Never underestimate a girl

[SPOILER ALERT]

In the book The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart, Frankie poses as Alpha, her boyfriend's best friend, in emails in a duel for control. Alpha and Frankie don't really like each other, and they both feel like they have to compete with each other for Matthew (Frankie's boyfriend) and control over The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds. Alpha is the senior 'alpha dog', hence his nickname, and Frankie is the sophomore Matthew drags around for whatever they do. Matthew genuinely likes Frankie, and Alpha don't have a very good reason to dislike Frankie. Well, until she poses as him in some emails. Frankie only does this because she is upset with Matthew for lying to her, and because Alpha kept pulling Matthew away from their dates. Frankie uses the emails to have the Bassets do her bidding, all in good nature.

When Frankie poses as Alpha she uses her own ideas for the Basset's annual prank on Halloween. She feels like she can do it because Alpha is gone for 4 days, and no one would guess that it's her. Frankie is expecting a certain reaction from Alpha when he hears about the prank, but instead he takes credit and Frankie isn't satisfied. Frankie emails Alpha at his real email, and tells everybody in The Order of the Bassets what other pranks to do through him. I believe Frankie is just trying to put a spin on something so serious. She could not become a member of the Bassets because it is a boys only group, so she tries another way. Frankie already feels lucky that Matthew is dating her, but she realizes that she will never be a part of their group. The book quotes, "Sure, they like Frankie fine, found her attractive and didn't seem to mind her hanging around; but if Matthew had dumped her, none of them would ever have given Frankie a second glance. None of them." Frankie wants to show them that she's no one to underestimate or tamper with.

I read a whole series that is about girls being underestimated. The four main characters all go to the Gallagher Academy For Exceptional Young Women, which is an incognito spy school for girls. Only members of the CIA and MI6 with the right clearance know the truth of Gallagher and it's students. The main character Cammie mentions the looks that she and her best friends get when the go out as a school group, but then enjoys it when she's on a mission. Because if you see two fifteen year olds walking around town, you wouldn't think for a second that either of them could paralyze you with their bare hands. At Gallagher, the girls learn how to defend themselves in P&E (Protection and Enforcement), and are taught how to infiltrate and take information from buildings armed with top security. They are taught how to pin down a man three times their weight, and no one would suspect it. People think Gallagher Girls are helpless, spoiled rich girls. This relates to Frankie because Cammie believes that underestimation is a girls best weapon, but Frankie wants people to know what she is capable of doing. 

Popularity Isn't Easy

In the book The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart the main character Frankie, is a seemingly normal girl in a not so normal boarding school. By not so normal I just mean a very competitive Boarding School called Alabaster. In her freshman year, Frankie is mildly geeky, someone you would look over and not think much of. She wasn't the best looking, but she still got a secure enough position in her school because of her sister Zada. But in her Sophomore year Frankie had gone through a change, and has filled out in all the right places. Frankie gets her second boyfriend, Matthew Livingston, and gets accepted into the "Alpha crew" (led by a guy called Alpha"). Although positive changes were made in Frankie's life, I think her boyfriend and his friends are negatively influencing her, almost like peer pressure. In middle school or high school most students feel like they want to fit in, and generally want to be liked.

In Frankie's sophomore year, she gets a name within Matthew and Alpha's group, and starts to become popular. But Frankie is still an outcast in the in-crowd. When Frankie first officially meets Matt's friends, they all start by saying things like, "hey look, Livingston has a girl!" or "Livingston, who's that girl?" Frankie had also met Alpha over the summer, and he had flirted with her, but acted like he had never seen her before when Matt introduced her. Frankie asked her friend about it later, and she said that Alpha was only pretending that he didn't know her because Matt so obviously liked her. Another way Matt and his friends influence her is when Frankie asks Star about her invitation to a party. Frankie  was invited to a party, and before she got the invite Star asked her if she had gotten the blue envelope. After Frankie got the blue envelope and after the party, she went to Star and asked her why she asked if Frankie had gotten one. Star had said, "did I ask you about it?" and acted very confused. Frankie wrote this off as the same thing Alpha was doing. It was "intended to discomfort another person who was in some way perceived as a threat." Frankie felt like Alpha and Star weren't making an effort to like her, or even to be polite. This influenced her emotions in the way that she felt like an outcast within her boyfriend's friends.

In most stereotypical books or movies placed in High Schools there are the kids that strive to be popular, or liked. Frankie is not striving, she just gets it using wits. But once she has it, she doesn't feel very inclined to keep it, especially with Matt's friends confusing her. People in books who usually want to be liked are those people you don't see very often. The people that are there, and you don't think about it much. Reading this book I thought of the book, The Clique. In the book The Clique, the main character Claire has to fit in with a rich, fashion designer world, coming from Orlando. It's hard for Claire, and she pretends to be someone she's not to get popularity, but she ends up being friends with the girls. This reminded me of Frankie because Frankie gets accepted, but doesn't know what to do with it. Claire has it in her reach, but she has trouble finding out how to get it. Frankie is influenced and confused by Matthew's friends about her place in their group.

