Jeff knows exactly when his life changed. April 15, 2013 at 2:48 p.m. Bauman looked into the face of Tamerlan Tsarnaev just minutes before the most high-profile terrorist event on United States soil since September 11th. Jeff Bauman was, well, your average guy. Jeff lives in Boston, loves to watch sports, and works at Costco. Just like any other person in Boston, Jeff was at the marathon. As Jeff was waiting for his girlfriend Erin to finish the race, the bombs went off. Pressure cookers filled with nuts and bolts. Shredding anything in their path. When Jeff opened his eyes, he saw a woman step over him, covered in blood. Jeff looked down, and there was nothing below his knees. Jeff was lying in a pool of his own blood and flesh. Jeff was thrown in a wheelchair and rushed to the emergency room. Jeff almost died during surgery, but when he wakes up, he finds himself surrounded by friends and family. Jeff becomes the face of the bombing. The image of him and the man in the yellow cowboy hat is all over the internet. Jeff battles himself mentally and physically. Bauman undergoes grueling physical therapy, and he also battles himself. Jeff even started to blame himself for the bombing. Jeff slowly started to build confidence and even made public appearances with new friends. Jeff even returns to his job at Costco and gets married to his girlfriend, Erin. Jeff’s story shows us how small and insignificant these terrorists were and shows us we are stronger. Jeff really surprised me with how explicit his writing was. He really got me thinking about the terrible things these bombers did. In a way, Jeff almost forces you to see from his perspective. He did so using a lot of imagery. Jeff allows us to see the bombing from a survivor's perspective, one that is much better than the media’s perspective. Towards the end of the story, we discover that some people don’t even believe that he lost his legs and that the whole incident was fake. This really made me realize how unempathetic and insolent people can be. Jeff also describes how he was already battling mental struggles. I can’t imagine battling myself and other random, unrelated people. Jeff also describes his life before the bombing. It made me realize his life really wasn’t very different from mine. Bauman also describes how helpful his girlfriend was in the process of his recovery. This showed me how important relationships are. It really got me thinking about how I treat people. I noticed a change in Jeff’s tone throughout the book. Jeff, at the beginning of the book, was sad and depressed. At the end of the book, however, I noticed that his tone shifted to happy and confident. This really made me think about the situation he went through and how mentally tough he really is. I am very pleased that I chose to read stronger. Jeff completely changed my view of amputees. I used to think amputees were weird because they were different. Jeff made me realize that amputees are just like you and me. Jeff also made me feel empathetic towards amputees. His story of recovery really made me realize what they have to go through just to live normal lives. Jeff’s story also made me realize how much I appreciate friends, family, and community members. Jeff never would have recovered the way he did without all the support he received. Jeff made me realize how fortunate I am to have these people. Bauman also makes me realize how fortunate we are that we have all four of our limbs. Jeff’s life is very different from mine, but after hearing his story, I found he is not so different from me. Jeff helped me feel empathy for people who are different from me. By Reid Burns
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The book is about two best friends, Justyce and Manny. Both of them are black, and they get confronted by the problems many black people have to deal with. At the beginning of the book, Justyce gets arrested by a police officer because he tries to help a drunk girl, but the officer thinks that he tried to kidnap the girl. After this, Justyce has to think a lot about racism. This gets even worse when his best friend Manny gets shot by a police officer just because they are listening to loud music. Something I didn’t expect was that the book caused me to think a lot about hidden racism. People who are confronted with racism often interpret racism differently from people that don't have to deal with it. It also let me think about racism in the form of normalized behavior that most of the people don't even recognize because they see it as a normal thing. This is very dangerous because when you are used to this ground level of racism that still exists in our society, you don't reorganize more extreme racism. This is also shown in the book in which one moment a person just makes a “harmless” racist joke but in the next moment Manny gets shot just because he is black. This example is very extreme because most people would never treat a black person differently from a white person. But “racism” is not just the discrimination against people with different skin color, it’s rather the discrimination against any person because they are different. This still happens a lot, especially in schools, where a lot of kids get bullied just because they are slightly different from the average. Everyone should think about how they deal with other people, and how these