In the article,"Should a Hated Word Be Banned?" from Upfront magazine, the author discusses the two contradicting sides of the argument: should the word "Nazi" be banned?

Some lawmakers in Israel believe that the word "Nazi" should be banned. They have given a preliminary approval to a bill that would make it against the law to call someone a Nazi or any other word/ slur associated with the Holocaust, or to use Holocaust- related symbols in a noneducational way. Offenders could be fined as much as $29,000 and up to 6 months in jail. At least 6 European nations have already prohibited the use of Nazi symbols and flags, and even more nations consider it a crime to deny that the Holocaust ever happened. But, none of the other countries are banning the use of the word "Nazi."

Critics say that the law is going against freedom of speech, and many Americans are saying it goes against the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects freedom of expression, even if the views are extremely offensive to most people. Israel doesn't have a law protecting freedom of speech, but its Supreme Court aggressively protects it. While Israel is a Jewish state, its also a democratic state, which means free speech and minority views must be protected. By banning certain words, the Israelis would be going against their own views.

I think its awful that the term "Nazi," is used as an insult, but banning the word won't make it any less awful. People should have enough common sense to not use the term "Nazi" lightly, but passing a bill against ever using the word will probably not do any good for anyone. If the term "Nazi" is banned, it will be going against Israel's idea of democracy, and will be violating the protection of freedom of speech.

Sonnet: "I Hate Winter"

It’s snowing now for the thirtieth day

I’m walking to school, slipping on the ice

The cool, white snow has turned to dark and gray

I’m tripping on garbage, this isn’t nice

I’m getting sick of peppermint Starbucks

I’m wearing three pairs of socks and sweaters

Oh God, I hate this, winter really sucks

By now we should be done with this weather

Beaches and the sand, and water so blue

Nothing could be better than the summer

When the sun is hot and the sky is new

But I’m in New York; it’s such a bummer

I’m tired of always being so cold

It’s early March, and this is getting old

Martín Espada’s poems “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School,” and “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877” show racism, disrespect, and social injustice.

            In the poem “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” the speaker states, “Whenever my name/ is mispronounced…” and then goes on to describe how angry he feels and all of the horrible things he wants to do when people mispronounce his name. The speaker feels disrespected when his name isn’t pronounced correctly, because he feels that the people who are mispronouncing his name just aren’t taking the time to learn about or understand his culture. This shows social injustice and disrespect because the people who are mispronouncing his name believe that they don’t need to show the speaker any respect, and aren’t giving any time to learn about his culture.

            In the poem “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School,” the author writes, “…So he decides/ to ban Spanish/ in the bathrooms/ now he can relax.” “He” is the principal, and he is banning Spanish because it makes him uncomfortable. This shows social injustice and disrespect because the principal is banning something just because he doesn’t understand it, which makes him uncomfortable, and he doesn’t want to learn about it, so he decides to ban it. The principal has the power to change things he doesn’t like, which is unfair to the students in the poem.

            In the poem “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877,” the author writes, “when forty gringo vigilantes/ cheered the rope/ that snapped the two Mexicanos/ into the grimacing sleep of broken necks.” The reader can infer that the forty “gringos” were lynching the two Mexicans, and that it was most likely an act of racism. This shows social injustice and racism, because the crowd is presumably hanging the people for their race. They also feel proud about it, and later on in the poem they treat the corpses like trophies.

            The poems “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School,” and “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877” by Martín Espada all have general themes of racism, disrespect, and social injustice. They all show minorities being discriminated against and disrespected, and they all show racism. When looking at the world around us, we can see that racism, disrespect, and social injustice occur almost regularly. Minorities are discriminated against and persecuted, just because they are a certain race. This occurs in many of Martín Espada's poems. 

In the book "Change of Heart," by Jodi Picoult, June can't admit to herself that her daughter, Claire, needs a heart donor no matter who it is. June is left to decide if she should grant her family's killer's dying wish, if it means saving her daughter's life.

When Shay Bourne murdered both June's husband and her daughter, Elizabeth, and then went to jail and received the death sentence, June obviously hated him more than she had ever hated anyone. But, when June's daughter, Claire needs a heart donor and Shay wants to donate his heart to her, June is strongly against it. She doesn't want the heart of her husband and daughter's killer inside her other daughter. But, there are no other possible donors for Claire. This leaves June to have to choose between  possibly saving her daughters life, but only at the cost of granting her enemies dying wish. I think June is being extremely selfish. She has the opportunity to save her only surviving daughter, and she might throw away that chance just so Shay doesn't get his dying wish. Even if it makes Shay happy to donate his heart, and June doesn't want him to ever be happy, it should be more important to June to save her daughter's life.