Don't Abandon Love

In the book Numbers by Rachel Ward, the main character, Jem, can see when people are going to die. When she makes eye contact with someone, a number appears in the back of her mind, for example, 10102001 would appear. That means that that person will die on October 10th, 2001. That also happens to be the number that Jem saw in her mother's eyes. Ever since her mom dies Jem has been living in foster homes, and going to a school for troubled kids. Jem is smart enough to know she can't share her gift with anyone else, much less tell them their number. But Jem starts to change when she becomes friends with a boy called Spider, and the London Eye blows up. Jem and Spider go on the run when police think that they blew up the London Eye. This story is about how Jem accepts her loss of her loved ones by learning how to trust and love other people again.

Jem has to learn how to trust other people, and she starts with Spider. Spider has been wanting to get to know her better, but she hasn't let him in. But because Spider is so persistent Jem finally decides to give him a chance. Jem ends up hanging out with Spider a lot, and they become closer and closer, especially when they to run away from the police. [SPOILER ALERT] Jem and Spider eventually fall in love, erasing Jem's prior belief that she would never trust anyone ever again. Jem also starts to trust her foster mom, Karen, more near the end of the book. Jem wasn't prepared to love her foster mom, probably because she didn't want to feel the pain of loosing her mom again. It isn't clear whether Jem loved her mom or not but after her mom left she felt alone.

I have not lost anyone near to me to death, but I was adopted when I was 9 months old. I never knew my parents or possible siblings, so the yearning I feel for them is different than the ache of someone you knew well, and loved. I also have no idea whether they are still alive or not, so I don't know how to feel. They are missing from my life, but at the same time, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because I never knew them. My parents told me that my 9 months (4 months with my birth parents, 5 months in the orphanage) was a really long time, but I know adopted kids who were abandoned at 13. My friend told a story about how her parents took her on a car trip when she was 13, then left her at a gas station. It's not the same idea as being adopted from birth, but it had the same abandoned feel. Sometimes I'm glad I don't know who abandoned me, but in the situation of letting myself love again, I have accepted that and moved on, similar to Jem.

Decisions, decisions

In the book Summer Boys by Hailey Abbott, 3 girls named Jamie, Ella, and Beth go through major relationship problems over the summer. Ella and Beth are both Jamie's cousins, but on different sides. Every summer they come together and hangout. They face a lot during that summer, and they conclude that they can only trust each other, and help them with whatever problems they have. They support each other with whatever choices they have to make, and support their emotions. They learn to accept what comes at them and they learn how to deal with it.

One time where they deal with a hard decision is on page 71 when Ella comforts Jamie. Ella helps Jamie get over a big decision that affected her badly. Jamie is unsure whether her reaction to this bad situation is acceptable or not, and feels guilty. Ella helps her by distracting her. She brings some stuff to do, movies, makeup, and plays games with her. Ella also tried to show her all the good outcomes of her choice. She shows her what was wrong about before, and how it's better now. She even says right out, "did you ever notice how nasty his feet are? I did."

Another excerpt in the story where they help make decisions is with Beth and her best friend George. Near the beginning of summer Beth realizes that she is in love with her best friend.  This seemingly romantic situation becomes awkward when George asks Beth if she could find out if this girl Cara likes him. To Beth, Cara obviously likes him, but that's just girls' perception. And the fact that Cara asked Beth if she thought George was good looking, and if he was single. Beth felt really uncomfortable talking about this, but still gave her honest opinion. She thought of George first, and told him that she would try. Beth had very mixed feelings, but she still had George first in her mind. This decision is different than Jamie's, but both were downsides to other's decisions.

I believe that friendship is important, and there are a lot of hard decisions in a good friendship. I have a friend named Jamie, ironically, and I help her whenever she feels like she is making a bad choice. I talk to her, and comfort her. I also try and distract her, and so far my help has worked and been welcome. We feel comfortable in telling each other stuff, and trust each other. Beth had given her trust in George by not giving him a full answer. She had said, "sure, I'll see what I can pry out of her." Beth is showing her trust in George to make the right decision himself.

Am I Blue?

In the short story "Am I Blue?" by Bruce Coville the main character, Vincent, gets beat up because he might be homosexual. Vincent meets his fairy godfather, Marvin, after being pushed into a mud puddle and gets three wishes. He uses one on the "Gay Fantasy #3", which exposes every gay person, turning them blue for a day. Vincent has trouble deciding and admitting whether or not he is gay, and he is afraid of the consequences. A big concept of this story is accepting others and accepting who you are. It's also about being able to control how you think of yourself.

One part in the story that shows control is when Melvin tells Vincent his story. Melvin called Vincent a faggot casually.When Vincent asked him about it, Marvin replied that he and his friends called each other that to "take the words away from the people who want to use them to hurt us." Melvin and his friends were stepping up and taking control of what people could call them, and how much it would hurt them. By taking the word 'faggot' and using it as a casual term they were less offended by it when people tried to hurt them with it.

