Camera Disaster + Picking Cotton Book Review

Question of the Day: What do YOU do to relieve stress when something goes wrong or you just have way too much on your plate?

It seems like the days leading up to and during your first year move into college is always bogged down with loads of events, work, and...well, unexpected unfortunate events. Unfortunately, one of those unfortunate events (in a series of unfortunate events, of course) for me was having my camera lose all of my pictures (including the ones for my last Summer China 2010 Scrapbook Post #3: Fashion) before I could upload them. Yep. What's even worse is that my camera has gone completely nuts and various buttons and knobs on the thing won't even work now. So I guess that's bye bye to China Scrapbook. :(

To make up for my lack of useful posts lately, I've decided to do a nice little book review on Picking Cotton, a non-fiction novel by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton. We read this book for our Summer Reading Program at my college (which I currently now attend, YAY!) and participated in small group discussions today. Here is a summary as well as my thoughts and some of the points that my group touched base on today.


Summary: This book is fairly new, and is about a young woman who was sexually assaulted/raped at knifepoint by a young black man. She was able to escape and put the man named Ronald Cotton, whom she believed to have been the rapist, in jail after she identified him and they went through trial. Then, eleven years later, the woman realizes that Cotton is the wrong man and did not commit the crime that he'd served jail for for over a decade. This woman is Jennifer.


This is a memoir written not like a biography or autobio, but an actual story written from two points of view: Ronald's and Jennifer's. What I think really made the book a success was the way it was structured and written. Not only were the scenes written in easy-to-follow language, but they were also portrayed in a way that had a strong visual effect as well as emotional appeal on the human mind and heart. The book is divided into chapters, and the chapters are divided further into larger sections; the sections are alternated between Jennifer's and Ronald's different points of view. Throughout the book, Jennifer and Ronald are essentially going through the same trial but they each experience it in a different way.


Both of them were truly hurt and had lost several years of their lives. For eleven long and difficult years, Ronald had to endure prison life, all the while having to stay sane and remember, I'm innocent. Although Jennifer wasn't physically chained up, her heart, mind, and soul were prisoners nonetheless. She spent years trying to get over what had happened to her, yet she never could...not until she met Ronald eleven years later and he told her he'd forgiven her for the mistake she had made. But in the end, they ultimately teach each other the power of forgiveness.


I truly admire Jennifer and Ronald, each for different reasons. It's not easy having others not believe you when you tell the truth, and it's so easy to submit to all the wrongdoing that goes around you when you are in jail, especially when you're in there due to injustice. It amazed me how Ronald was able to get through eleven years of Hell--eleven years away from family and freedom--and have the will and strength to keep on believing in himself and forgive the mistakes that had given him so much pain. And many people say Jennifer didn't suffer as much because she wasn't in jail or anything, plus the police were on her side...but she did.

I don't want to give away too much, but I just have to say that such a complicated situation is actually very common in America...but not every victim has been able to truly tell his or her story the way Ronald and Jennifer have. The day we had the group discussions about Picking Cotton, we went to one of our many auditoriums and finally were able to hear Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton speak for themselves as they answered student questions about what it was like to go through the experience, why they did certain things according to the book, and much more. Afterwards, students were able to wait in the lobby to get their book signed by the two authors!! Luckily, I was the first one at the table to get my signatures.

It was really amazing being able to see them in person. You know, after you read a good storybook in which the characters truly seem like they're real, you wish the whole story and all the characters were true...but they usually aren't. Well, Picking Cotton is all facts and the characters are as real as you and me. And so it was really amazing to see those characters for who they were in real life...to have those words you read and the characters you imagined in your head be put forth in front of you. The excitement and bubbliness and inspiration that bursts within you at that moment is incredibly AWESOME, and I feel so lucky to have experienced that.

I highly recommend this book and give it a 10/10. I don't think I've ever written a non-fiction novel that was as gripping and beautiful as this one. If you're interested in law or forensic science, definitely read this book. If you're simply just looking for a good read that will leave you thinking about it for days on end, even after you finish it, definitely read this book. You won't regret it.

Here are some links if you'd like to know more:
http://www.pickingcottonbook.com/home.html
http://www.macmillanspeakers.com/jenniferthompsoncannino
http://www.macmillanspeakers.com/ronaldcotton
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dna/

~TRA

Camera Disaster + Picking Cotton Book Review

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China's One-Child Policy

Question of the Day: After reading this blog entry, what is your personal stance on China's one-child policy?

