English Blog

I am reading Born A Crime by Trevor Noah. So far the book is very interesting because I have not heard of too many stories of racism in Africa. Trevor Noah is also a successful celebrity in the US so it was one of the reasons I picked this book so I could learn about his background and what it took for him to become popular. Another reason that I picked this book was because of the 3 awards that it won and the ratings it got. The book got some good ratings while also being tied to one of my favorite celebrities so I had to read the book. My first impression of Trevor in the book was that he was a smart boy who was isolated which made me feel sympathy for him. My first impression of his mother was that she was a strong woman who was just trying to do her best to protect Trevor with the help of god. I also found out that race is a major part of the story and plays a big role when he is being brought up. It was interesting to see how Trevor deals with the adversity through the mini-storie...

Something that really caught my eye when reading was how people react when they are in a tough spot and others are doing well. An example of this is when Fatima gets mad at the Hussains for upgrading their house. Fatima took this as an insult and proceeds to get offended. The part that intrigued me is what she did next. She then lit herself on fire and blamed it on the Hussains. The fact that she was willing to die than to see her neighbors succeed interested me. This then brought to light how rigged the police system is. There was no investigation because the person with the highest bribe gets their way. This is also problematic because in the slums, crime is high and the cash is low. This basically ensures that people with money at their disposal are more powerful in Annawadi and in places that are corrupt all around the world. Another thing that caught my mind is that no one cared about the murder of Kalu and I found this similar to things in America low-income areas of America. Thi...

After seeing the Ted Talk, “To help solve global problems, look to developing countries” I was able to see why and how the developing countries were able to discover such great solutions. The reason that the innovations are able to happen in these countries is no convenience, however, it is the mindset and the stakes that they have that bring these legitimate inventions to life. One example of the reason that they are forced to develop these innovations is that they can keep their human rights constant with the rest of the world. An example of this for the vaccines and for the temperature that they need to be stored in. The detectors are able to scan a code that shows if they are legitimate or not and then use the ones that are good. The stakes are high here because not receiving the proper vaccine could result in death or crippling for the rest of their life. It is in these situations that innovations are able to come through for basic human rights. For there to be a major change, maj...

The song that I chose to analyze is called  Got Ur Self A.. , by Nas. I chose this song because it has a lot of meaning that is still relevant today. On top of that, Nas makes sure to make the song great with his lyrics and beat to let many people hear the problems that are happening in the US. Nas starts the song by saying " Got yo'self a gun" and repeating it as the chorus throughout the song because he wants to hammer in the point that a gun is a necessity in the impoverished areas where crime is abundant and where you need to protect yourself. He uses the chorus with " You from the hood I hope you (got yo'self a gun)  You want beef? I hope ya (got yo'self a gun)" to say that if you are in the hood, he hopes you have a gun as protection because of how it is. He also says that he hopes you have a gun if you have conflict because things could escalate. Another significant lyric is when he says " Yo, I'm the N the A to the S-I-R  And If I wasn...

Kalu was a good character in the story but he is put in this story to prove a point. Kalu was a good fun-loving character but because of his situation, he became addicted to drugs and stole resources to survive. The thing that is interesting is because this character is brought up in a safer environment, then he would thrive in the world with his good personality, and how "everyone loves him" proves that he would be a great person. But because Kalu was brought up in the slums, and because of that, he plays into the system of theft and addiction which continues the cycle of the slums. The theft contributes to more theft as people will do what they can to survive. The need to live discourages kids from going to school and at that the schools are not the best quality so the odds are stacked against the low-income kids and in this case Kalu as he got addicted to drugs and will probably live the rest of his life in the slums.

     In the book Behind the Beautiful Forevers, the slums are a main part of the story and how it shapes the main characters and the characters around them. Slums are present all around the world and not just in war-ridden countries. Sums are in the US,  and like in Behind the Beautiful Forevers, they are in India. What the book is also trying to prove is that education is a second thought when it comes to surviving their situation in the slums. We see in the book that the main characters elect to not go to school to have a full-time job to support themselves. This is a problem especially in the US in how low-income families that don't get a good education because of their circumstances stay in a low economic class. When there is poverty, crime follows because people are desperate to stay alive. In the US, we try to fix this problem by over-policing neighborhoods to stop the crime. Although this is good up to a certain extent, they should also be trying to encou...