 Another part where Vincent learns about recognition is when Marvin gives Vincent "gaydar", the ability to see gay people blue. Marvin talks to Vincent about how many gays there are, and how no one knows about them because they are afraid of getting beat up. Marvin says gays want the Gay Fantasy #3 "so all the straights would have to stop imagining that they don't know any gay people. They would find out that they have been surrounded by gays all the time, and survived the experience... The hiding would finally have to stop." This quote also shows how not only are gay people afraid of being beat up, straight people are afraid to admit that they know gay people. If they would both accept each other there would be no reason to hide. In the end of the story, the guy who had bullied Vincent also turns out to be gay. So, this story is about how everyone is afraid to show who they really are. 

Two of my mom's closest friends are lesbian, and they live together. I love going over to their house and seeing them. They don't act different than anyone else I know. They are so happy together, it's sad to think of the people like Vincent and Marvin who had trouble coming out. One of my cousins on my mom's side, who is around my sister's age, also discovered she was a lesbian. We all still love her, and accepted her decision easily and quickly. She even found a girlfriend at college. If only more people were accepting and understanding, gay people like Vincent would be able to live happily and safely, with a boyfriend, maybe. 

The Drummer Boy of Shiloh

In the short story "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" by Ray Bradbury, the main character, Joby, receives help from the General of the troop. The General helps Joby find self-confidence and purpose through an item of resentment. The General makes Joby feel better by making him feel wanted. For example, on page 53 the General tells Joby that in order to make the army battle worthy, he needs Joby to beat his drum. Joby sits there, listening to his speech about how Joby is important and needed. Also, when the General first finds Joby, Joby is crying. Instead of scolding him about being weak, he encourages him, saying it's ok to cry before the war. It might even be better. The General also doesn't seem so surprised to see Joby there. As if the General was once a little boy who was looked down on; as if he was once a drummer boy who wanted to be a soldier.

The General also helps teach and comfort Joby by finding something that Joby can do well, and creates something new out of it. It's like the General took Joby's drum away, turned it into a secret weapon, then returned it to Joby with a new sense of importance. Everyone has probably has, or had done something they don't like, so they try to push it out of their minds. If you could just look at this thing, or event in a different light it might change into something wonderful, unless you are like Joby, and need someone else to shape it for you, and point out the opportunity.

I have been volunteering at ATN (All Together Now), which is a non-profit organization that lets adoptees mentor and take care of other adopted children, while their parents learn about taking care of adopted children. I have been taking care of a three year old girl named Tirha. Sometimes, during the day she misses her mom, and I have to do my best to distract her, and comfort her. I connect this to "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" because the General talked to Joby, and said the things he needed to hear. The General made Joby feel better, to the best of his abilities. When I talk to Tirha and try to comfort her I tell her that she'll see her mom really soon, and that she should color a picture, or make something for or of her mom. It's not like I'm preparing her for war or anything, but I still feel a sense of responsibility when Tirha feels bad, and it makes me feel proud when she feels comfortable. I feel like I'm preparing her for a time when she'll have to spend the day without her mom around, like when she starts school. By doing this I feel assertive and commanding like the General, and important like Joby.

Beauty Queens

In the book Beauty Queens by Libba Bray a plane full of the 50 Teen Dream Pageant contestants crashes onto a deserted island. This book doesn't exactly have one main theme, but one of my questions was about people who influence other people. In this book other people don't influence other people, but more like expectations and dreams of other people influenced their decisions when living on the island. Each of the surviving girls find themselves while surviving this harsh island. One of the main influences is how their family or friends see them. They think that the pageant is all they think about and care about. One of the girls actually joined so they could prove that pageants aren't everything. Beauty pageants are a lot of work, and it must be tedious when you aren't the one who want's it.

These girls were influenced by the image everyone thought they were, almost like peer pressure. One of the girls, Taylor, was shaped to be her mothers spitting image, and worshipped the "queen of Beauty Queens" Ladybird Hope. Taylor actually went crazy near the end, but during her parts you could tell her life was hard growing up. Most of the parents of these contestants thought that their child would be just like them when they grew up, which is a mistake. These parents are pressuring their daughters to parade around for something they might not care about. Worse even, they might care about it because pageants are the only thing they know. My parents are very open to new ideas, so i never dealt with influencing of that sort.

Some of the girls in the Teen Dream Pageant also had personal problems. One of the girls used to be a guy in a famous boy band. Once the other girls found out they were judgmental and didn't understand. I feel like they should have had a little more sympathy for the 'girl' they had known for a while. I have definitely been misunderstood. I am misunderstood a lot everyday because of the things I say. I usually say the wrong things at random times, and I am very impulsive when I speak. If there is something I want to say, and I'm about to say it, I don't think about how it sounds before it comes out. Like one time with my friends, one of us ordered cookies. I had taken one when she wasn't looking, not knowing she go them for herself. When she tried to take it back I said abruptly "you monster!" We all had a good laugh about it, and i still got part of that cookie, but I had no idea what I was saying until it came out, and I was kind of embarrassed. Upon leaving the island, each girl left with a new prospective on their life, and what they wanted to be.