I woke with a jolt of instant panic. I peered over at my phone to see the time. It hit me suddenly, like a ton of bricks; I was late to pick up my mom. I was supposed to wake up early to take my her to a very important doctor’s appointment. This elusive doctor was impossible to book. My mom had been on the waiting list for a month; we cannot be late! Just like in Junot Diaz’s “The Money”, I foolishly expected my mother to be grateful for my efforts in arriving at her house quickly. Instead, I got “Nada” (Diaz 116). Like a flash, my body went into full throttle mode. I threw on yesterday’s questionable clothes, barely brushed my teeth, and did not even look at my hair. Frantically, I called my mother numerous times; adding to my anxiety, she
Money Well Spent by Michael Grabell is a book about Michael Grabell posing one crucial question about The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which was the largest economic recovery plan in history. The $825 billion package known as “the stimulus” was five times more expensive than the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Moreover, the recovery plan cost well over a trillion dollars. In addition, one question Michael Grabell posed to himself: was the taxpayers’ money well spent? Therefore, to get his answers he followed the progression of the stimulus projects across the country, scrutinizing how reality and spin often collided.
Love and Violence The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz covers the issue of Love and Violence thoroughly throughout the book, and shows how anger and love influence the impulsive and reckless decisions the characters make. Searching for Zion, by Emily Raboteau on the other hand, shows that love comes in different forms and may be easily misunderstood. Abelard, Belicia, Lola, and Emily show love can be a devastating force if not handled carefully and, can be very dangerous. As others commonly have, Oscar confuses passion or lust with love, which in many ways can be critical when conveyed in violence.
Junot Diaz’s novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is focused on the hyper-masculine culture of the Dominican, and many argue that his portrayal of the slew of women in the novel is misogynistic because they are often silenced by the plot and kept out of the narration (Matsui). However, Diaz crafts strong women, and it is society that views them as objects. The novel recognizes the masculine lens of the culture while still examining the lives of resilient women. In this way, the novel showcases a feminist stance and critiques the misogynist culture it is set in by showcasing the strength and depth of these women that help to shape the narrative while acknowledging that it is the limits society places on them because of their sexuality
It was a bone-chilling winter morning in Bavaria. My alarm clock rang, and I slapped it to snooze. Oh no, I was not getting up that day. I had just finished the worst school week of my life. If we zoom back to that time two years ago, I was a 14 year old foreign exchange student in southern Germany. Bullying from the kids in school had made my homesickness unbearable. But that’s not all. I eventually became so anxious throughout my exchange that I chewed all the skin around my nails, gained 15 pounds, and finally, had to book my flight back home January 1st.
Elisa Black has been experiencing chronic anxiety for the majority of her life, starting at age two. Many times it is unclear why exactly why certain individuals develop anxiety while others go through life unaffected. Black talks about the guilt she feels, having not experienced any “grand traumas” in her life, explaining how she had a “wonderful life” and “many advantages and gifts and wonderful parents and friends, and [she] still had this fear that [she] couldn 't explain” (Black 2016). Over the years, many theories about anxiety have been developed, some explaining why exactly anxiety can occur without a large external trauma happening in the person’s life, and how certain people are naturally more susceptible than others.
Prolific Dominican American author Junot Diaz is a recognizable author for many familiar with contemporary American literature. Currently a creative writing professor at MIT, Diaz is renown for his expert use of voice when crafting a story. Taken from his collection of short stories titled This is How You Lose Her, Miss Lora uses solely the second person to tell the story and it is almost intimidating just how well Diaz accomplishes this writing taboo. Diaz won the pulitzer in 2007 for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Diaz’s writings are immensely personal and seem to draw from his experiences as an immigrant youth growing up in Parlin, New Jersey. Shortly after graduating from Rutgers University Diaz created the character
Kenneth Vogel’s Big Money explores the invasion of money into our political system. In the novel, Vogel explains one of the most important important events that is currently happening in today’s elections: donors. This, according to Vogel, has been brought on by a ruling in the case Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission. The result of this case destroyed finance restrictions, giving Corporations and Unions the same laws of freedom of speech as individual Americans. The novel opens in February of 2012 where Vogel sneaks into a donor banquet. As our current president, Barack Obama, gives his speech, Vogel makes a note of the President’s words. In particular, Vogel focuses on one line “You now have the potential
Summary of “The Money” by Junot Diaz In this essay, the author recounts a life event from his childhood. The story begins with Junot describing his family's financial status and living arrangement. Diaz and his four siblings lived with their two parents in a catchpenny apartment in a rough urban borough. Not steadily employed, his mother and father were in a constant struggle to keep the family afloat monetarily; to the point where decent, alimental food was not a likely sight in the household. Despite their meager inhabitance his mother was stowing $200 to $300 monthly and sending it to her parents in the Dominican Republic.
