Daniel Alarcon

People who are not from third world countries have a very interesting view on them. Daniel Alarcon, a half Peruvian half American journalist and writer is one of them and has suffered only slightly the problems many other third world citizens have regarding how other people look at them. Daniel himself does not really know where he is really from, what country he really belongs to. In comparison to many immigrants, he hasn't suffered much from financial problems and has lived a pretty common life. The most interesting story he tells is the one where he is interviewed by an old woman from the USA which really sets Daniel Alarcon's temper off. The interviewer asks him about the usual things people has immigrants which is why they have come to their country, what their backround is, if they are poor and things that a lot of immigrants have to go through. Since it is so common and people outside of those countries are so use to listening to the same stories from immigrants, the interviewer does not believe Daniel at all when he says that he has gone through some rough time but not really at the same time. Many of the things the interviewer asked him did not apply and she did not believe him which is why it ticked him off because people have such a set view on these people and sometimes it is the complete opposite of what they think. Since he hasn't really gone through hard times, and people look at him this way, he feels he is not really the person he should be. He feels like he should fall in the bandwagon of immigrants and be part of the same view but at the same time is mad that everyone thinks that way of third world citizens. He wants to be part of a reocurring stereotype seen especially in America but feels that it is not correct. Putting myself in his shoes, I can see why he would feel this certain way but also I majorly disagree on him saying that he would have liked to live the hard life many immigrants have lived throughout their lives because eventually and maybe one day people will stop thinking such thing about them, so why be part of them. A few years back we had a speaker come to school to talk about this very specific topic on third world children and I could relate so much but not for me as a person but for the Indian people who live in this country. Of course I am asked all the time where I come from, what my parents do and if I am actually a Chilean citizen and goes even more for the older people who have been living here for countless years. I feel it is ridiculous how people view and sometimes even discriminate immingrants from other countries and feel they are being invaded. It goes back to the interview that Daniel Alarcon has with the interviewer and the stupid questions she asked him. Aside from me, going to an international school I am sure many other students can relate to my self and Daniel Alarcon. It is an interesting way to learn about the topic.

Book Paper - "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell

The book written by the author Susan Campbell called "The Boy Who Dared", is a interesting book about WWII, focusing more on the Hitler Youth. The Hitler Youth were a large number of students going into middle school who were taught and convinced that Hitler was a good person whom should be looked up to and should always stay by his side. The main character of the story, Helmuth Hubener did not think the same. As this book is based on a real life story, it was interesting to get to know this character and understand what he did and why he did it. Although the book does not display what were the reasons behind his actions, the suspensive and interesting storyline kept me latched on allowing me to finish reading the book in only a few days. But since the story does not explicitly describe the character but has more of a narrative feel to it, I went ahead and researched this young boy who rebelled again Adolf Hitler in WWII. He was only 17 years old and was the youngest person to be sentenced to death during that time being caught by German soldiers whilst setting up pamphlets around town for people to inform themselves on why Hitler was not a good person. The fact that he was German is the best part in my opinion. He even tried to convince other people in and outside of the Hitler Youth to stand by his side and do what the right thing was and bring down Hitler because of causing war and damage to other people. Others did not follow him just because of the fear they had for Hitler and that makes me think why people standed by Hitler's side so much if they feared him? He was supposed to be the good man of the story so having fear to him is a little confusing. Anyways, with suspicions about Hitler's ways, Helmuth Hubener proceeded to his rebellion against Hitler but failed instanstly. Even though he failed, he tried his best and is an admirable character since he never gave up on what his mission was and had a sense of patriotism because he was not doing this to satisfy his own needs but he knew that Hitler was not a benefit to the German people so he was doing this for the wellness of his country. The worst part is everyone else just saw him as a pest and nobody even realized he was sent to prison, concentration camps and later guillotined. Other than this interesting character the book has to offer, the story has no reocurring themes nor symbols. The author, Susan Campbell directed most of her books and short stories to the younger audience, which makes the book such a fast one to read but also gives it that intriguing feeling of wanting to read more. The book it self is an interesting way to learn about the Hitler Youth but can also be considered redundant since there are countless other WWII and Holocaust books out there but just because it focused on the Hitler Youth made it a bit more unique. It would have been nice to have the author include more depth into her style of writing like including those missing literary devices but at the same time cannot be blamed because it is not a book meant to have a high level of complexity. Overall, it is a reccomendable book for one who has spare time on their hands but it is not a must read book which deserves a lot of praise.

WWW Preperation

(Writing this after the trip…)

For the past three years in high school I have done the same trip involving community service. It is called Habitat for Humanity. The initial reason for choosing this trip in my freshmen year was because all the other trips were very expensive. The two years after that I chose it again because I really enjoyed it the first time. As well as the first time, I enjoyed it the second and third time as well. This year I chose the same type of concept but with a different foundation. They are called Vision for Chile. It is the same thing and that being going to a construction site and helping out the people who work there in order for people with no homes to have one. I don't expect much from this trip. It will probably be the same thing I have done for the past three years and I am prepared to take on any challenge that has to do with construction. Other than that I expect it to be a reasonably fun trip but at the same time hard to make it fun because I am going with people I do not know. Hopefully the trip lives up to the expectations I had these past years in high school considering it is a whole different foundation and because I am going with people I don't know.