I usually don't write about politics, but recently my AP Government Comparative class studied China's public policy. One of the biggest issues we discussed was China's infamous one-child policy. I would like to address both the pros and the cons of the policy and then discuss my own position on this matter. Feel free to support, qualify, or refute my position or create your own stance by commenting below. Any feedback is welcome! All information below is either through my own personal knowledge that I have gained from my AP Government class or from Wikipedia. ;]

Basic Overview: China has had a communist regime since 1949 when Mao Zhedong took control after defeating the Kuomingtang. Everything, including the media and economy, has been controlled by the government. In recent years, China HAS taken some steps towards a more democratic state but definitely cannot be officially titled as a "liberal democracy." There is no doubt that the government has severely oppressed the citizens of China in numerous ways, including the one-child policy. The one-child policy states that a couple may not have more than one child, excluding some situations such as minority families or parents with no siblings. The consequences of violating this law usually consist of drastic punishments, ranging from alarmingly high fees to forceful abortion.

Major Benefits: The one-child policy itself has good intentions and was created under the "family-planning policy" mainly in order to control China's constantly growing population. Even now, there are approximately 1,338,612,968 citizens residing, which makes China the most populated region in the world. With so many people living in just one area, resources must be stretched out in order to meet the living demands of every person; the one-child policy prevents even more overcrowding of the country and thus decreases the high level of poverty it could potentially have.

The one-child policy alleviates the stretch of resources to be distributed to the population, and thus saves money for the government to give for individual savings; indeed, the savings rate has increased ever since the policy was implemented. Fewer people also means less unemployment; since China is currently overpopulated, the one-child policy limits the amount of people that is pooled into the population through birth, and thus jobs are spread out more evenly.

Moreover, the one-child policy also seeks to encourage smaller, close-knit families by emphasizing quality of life over quantity of life as well as improve the female status in society by de-emphasizing the female's ability to bear children so more attention is given towards other areas that females may strive to excel in such as politics and jobs.

Major Negative Consequences: Many women who are desperate to have more than one child have their babies stripped literally from their own bodies; the government force many people into abortion, sterilization, and other procedures that are physically and mentally harmful to the victims, perhaps for the rest of their lives. Not only is the person harmed, but the babies also are themselves; at least after the 3rd trimester, the fetus is considered a human life and to intentionally rob the child of its life is essentially murder. What the government officials do is have the woman undergo surgery to take out the half-formed or almost fully formed baby and then inject a harmful substance in its head. Many families have been torn apart and scarred forever by these "punishments." In 2002, using physical force to make others comply with policy became outlawed, but this has not been enforced and many continue to suffer or have to live a life in hiding so as to protect their families.

In addition, the one-child policy pressures women to have a child of a certain sex: Male. In China, the male is essentially a dominant figure over the female because men are able to stay at home and help support the family by working in fields or in other farmwork and at jobs, while women go off and get married. This has led to a lot of abuse between couples, as men pressure women to give them an heir that will uphold the family name and work to support them. Because of this tremendous pressure on families, many daughters born have been left in orphanages or shipped to other countries to be adopted. This will, in time, leave China's population with more males than females; these males could become desperate in trying to find suitable wives for themselves, thus leading to greater crime/rape/kidnapping rates.

My Position: To put it simply, giving birth is a natural right for a woman and should not be taken away or physically and intentionally tampered with. Period. Taking that right away as well as robbing the human life of a baby are both inhumane no matter what excuses you use and no matter how good your original intentions are. I do believe that it IS important to control the population of an overcrowded country, especially China, because not controlling it will ultimately lead to the destruction of humanity anyway, but not in this way because it is wrong in every aspect.

There must be alternative ways that allow for positive reinforcement and actually work in reducing the population. I'm not sure what incentives would work since I'd have to dig a lot deeper....perhaps money or a more detailed and helpful family plan that would benefit the whole family and help the couple raise their one single child? And I actually think the Chinese government know that there ARE other ways to enforce the policy. Part of me thinks that the government purposely is using the one-child policy to maintain and enforce its power. China is an amazing country (I'll show you pictures sometime!), but the regime IS indeed communist. Of course, it has taken some key steps towards democracy, including implementing market-based reforms, but there are still policies like the one-child that heavily oppress the people. The communist government WANTS to stay in power and in control, and I think perhaps they chose the one-child policy specifically in order to keep that up. This is still a speculative and undeveloped theory of mine, however; feel free to let me know what you think.