people think about that. This is what the book makes you do, at least in my case. The book changed my way of thinking about some things. I have a couple of black friends, and they are very open-minded. When they know that you don’t have a real problem with them, they also don't have a problem with dark humor. Sometimes they also make jokes about their skin color by themselves. Before I read the book, I thought this was great because it shows that no one has a problem with each other. But after reading the book, I see a good and bad side about it. I still think it shows that everyone accepts each other, in this friend group, as they are. But I also think that we should take the problem of racism more seriously, even when we don't have any problems with it in this friend group. A lot of other black people don't have the luck to have an environment that is so open-minded. By Leander Buettner Miracles and new possibilities really do happen, as long as the action is as strong as the want. “Iron Heart” follows very hard challenges, and very emotional successes of a walking miracle, Brian Boyle. At the age of 18, Brian was experiencing the whole high school dream. He was a very successful athlete, especially in swimming, and he had solid teammates and friends. Little did he know, his whole future could be changed in one instant. Brian was on his way home from swim practice, when his Camaro was plowed into by a dump truck. Brian was airlifted and rushed to a shock trauma hospital. He lost 60% of his blood, his heart had moved across his chest, and his organs and pelvis were pulverized. He was then put into a medically induced coma. “Iron Heart” follows his journey through recovery with many triumphs, along with various setbacks. Throughout the book, the reader gets an insight into the mind of someone in critical condition with a strong desire to fight, along with learning what a good support system looks like and how to take action for important goals. This book did a superb job of putting me in the author's shoes. Although it is nearly impossible to understand how a person in such a critical condition could be feeling, the author Brian Boyle uses so many descriptive words that brought me closer to understanding. I also really appreciated the internal thoughts. Obviously, when Brian was in a coma, he couldn’t speak, but he did a great job of bringing me into his thoughts and expressing how he felt trapped. I was really surprised with how much of this experience Brian remembered. I would think that because this was such a traumatic experience, some of the details would’ve gotten lost, but I felt that there were no descriptions lacking. This book really challenged me to be honest with myself. I realized that this story is not entirely impossible for me or any one of my classmates to experience, which was a hard idea for me to wrap my head around. As I look back on this book, my eyes and heart have been opened. When my uncle was young, he had an accident and was put in a medically induced coma. At the age I was when I learned about the event, it was almost impossible for me to imagine what him or any of his family members were feeling. After reading this book, I have a new perspective and empathy toward that situation. I am also more aware that in one instant, my whole life could change. I used to have the attitude, “that will never happen to me”, but after reading “Iron Heart”, I realize that I can’t take any moments for granted. Along with feeling empathy for challenges, this book changed my attitude on goals and success. Brian could have easily given up at any moment, but he had goals in life, and he quite literally fought himself back to life, so he could experience those moments. When reading about those successes he had to fight for, I was overcome with new inspirations. Reading this book did show me miracles and possibilities really do happen, I just have to fight for every one. By Leah Holland If someone had grown up an only child and then found out suddenly they had a sibling they had never met, their life would be completely changed. For Yahaira and Camino, their lives had already been turned around by their Papi’s sudden death. Their Papi had been the center of both their lives, but still hardly present in either one. Each with different mothers and in different countries (the United States and the Dominican Republic), the two girls had no way of knowing about their father’s split life - until Yahaira finds a marriage certificate that did not have her own mother’s name on it. Then, several months later, their father dies in a plane crash flying between the two countries. In the aftermath of his death, both families reeling, the sisters discover each other first online and then in person. Yahaira flies solo to DR for their father’s ceremony. While navigating the rules of sisterhood, each girl must measure what their fathers presence in their life really meant to them and how they can reconnect with themselves through their new other half. Clap When You Land explores the meaning of family through a complicated and poignant story that also addresses the topic of sexual assault and, on the sidelines, unplanned pregnancy and queerness. For me, this was a really good read because I had not been expecting that and I wouldn’t have read this book were it not for this assignment. As Acevedo