Face the Story

"Think about it: There is no experience you've had that you were not at the absolute center of." (Wallace 2) This statement is nothing but the truth. It is inevitable but everything you've experienced in life, you are the main character. Even if you didn't play the most important role, you can only tell the story based off of your own emotions and thoughts at the time. A realization like this is something that I constantly forget to consider, and as David Foster Wallace said, "we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over: 'This is water, this is water.'" (Wallace 8) Simple awareness is key, and it is crucial to remember that although you might be having a bad day, the person next to you could also by having a hard time. A difficult as it is, it is necessary for everyone, including myself, to reach out and hear others' perspectives and to not only wallow inside your own world. This method of going about with your life will be the on...

This week was EYE-opening to say the least. When people think "America", they think of "independence","freedom", and "equality". We Americans thoughtlessly celebrate the Fourth of July with countless spectacles of fireworks one year after another. But not once has it crossed my mind that this celebration could, on the contrary, be a day of mockery to someone else.  In "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro", Frederick Douglass rips apart all these supposed characteristics of the USA that we Americans pride ourselves in. One of the key aspects of the holiday that the writer focuses on is how the Fourth of July only highlights the flaws of the country. The "great principles of political freedom and natural justice" (Douglass 1) that citizens rejoiced over were not extended to American slaves. I found this situation to be especially ironic because after finally declaring independence from British rule, the United States unkn...

In the 16 years I've been alive I have visited countless memorials. I've seen floating stone heads of various individuals, peered up at the massive Washington Monument, and explored the famous Triumphal Arc in Paris. If I'm completely honest, none of them ever truly wowed me. Of course there was the initial, "Oh my gosh, it's enormous," or , "Look at those beautiful engravings," but not once was I truly moved by a memorial. However, recently in English class we've been discussing the reasoning that went behind all of these designs and I think I'm finally beginning to understand the value of these works of art that I originally believed to be mundane, stone slabs. In war, there are endless amounts of death, and in many cases, there is no physical evidence left to show the damage done. Some soldiers are killed without a trace of their existence left. Memorials, therefore, serve as a material object that can represent the dead. What was even ...