At the same time, I think if that's true then it's silly because don't the Chinese government want its country to trust and believe in it? I mean, many people (especially the youth and the peasants) were brainwashed with Mao Zhedong's ideals; by forcing such awful punishments on so many families would lower the internal legitimacy of China because people would be more dissatisfied with how at least that area of their public policy works. Does China really want that? Will it really sacrifice its own internal legitimacy because they are power hungry and want to stay in control?

Also, I think the pro-policy aspect about improving women's status in China is invalid since forcefully oppressing women from their own natural right to birth undoes just that. I think that would be actually devaluing their status, especially with the pressure to have males instead of females on top of all that. The pressure from the males really doesn't do much to help the status of the women, and just may worsen it, in fact.

To summarize, I think that the major focus of the one-child policy (to reduce population) is good and probably necessary. However, the current punishments for those who don't comply with the law is definitely way too inhumane and immoral; instead, there should be incentives that actually encourage people to reduce the amount of children they have rather than live in fear and regret and other depressing and "sorry" feelings.

I'd love to hear your thoughts now! Sorry this post is so long. :P I'll talk about something a little less intense next time, hehe.

~TRA

China's One-Child Policy

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My "Do Not Be a Critter Killer" Article

Question of the Day: What type of writing do you enjoy the most? Poetry, short stories, creative nonfiction, essays, or other?

Good day! The March issue of my high school newspaper came out today. =) Unfortunately, I only had one story and only a couple photos published in this issue, but that is because I was put in charge of our April Fool's issue that is coming out, well, on April Fool's! More about that later. Here we have my "Do Not Be a Critter Killer" article, and yes, that is the original title. Please enjoy, and let me know what you think about it!

"Do Not Be a Critter Killer"

By Wendy

There once was a very small snail named Jack. He was a brave fellow admired by all of his friends and family. Jack sported a beautiful, coral pink shell that other snails believed would bring him good luck and fortune some day.

One day, our friend Jack rolled his way outside into the bright sun to fetch some food for his family. As Jack whistled his way towards some crunchy-looking plants, he suddenly heard vibrations all around him. The ground below seemed to shake slightly, and before he could turn around and realize his inevitable fate, Jack was smashed underneath a alrge, human-sized shoe. His beautiful coral shell was crushed into a thousand little pieces. There went his luck, and Jack was no more.

Although this story is fictional and obviously exaggerated, Jack the snail represents millions of small animals and insects that get killed everyday by humans who cringe at the sight of them. We do not think twice about the living critters, including snails, slugs, centipedes, ladybugs and ants, that we destroy by simply stepping on the concrete. However small and trivial they may be physically and mentally in our minds, these creatures are all a part of the world in which we live.

I am not suggesting that you should freak out over every step you take and make sure the entire premises are clear around your shoe before placing it onto the ground. At the same time, there is no reason to spot a cricket on your carpet, scream bloody murder and put a brutal end to that poor cricket's life. You have no idea how immature and silly you look when you allow such a small animal--yes, insects are animals--to intimidate you like that. You weigh 10 times more than the cricket and you definitely are stronger by far.

Being stronger and bigger still does not mean that you should take advantage of small animals and crush them into a pulp before flushing them mercilessly down the toilet. Instead, use your convenient human skills to help them return to their natural habitat. All you have to do is pick the critter up and set it out the door or window. USe a napkin or glass jar to pick them up if you do not want to touch it, and then set it free. It is that easy.

Besides, the cricket is known to be a lucky charm, and I am sure you do not want to throw good luck away. Of course, if you spot a bee, a brightly colored and obviously poisonous spider or other harmful insect just inches from your toe, getting rid of it is a legitimate action. However, there is no reason to kill small animals just for the sake of doing so.

There are currently over one million species of insects and a great number of other types of animals. Several of these creatures have important properties that are extremely valuable to nature. Insects in general are important when it comes to plant pollination and decomposition, both of which are essential for nature to thrive. There are also special abilities of certain insects that have benefited humans in the past. For instance, did you know that the silk of some species of moths was originally used to make clothing? I definitely did not until I googled "moths" a few months ago.

