills down my spine because the journey is just horrific. I think it shows that as a person im not used to seeing such cruel treatment, or such vile behavior.

In his journey V, is locked in a cell as a test subject and is tortured. He is water boarded, beaten and even used as a test subject. When Evey asks him to help save her he makes her go through this treatment. The vile treatment is so horrible that Evey, without knowledge that it is V torturing her, is about to give his location, until she receives a letter from another cellmate, telling her to stay strong and to carry on.  This was such a cruel thing to do that I truly wished to put the book down. It was both to graphic and to intense. what made me continue reading was the strength i saw in evey. It carried through the gruesome scene and to something more romantic in the story. While V was imprisoned he escaped in a fire and completley burned his skin off. For Eveys escape he just opens her cell door and lets her figure things out on her own. This shows how even V someone with such a strong wish for change has limits.

All in all it shows how something like this is sudden and startling for me. i think this because as a US citizen in the 21 century such cruelty is uncommon and it shows us that we are lucky for this. I hope that I stay like this for the rest of my life and that never will something so gruesome not affect me.

Thinking about movies. tabo ceman

Recently watching the movie V for Vendetta based of the comic by alan moore, I discovered what the perfect teens should be. In this book the only thing that Is left of the world is England. The English are run by facism and curfews are one of the many limitations people have .  Teens in this world are well behaved, speak proper English and are all white. These teens also have perfect or model families. The live in 2 story houses with a dog or cat, smaller siblings and both mom and dad. They watch tv do homework and live perfect lives. This is not an image of what our world resembles. In our world not one person is the same. At our school alone the diversity alone is incredible. Problems are everywhere and perfection is impossible. Also not everyone has a pet. This movie makes a stereotype of what a perfect teen and family should be. This is done to show that utopian societys are impossible and not so great. The movie and book show this through the character V, who names flaws in this facist government and breaks it down trying to create a world more like ours.

letter to ms burner

Dear Ms Berner,                                                                                                11/11/13

Hi my name is Tabo Ceman, I am an 8^th grader at your school. While I wish I were writing to you on brighter terms, I find that it is important to attempt to persuade you away from banning books in the 6^th grade library. I think instead; to read books that are  vulgar, violent or include drug use, we should have parent’s and teacher permission necessary .

Book banning is like a screen; covering children's eyes from information that may very well be of use to them in the present or future. Writer Sherman Alexie wrote in his article,Why The Best Kids Books Are Written In Blood, about how books helped him fight the problems in his life. “They taught me how to battle the real monsters in my life”. Moreover, this is one reason why we should not ban books because we cannot take away a child’s only way of fighting his problems. In addition, if his parents are the problem then the kid should be able to speak to his teacher about reading the book and find his courage that way.

           

Another reason why I think book banning is not appropriate in our school is because, banning books is based off what some people think books should resemble. For example as Sherman Alexie, spat out; referring to book banning groups in his article. “ They are simply trying to protect their privileged notions of what literature is and should be”. One example was shown in an ABC news coverage in Montgomery, Texas. Where Diana Verm was given the classic Fahrenheit 451 as an assignment. After reading about the burning of the Bible, she complained and was given a new assignment. Alton Verm; her father wouldn’t leave it at that and wanted to ban the book from the entire school saying “I think there is no reason anyone should want to read this”.  Mr. Verm based his need to ban the book of what he thinks proper literature should be. I think this is wrong because literature is never the same. It must change as time does. The problems in life change, consequently so does literature. This is one reason why I think book banning should not take place in our 6^th grade libraries.

I think parents and teachers should be in charge of what their kids read because they are the ones in charge of how  kids are growing.  If a parent or teacher does not like the idea of their child being exposed to sex, drugs or violence then, we cannot stop them, but once a parent or teacher sees it as their job to take away powerful learning tools from others, then it becomes a problem. As Bill Moyers says, “censorship is the enemy of truth. Even within a lie, lies can be exposed censorship can prevent us from knowing the difference.” A parent is allowed to, with the consult of a teacher sensor their children’s knowledge as they think it is best but they should not sensor what another child needs.

Meghan Cox Gurdon on the other hand believes that books nowadays are “dark” and “smut” as she describes novels in the article Darkness to Visible. She believes that books nowadays are horrible and that they may give children dangerous thoughts and ideas. I say that there are dark books. But if parents and teachers are the ones in charge of what his/her child reads then together they can take care of explaining and helping the child understand the morals of the literature. If the parents are as the article, The Banned Books We Have Loved, describes “seemingly afraid or unwilling to have conversations with their children about what they are reading” unable to help their children, unable to deter dangerous thoughts. Then the child should talk to his teacher, and the teacher should speak to the child and parents about the future of the child’s reading curriculum. This is why I believe that even though, books are dark, they can still be and should be read, even in the 6^th grade library.

All in all book banning should not even be considered for the 6^th grade library, or any library, because it blinds children from learning about the outside world and stops them expanding their knowledge. “The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read.”-Abraham Lincoln. So how can we learn what we want to know while banning books?

Thank you for your time

Yours truly,

Tabo Luka Ceman

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