During the time of its publication “The Story of an Hour” was not received with open arms. In fact, the topic itself was strange to many as it spoke of “a woman rejoicing in the death of her husband” (Hicks). And it
In Junot Diaz’s essay “The Money” he explains where his family stands economically. Stating that his father was regularly being fired from his forklifting jobs and his mother 's only job was to care for him and his four siblings. With the money brought home by his father, his mom would save some. Her reason was to raise enough to send to her parents back in the Dominican Republic. When his family went on a vacation, they came back to an unpleasant surprise; their house had been broke into. Eventually Diaz was able to get back their money and belongings. Diaz returned the money to his mother although she didn’t thank him for it, this disappointed him. Like Diaz I have also encountered a similar situation where I was disappointed. When I was in second grade, my life life took a completely different turn. My dad took an unexpected trip to Guatemala, on his return, the outcome was not what I expected.
So, let us conclude my rant and provide you with a solution. Crazy idea, get rid of money, once the money is out of the picture what do we have left, our lives. Without money or a form of a payment there would be no fear of tomorrow. Yes, I know what you are thinking, but how will I have all the things that the world has to offer. STOP! Get rid of all the materialistic wants and needs none of it will fit in your casket and if it does, well, what a waste. Why don’t we create a society that will harness nurture its best without limitations, promote errors and cherish success and stop enforcing pointless rules and regulations? Once the money is gone, fear will disappear, once fear disappears the “A” will not matter anymore and what will matter
I have a morning ritual that I do every morning. I have a similar style of routine if I have something important later in the day; exams, important activities with my kids, an interview. The day of the interview I was flying by the seat of my pants, mainly due to an emergency type of doctor’s appointment I unexpectantly had to go to. and it carries over longer than I had anticipated. Running just by the nick of time left me feeling anxious and unprepared—unprepared mentally.
“You need to relax.” This phrase is one that most individuals hear weekly, and sometimes daily. It is hard to deal with situations that put a mental strain on the body, such as problems in a relationship, at work, or at home. In order to try and adapt to the situation, the body goes into panic mode. If the emotions that are associated with these occurrences remain constant, they can begin to impact physical health as well as mental health. The physical symptoms put an even greater strain on mental health because the individual begins to worry about them. The individual becomes lost in a vicious cycle.
“The Story of an Hour” is the story of Mrs. Louise Mallard who suffers of a weak heart. This being the first we know of Mr. Mallard, she is carefully being told that her husband had just passed away in a train accident. As every good wife should, Mrs. Mallard breaks out in grief. At first, the story goes, as it should. Then Mrs. Mallard goes into her room where she begins thinking, and her first thought is that she is free. Mrs. Mallard after years of being in an unhappy marriage is finally free to do what she wants, with no one to hold her back. Yet everything is against her, when she finally accepts that her life will begin now, her husband enters his home, unscathed and well, not having known that everyone thought him dead, a...
When I went to bed around 11 o’clock, I was crying, like I usually did, but this time was different. I couldn’t fall asleep and my cries got heavier. I began hyperventilating, which soon woke my little sister, who was sleeping in the bed above mine. She called out to see if I was ok, but I was unable to respond. She ran down the hall to my parents room and told them that something was wrong with me. My parents ran to my bedroom, which awakened my whole family. My mom was yelling at me to respond, but I couldn’t. I was paralyzed. There I was sitting in a ball on my bed, hyperventilating uncontrollably, with my family standing in a circle around me. They had no idea what was going on, and there was no way for me to tell them. My mom crawled into bed with me and the two of us just laid there. She was silent, just listening to my deep, powerful sobs. It took a long time for me to calm down. It had been 5 hours since I first went to bed. Around 4 o’clock was the time I was able to sit up and answer my mom’s questions with one word answers. we talked the rest of the morning, and I told her all about what had been happening for the past 7 months, except I left out the part about being suicidal. I couldn’t bear to tell my mom how bad I was, and that I never told her before.