Catcher In The Rye

Oh good old, "Catcher In Rye" by J.D. Salinger has reached one of my top favorites EVER. To be completely honest, I just adored the book, I finished it about a week in advance of the rest of the club. What really made me love this book overall was the way it was written. The stream of conscience method of story telling with Holden's New York style of speaking reminded me of when my Grandfather used to tell me stories. So, for this blog post I thought in the spirit of J.D. Salinger, I would try to emulate his writing style little bit.

Ever since I finished the book, many of the themes and character arcs throughout the book have really been quite prominent in my thoughts. I couldn't talk to my book club because at the time they had not finished yet, and I really wanted to discuss the book so I talked to my parents. I talked to my parents about the book, both of whom have read it but do not remember much about it, and all they remember about the book is that they liked it. So not much progress there. Still my quest to break down this book continued. After an hour on the phone the next day with my Grandfather, a brief conversation with my brother, I still hadn't felt that I had done this book justice.

So, I decided to talk to this really super duper smart guy named Jared.
(If you haven't figured it out, I'm Jared. I pretty much just talked to myself. Pretty depressing. Anyway moving on.)
Jared and I decided on 3 really important things that we really thought made this book so unique:
1) The writing style which was a true and accurate way of portraying a teenage boy's thoughts.
2) How Holden was alienated and his really interesting perspective on human nature and modern society.
3) How he hypocritically shamed phonies, because he would constantly lie and deceive and act phony.

This book in a very subtle and almost abstract way has incredible insight into society and human nature. I would give it a 9.5 out of 10, and would recommend it to anyone who has not read it. It is definitely worth reading.

Israel

I went to Israel this past break, and it gave me a new perspective on my own life, and the world outside of the USA. It was by far one of the most advanced spiritually and culturally learning experiences I have had in my life. Prior to the trip I was an atheist, and now I'll say I'm more agnostic in a sense. Or rather, I know something greater has to be out there, I just don't know if it is God, Aliens or something else. I know that sounds clichéd and cheesy, but it is true. Now if you are one of my good friends, you would ask immediately what onset my change of heart towards 'god' (because I rant about god from time to time), and it was the Western/Wailing Wall the holiest place on Earth for Judaism.

As I slowly walked over to the Wall I felt an immense amount of anxiety and pressure building up inside of  my body, and felt really nervous. In all honestly, I was almost scared of the Wall. I went up to the Wall, put a note to God in one of the cracks, and leaned against it and closed my eyes. As I stood at the Wall with my arms and head pressed against it, I felt nothing whatsoever, and my immediate response was, "Wow this is a boring Wall!". I decided that while I was there, I might as well say some prayers, so I chanted the Shema and Mourners Kaddish for my grandparents. After I finished, I looked around. To my left was Matthew Breitman, a friend of mine on the trip, who was praying too. To my right there was an orthodox man praying, but was weeping in a manner that you could tell he was asking God to save a life. Due to this I began to imagine the thousands and thousands of people like this man and me who had come to the Western Wall to pray since it was built nearly 3000 years ago, and what those people were praying for. The amount of human experience that has occurred at the Western Wall overwhelmed me, and I really zoned out for the next few minutes, just thinking about life. My Rabbi, Matt Green whispered to me that it was time to go. Being the ignorant, disrespectful and naïve teenager that I am, I took a selfie with the wall (Yikes!) and as I walked away from the Wall, I spoke to Matt Green, whom I respect very much, about how I didn't feel God in the Wall. In response he said this, and I'll never forget it:

"Jared, Judaism isn't like other religions in that you don't have to be super religious. You can be a Jew who doesn't believe in God, and is still a Jew. Judaism in my eyes is more cultural than religious. And  to be honest God isn't really my thing either. I just really don't want you to be turned of to Judaism as a whole now because you don't believe in God."

And just like that I began to weep like the man from the Wall. As I kept walking through the streets of Jerusalem with tears dripping down my face, I felt a presence that I cannot characterize. It wasn't God, but it wasn't my imagination.

Why did I cry?
What was the presence I felt?

Does god exist?

You tell me.

Corporate America

So, once again I am going to be writing about the Legend-Prodigy-Champion series, by Marie Lu. This will be my third and final post on the series. Apologies in advance for burdening you with reading about this again. You can click away now, no one is going to blame you.

