Ok add "speak" by laurie halse anderson as one of my favorite novels. I can't believe I haven't read this novel before. It was published in 1999 and won all kinds of awards, but I'd never heard of it. I wish i had read this thing before high school, cuz i might have done some things differently had i recognized that the hypocrisy and problems in high school were shared across the U.S.............so many things that "speak" paraodied were indicative of what we did in high school. Wow, just wow. A beautiful piece of work, in my opinion. Anyone who's ever been in high school ( and i think legally that means everyone over 18) can find something from the book to relate to it.
I have a lot of fond memories of high school, but sometimes i wish i could go back and redo some of the things in high school. Not that I had a terrible experience or any traumatic events occur in my high school career, but knowing what I know now, i would change so many things. The thing that troubles me about "speak" is that the absurdity in high school was recognized in 1999 when anderson wrote it, yet no one seems to do THAT much about it. There's still a lot of social cliches, bad teaching, educational policies that are never followed, and overall lack of compassion for students. Of course, this is not a bash on my old high school, it's just a recognition that across the U.S. this stuff happens even though we have A BOOK THAT CHRONICLES ALL OF THIS. Obviously it's really though to fix all of this, as principals and teachers can only do so much. It's like trying to fix homelessness: at some point, to some extent, the homeless themselves have to help themselves. That's why I wish I could go back in time: to become a high school student, be a voice within the whole world of absurdity to point out the flaws of the high school system, stop the categorization of "jocks, goths, and dorks" and really make everyone's high school experience much better. Ah, if only.
Lol, on that note, fantasy sports. Well, the NCAA tourney games were really interesting tonight but really pointed out how down college basketball is. My friend justin and I were watching the games and really noted the overall lack of quality of the basketball, even with 4 #1 seeds playing. Sure, these guys are real athletes, and there's a few quality basketball players on each team that played tonight, but the teams were just NOT THAT GOOD. UCLA couldn't put up offense, Memphis couldn't score besides rose and douglas-roberts, kansas got off to a big lead and then just played stupidly to almost give up the lead, and north carolina was just ice-cold and couldn't find any other way to score besides putting up prayers. The difference between an NBA game and a semifinal NCAA tournament game is still very noticeable. Although the NCAA tourney has great facets to it like cinderellas, upsets, last-second shots, and live look-ins, the quality of the game itself is just not as high as the NBA. Not even close.
First week of MLB.....some observations: Tigers offense might not be good as a lot of people think. They're 0-5 and certainly not hitting like most expected. Sure, this might just be a cold streak to begin the season, but be careful with your tigers, they faced kansas city and white sox hitting and couldn't get much done.
Justin Upton has 3 HR's already. Hmmm has he broken out already? I predicted he wouldn't yet, and it's only the first week so i'll go w/ my gut and say he's not gonna keep this up.
Alfonso Soriano couldn't have gotten off to a worse start. He's 1- for his first 5 games. NOT GOOD.
Injuries already. Gary sheffield has to wear a splint on his finger, better believe that'll bother him. Pedro Martinez out several weeks. He might be done, folks. No joke. Brad Lidge was out, now he's back. JJ Putz got put on the 15-day DL for the mariners, they now need a fill-in closer.....not sure who that is yet.
Johnny Cueto, pitchin prospect for Reds, probably no longer a prospect: great outing for them this week, has great stuff and is a strikeout pitcher.
Watch Jered Weaver. He might turn into the Angels' #1 pitcher this year not by default injuries but by performance. He was in control the first 2 games against twins and rangers.
Peavy already has a CG, repeat of Cy Young?
Carlos Zambrano began the season quite well, then had to leave, but he should be fine, so say the cubs. That's a pleasant surprise as he usually begins seasons like trash.
Whole Yankees lineup hasn't been very productive yet. However, this team i'm not too concerned about. Call me cynical but I've seen this chapter too many times to believe A-rod, jeter, matsui, giambi, posada, cano, et. al aren't gonna hit soon.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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