When it comes to these small critters that seem so annoying and insignificant at first glance, there is definitely more than meets the eye. We can all help prevent the extermination of these poor creatures by taking a little extra effort and time to save them and thinking twice before we decide to crush a poor snail.

Here is my current favorite song [which I cannot stop listening to]:

~TRA

My "Do Not Be a Critter Killer" Article

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The Greatest of Superheroes

I have a confession to make: I don't watch very much television. In fact, I almost don't watch any television at all. Almost. Don't get me wrong; I used to spend hours viewing the latest Nickelodeon episodes of Hey Arnold! and Pinky and the Brain and even Rugrats. For me, those shows were classic and, no matter what mood I was, could always make me fall into peals of laughter. The unforgettable characters, the silly plots, the catchy show tunes all make them award-winners to me; why can't today's shows be more like them? To me, it seems that almost all modern television shows is nothing but fake reality, ridiculous sex jokes, pointless drama that never ends, and erroneous, one-sided facts. Almost.

You see, every Friday night I spend an hour watching my favorite television show: Smallville. I have been an avid fan of Smallville ever since the series started at the beginning of the decade 2000. For those of you who are clueless about what on earth Smallville is, let me give you a brief explanation:

Smallville: A television series that tells the story of Clark Kent, the "alien" from the planet Krypton, who has been sent to Earth in order to save it from ultimate destruction and to give the humans a symbol of hope. The series ends the moment that Clark Kent officially becomes "Superman," otherwise known as "The Man of Tomorrow" or "The Man of Steel," and embraces his destiny.

Even when as a young child, I always loved to watch new episodes of the Superman on Cartoon Network...there was never enough for me; I longed to see more of Clark Kent saving Lois Lane once again from disaster, preventing the world from annihilation by Lex's dangerous weapons of mass destruction, and doing double duty as a superhero by day and hotshot Daily Planet news reporter by night. I'm not sure if it was the chemistry between Lois and Clark that kept me hooked, or perhaps if it was that snazzy red-blue costume that caught my eye; whatever it was, The Adventures of Superman has always been the highlight of my day.

I really love what Superman stands for in the comics and cartoons. In so many ways, he portrays justice, hope, and truth. I’ve always admired how Clark looks at the bright sides of people and believe that everybody deserves a second chance no matter what. I think that's a valuable characteristic to have in life...there are so many ruthless people out there who are only too eager to bring down the reputations of others and take revenge of others' mistakes. Superman has always been a reminder to others that we cannot make things better by doing wrong; we can only improve the world by doing what is right.

Clark defines the role of a superhero well, inside and out. Not only does Clark have the physical capability to save humans in peril, but he has the courage and bravery to do so, even those whom he doesn't even know, and helps them with no questions asked and receives zero credit for it. I think that is a big part of what integrity is….doing these good deeds even when nobody is watching. You know you’re doing them because they are the right things to do, not because you want to attract fame and attention and money. Superman truly sets a perfect example.

What greatly saddens me is the fact that Smallville has been pushed back to Friday nights at 8pm. Correct me if I am wrong, but the least popular shows are always on aired on Fridays; I mean, who typically spends their Friday nights at home watching television? Ninety percent of my peers go to the beach, to the club, to the local fancy restaurants. They do anything but stay home. Thus, Smallville has naturally decreased its popularity and, like the rest of the nation, has suffered from severe budget cuts. Nevertheless, the show is still going on persistently.

Smallville is nowhere near as exceptional as it used to be, but the legacy of Superman is still living through this series; amongst the many ridiculous shows that are running today, Smallville keeps up the idea of morality. It is sad that so few still enjoy thesy episodes of young Clark Kent and adventures that he embarks on to save planet Earth.

Okay, I am getting sappy. >_<>, or other form), I encourage you to give Smallville a chance. You never know, it may just end up being on your top list of current favorite shows, along with the famous Top Chef, Next Top Model, The Secret Life of An American Teenager, and whatever else is blaring on the television screen these days.

Meanwhile, in between my daily blogging (one of my many activities that I have slowly but surely become addicted to), my ritual Smartfood White Cheddar popcorn feasts, and my Calculus homework, I will be squeezing in one hour each week into my schedule and dedicating that hour to watching yet another thrilling episode of Smallville, just like I always do.

~TRA

The Greatest of Superheroes

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