So, today I thought I would write a slightly more informal blog post because I almost never do that (wink wink). I spent a lot of time on this series because I really enjoyed the plot, the basic premise of the book, the character arch and moreover, I love to read about the possibilities for dystopic societies. The two dystopian governments that Marie Lu describes are the Colonies, and the Republic which are the remnants of a post cataclysmic flood USA. Each of these nations makes up half of the modern day USA, and the two are at war.

The Republic is a totalitarian society run by an Elector Primo, and is a generic fascist almost Hunger Games like government set up, which didn't excite me all too much. On the other hand, I found the Colonies to be very interesting. After the flood that sent the USA into disarray splitting the country in two, the United States Government declared bankruptcy. This triggered the largest companies in the country to affectively buy the USA from the government’s broken bank. This corporate takeover really interested me, and I found it to be an allegory to what is happening with corporate America right now. 

If the world was the way that most CEOs on Wall Street wanted it to be, the United States really would be the Colonies, a ruthless, solely economically based country with no middle class. 99.9 % of the country would be in poverty and .1 % would be extremely rich. Although there are some CEOs that are socially responsible and aren’t greedy, most are just the opposite. Due to this, Corporate America is always pushing for less government regulation and intervention and the Colonies are an extreme version of this wish. Right now, the top 1 percent owns 39% of the world’s wealth, and granting this wish would only increase this wealth gap. The corporate government run by businessmen in the Colonies was a more efficiently run government than the totalitarian government in the Republic, and was much, much more cutthroat and malevolent. If Wall Street got what it wanted, the United States would be become the Colonies. We would live with now safety rules, no environmental regulations, no personal rights and no education. Lu is exploring a rendition of the US where corporate America gets its wish fulfilled. The CEO of a Fortune 500 company makes 250 to 300 times more than the wage of an average employee. Makes you wonder what is really happening behind closed doors at companies like Apple and Microsoft, and makes you question whether or not you should buy one of their stocks.

I don't know if any of this sounds intelligent, but I sort of had an epiphany that the market is running incorrectly, and that these CEOs shouldn’t be worth so much money.

Versus

Today I want to address one of the most heated debates in the world right now. Some of the greatest minds of our age are contemplating this and there is still no answer. This issue is THE elephant in the room for everyone and has caused friends ships to end, and wars to start. The vote through all 202 countries is a split 50-50, and I can' say I'm surprised. The contenders are equally great, and I would not expect a decisive answer for the next 50 years. So here goes nothing... (drum roll)

Power Rangers vs. My Little Pony 

Honestly, I don't know what to say. These two franchises have memorized billions old and young, and I think that asking this question is almost tempting fate. This debate could start a World War, and these franchises are the basis of our society. Should we really do this?

We  should not compare two things as great as My Little Pony and Power Rangers, but none the less, the people still believe that this question that has been on the minds of our world leaders  needs to be answered. Russia, China, the USA and even ISIS have all voiced their opinions, still leaving the world at a perfectly split vote. 

On one hand we have the best, and on the other the best. 

Please vote in the comment section below.

 

Sorry Mohammed, but

What is love? All throughout our lives, we search for love in hopes of finding the 'one'. We find it, we lose it, and in some cases we never even experience it at all. Love takes many shapes and forms, but all in all it is probably the best experience in the world. Despite all of this, sometimes love can blind us to many things, such as the detrimental affects it can have on ourselves. In the series, "Legend-Prodigy-Champion" by Marie Lu, Day and June, the 2 main protagonists, are in love. They do not realize the negative affects they have on each other. Although they love each other, some of the stuff they do is pretty nasty.  Due to this, their relationship is extremely dysfunctional, even though they love each other deeply.

For example, June has done many horrific things to Day, even though she loved him. In the first book, she affectively murders Day's mother and brother. Not only that, but she put him in prison and almost had him assassinated. Later on throughout the series she sends Days brother Eden to a military base to be experimented on, and even more later on she cheats on Day. Pretty nuts, right?

Now, you may be skeptical of what I'm saying, so I'll give you some context. June and Day met when Day was a national-hero who was a criminal and June was working for the evil fascist dystopic government that wanted to kill him. When June caught Day, she turned him in which led to Day's family being killed. Eventually they get together, and the rest is history.

On the flipside, Day has done some pretty nasty stuff too. He killed June's brother Metias by throwing a knife into his heart. It gets worse. By June and Day falling in love, she lost everything, her money, her house, her friends and even her dog, and became public enemy #1. Pretty selfish on Days end, right? Not only that, but Day cheats on June too!

