Journal #9

What I liked about the novel "Ophelia Speaks" was that it was a very relatable and unsensored novel. What I mean by unsensored was that the stories were told directly from the view of different girls, showing their stories and struggles. Some stories made me cry while other stories made me open my eyes, and others made me feel squeemish. For example, one story talked about how a girl took for granted her mother and when she finally lost her battle with breast cancer, she realized how much her mother really meant to her. This story made me cry because she was losing her mother and she didn't really care. Also, all of the stories about eating disorders and self abuse made me feel really squeemish. They went into such detail on how they would starve themselves, or hurt themselves and I found myself thinking how could they do that to themselves. Then there were the stories of how some girls were sexually assaulted or molested. When I read these stories it was sort of eye opening to hear that girl's my age across this country are going through more pain in their teenage years than I would probably never go through in my life time. One, story in particular about how a girl described how her brother raped her made me feel disgusted. I thought to myself, how can a sibling do that to his own sister?
All in all, Ophelia speaks was a very raw unsensored book of the struggles of teenage girls. It brought a sense of awareness to my life and the way I think about how tough being a teenager really is.

Journal #8

I have not exactly picked a specific college that I have a burning desire to attend. But I do know that I want to stay on the West Coast, in states like California and Washington, and possibly up north in Canada. Some colleges I've been looking at are UW (university of Washington) and Art Institute. I really enjoy both of these areas of the US and I love both of these campuses. At, UW I've been thinking about going into bussiness and getting a marketing degree, then going to arts school to study graphic design. Preparing for college means writing the infamous college essay. Looking at the college essays in class helped think about the college essay in a different way. Yes, in these essays you are suppose to state your achievements but also you have to stand out from the rest of the pack. For the Arts Institute I couldn't really find a specific essay topic for application. Just to state your achievements and to provide a portfolio of your work. As for UW the essay topics change every year. But one essay topic I've found is this: If you were required to "unplug" for one year, describe the influence this would have in your life, your anticipated reaction, reactions of others in your life, and how you might change after your "unplugged" experience. "Unplugged" means no computers or other technology such as cell phones. Making my college essay great makes all the difference for my college application. Also I have found another interesting topic for USC; Newton’s First Law of Motion states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion in the same direction unless acted upon by an external force. Tell us about an external influence (a person, an event, etc.) that affected you and how it caused you to change direction.