experiments with point of view, the reader learns from both of the girls’ perspectives. She leads up to when their paths finally cross and you see how their surroundings set them apart from one another. It makes me curious to know how similar they would be if they both grew up either in the U.S. or in DR. This book definitely taught me the importance of those people in your life who you might not see on a daily basis, but are still just as important as the ones you do. The fact that it’s written in verse makes it easier for me to connect with the characters, because the author is not afraid to say the things that are often deemed bitter and uncomfortable in normal conversation. I relate to some of the content easier because of this. I think I am more empathetic after reading this book because we, living in rural Iowa, are hardly ever exposed to what life is like in poor countries and what life was really like for Camino. By Elsa J. “Life is harder for people who aren’t conventionally attractive” (Moskowitz, 213). Like The Fault in Our Stars, Sick Kids in Love is a book about the relationship between two kids battling illnesses. Isabel has rheumatoid arthritis. She is also a girl who always asks for another opinion, and never makes a decision on her own. Sasha has Gaucher (go-SHAY) disease. He is also a guy who is impulsive and daring, and who wants to make everyone happy. After meeting in a hospital, they bond over their experience with chronic illnesses, and soon grow to be close friends. When Sasha’s illness leads him to need surgery, they grow closer, but then must work through some conflicts along the way. In a way, we are all defined by something in other people's minds. For some people, it could be a sport, music, or even a hobby. For Sasha and Isabel, it was their illnesses. Throughout the book, both of them discuss being defined by their illness, and how they don’t like how it is what people see first. I could relate to this because, in a way, it happens to everyone. As a society, we tend to look at the outside of a person, and immediately judge them without getting to know them. This book was also formatted differently than most books I read. Before every chapter in the book, there was a question and a sample of answers that Isabel had gathered. I noticed how this added to the book, especially by aiding in character development. This book gave me a better understanding of what life is like for teenagers who live unlike I do. Both Isabel and Sasha have chronic illnesses, but they are also living seminormal teenage lives. Sick Kids in Love provided a window into the life of two kids, who are trying to not let their illness define them. Although at times I felt sorry for Isabel and Sasha, I tried to steer my feelings and emotions away from sympathy. I didn’t feel much empathy throughout the book, because I have never had an experience as difficult as Sasha and Isabel’s. However, after reading this book, I think I will be more empathic in the future. Overall, this book helped change my thinking, and it was also a very enjoyable book to read. By Lily S. The title itself is plenty to explain the story, it's confusing yet seems to make sense at the same time. Not only does it provide an interesting read, but is also beautifully crafted to make someone question their outlook on mental health and their assumptions of people. John Green’s book Turtles All The Way Down uses high school romance, friendship, loss, and mystery as the background for an interesting story that takes a look into the mind of a 16-year-old girl suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. With that, the book provides this look into Aza's mind by having her tell the story. By that, I got to "see" the seemingly wild thoughts of someone diagnosed with OCD. In my mind, the book was... odd... to read as there is a lot of focus placed on recurring ideas and lines as well as metaphors, which make the book a bit repetitive. However, I think this is outshined by the fact that this is how Green depicts Aza's OCD and does a fantastic job of it due to his personal experience with OCD. As far as the book changing my thinking goes, I think it's done a brilliant job of making me question why with most books that I have read, do mental problems never get brought up in any sense. Perhaps I just need to expand my horizons and read some more books like this. All in all, the interesting combination of genres and characters makes for an eye-opening read. A major piece I've taken away from this has to do with one of Green's quotes, "Your now is not your forever". I think this is quite self- explanatory, but being able to have examples to apply it to and being able to read it makes it inspiring. Anyway, reading this book has helped me question lots about what I read. With that, I've realized that there is quite a lot that I can change having to do with my outlook on mental illness and peoples' problems in general. Basically, I need to read more that have to do with peoples' different situations in life and learn more about what those people have to deal with so that I can apply that to my ideas and thought process. by Max W. |
AuthorSTenth grade students at Decorah High School share how they're reading outside of their own experiences and how it has changed them. Categories
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