In the book "Change of Heart," by Jodi Picoult, June is very selfish. She doesn't want to grant Shay his dying wish, even though it means letting her daughter die.

In the book "Vanishing Acts," by Jodi Picoult, there are a lot of things that are unfair. Andrew is unfair to Delia and her mom, Delia is unfair to Fitz and Eric, and Delia's mom is unfair to Delia and Andrew.

Andrew was unfair to his daughter Delia and to her mother. By taking Delia with him and basically kidnapping her for 28 years without telling anyone, he was only thinking about himself. He wasn't realizing how this would affect Delia or her mother, or that there would be consequences. This was very unfair to both Delia and her mother.

Delia was unfair to her best friend, Fitz, and her fiancé, Eric. Growing up, she never realized that Fitz liked her, and she only really paid attention to Eric. This was unfair to Fitz. Now she is engaged to Eric, but then she cheated on Eric with Fitz, and Eric found out. This was unfair to Eric, because they were already engaged, and she cheated on him with his best friend. Delia was very unfair to both Fitz and Eric.

Delia's mother was unfair to Delia and Andrew. She knew that she had never been a good mother to Delia, and that Andrew would have always been a better parent, and even that Andrew was right to take Delia, but she still testifies against him in court. This almost causes Andrew to go to jail for even longer, which would have been awful for both Andrew and Delia. Delia's mother was very unfair to both Delia and Andrew.

In the book "Vanishing Acts," by Jodi Picoult, the main characters are all very unfair to each other.

In the book Vanishing Acts, by Jodi Picoult, Delia has very different relationships with everyone. When she is with Eric, she usually seems tired, annoyed, or uneasy. When she is with Fitz, she usually seems to be longing for more than what she already has. When she is with Andrew, she is easily upset.

When Delia is with her husband, Eric, she often acts tired, annoyed, or uneasy. Eric used to be an alcoholic, and this caused Delia to be stressed out all the time, and constantly worried or angry. Even though he doesn't drink anymore, she still acts uneasy around him. I think this is because she is so used to him being a disappointment as both a husband and a father, making her unsure about whether she should trust him to make the right decisions.

When Delia is with her best friend, Fitz, she often seems to want more than what she already has. She always tells him how she wishes her life were different in one way or another, and he always seems to understand. When he kisses her, and Delia's daughter, Sophie, sees them, Delia seems like the only part she regretted was Sophie catching them. I think Delia would rather be with Fitz than Eric, but is scared to admit it to anyone, including herself.

When Delia is with her dad, Andrew, she becomes upset easily. Since he's been arrested, she either gets angry or cries anytime she visits him. They used to be so close, and they could talk to each other about everything, but now Delia can hardly look at him without becoming even more upset. I don't think their relationship will ever be the same again, now that she knows what he did. Even if it becomes easier for Delia to talk to her dad, it wont be the same as it used to be.

Delia has very different relationships with everyone, and she doesn't seem to be happy with any of them.

In the book "19 Minutes," by Jodi Picoult, there are 5 different characters who tell the story at different parts. These characters are Josie, Peter, Josie's mom Alex, Peter's mom Lacy, and Jordan (Peter's defense attorney). Each character is telling the story from their point of view. 

When Josie tells the story, she makes it seem like her mom, Alex, is the "bad guy." In Josie's retellings, Alex repeatedly ignores Josie, or seems uninterested in anything Josie tells her. But, when Alex tells the story, she makes it seem like Josie doesn't want to talk to her. Alex explains how Josie keeps blowing her off when Alex wants to spend time with her. In reality, Josie and Alex probably don't have a great relationship, but it probably doesn't go to the same extremes that they both think it does. 

This happens many times in the book, including when Peter and his mom, Lacy, are telling the same story. Peter always describes Lacy as never sticking up for him, and always wanting him to be more like his brother, Joey. But Lacy always describes Peter as wanting to do his own thing, and as being someone very independent who really doesn't need her support. This shows that they aren't really communicating with each other, so they don't know how the other person feels and they are just saying what they think is going on. 

I found it very interesting that so many characters would describe the same events so differently. This shows how when more than one person tells a story, it will be told in many different perspectives.