In conclusion, loving someone blindly is very controversial and nuanced. Loving someone blindly can hurt you, and can be stupid. Although that person may be perfect in your eyes, your love and devotion to that said person could be clouding your judgement as to whether or not it would be a good idea to get involved with that person. On the other hand, if you love someone to the point where the negative affects they have on you don't matter, then perhaps it is true love. Personally, I think true love should be the balance of accepting some of the 'bad' affects your partner has on you while being able to say that this person is causing me too much harm.

Legend-Prodigy-Champion Series

The "Legend-Prodigy-Champion Series" written by Marie Lu is a really interesting exploration of how a fascist government in a dystopian world can be overcome, and teaches young adult readers ways that they can fight an evil government that uses its people. The two protagonists, Day and June are teens who see injustice throughout the Republic, a post-apocalyptic nation that is controlled by a dictatorship, and they combat the wrongs of their government. Through Day and June's journey to end the republic's evil reign over North America, teens learn how to question the morality and ethics of their government’s authority.

Throughout the book, Marie Lu demonstrates that anyone, even with ethnic and economic disadvantages, can change the world for the better. For example, many of the people who took a role in the patriots were variously gay, black, poor, rich, Asian and female. On the flipside, the republic's armies had male, female, gay, black, poor, Latino, and many, many more types of persons. Even June’s brother, Metias, was gay. Not only that, Day and June were of very different backgrounds. June was very wealthy, white, lived in rich sectors and had a perfect trial score (a test taken at age ten to spot genetic anomalies) while Day was dirt poor and lived on the streets, of Asian heritage and scored a 674/1500 on his trials. Despite these radical differences, they fell in love and fought the republic, together.

Another point that really resonated with me as a YA (Young Adult) reader was that Marie Lu, all throughout the books, beckoned the reader to ask questions. Not only did she raise questions about the themes of the book, but about morality and ethics. In some parts of the book, the protagonists would make very controversial decisions. For example, at one point in the book the main characters agree to murder many, many soldiers who were "innocent" per se. These soldiers were low ranking lackeys who had no idea of the evils of the republic. To these men, they were doing a great service to their country and its people. Is it really okay to kill these people who knew if they stepped out of line they would be killed? However, this raises the other side of the story. Is it okay to go along with this evil government even if they threaten your life? Not only are these questions of morality and ethics asked, but one of the most present themes of the book was morality and ethics. These books, unlike “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins, actually had protagonists that were imperfect. Katniss, the protagonist of “The Hunger Games”, was selfless and unrealistically ‘good’ while Day and June were selfish and in some ways were driven by reasons other than justice. Marie Lu showed that no one is perfect, and that you don’t have to be perfect to change the world.   

All in all, these books are written to almost warn YA readers, who are the "next generation" of how to prevent these evil governments from rising to power. Lu writes in a way that engages readers but at the same time poses sophisticated, intellectual topics. Books like these, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are what maybe help keep the next Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, ISIS, Boko Haram, Taliban, and Joseph Kony of the Lord’s Resistance Army from rising to power, and history from repeating itself.

Another Story

Okay, so today we were supposed to write a blog post about anything so I decided I would tell a story. So, that's what I'm going to do.

So as some of you may know, I had my Bar Mitzvah about a month ago.

Many think having a Bar Mitzvah is filled with joy and celebration and all good things. But it is not. Not at all. 

First things first, Bar Mitzvahs are extremely stressful. The months and months of preparation and the anticipation are dreadful, and the feeling that if you mess up, because you only have one Bar Mitzvah, its like the end of the world. Especially with a mother like mine, it made it much much worse.

The days leading up to my Bar Mitvzah were filled with accommodating family and friends (which was not the most pleasant experience) from near and far who came very far to see us chant from a 5000 year old scroll. Now learning the Torah and prepping for it for countless months is not the worst part. The worst part is the amount of butterflies in your stomach that you feel right before you go up to chant. Honestly, it like the butterfly population of the whole Eastern Seaboard flying around in your tummy. And it doesn't feel good.

Okay now, the day of. When you wake up, it hits you. In 12 its all going to over... I will be a man in 12 hours. That feeling is awful. So you shower, brush your teeth, use the facilities, get changed into your suit.

The suit that I wore on the day of my ceremony was a large piece of anxiety for me.

For a second here I am going to engage in a little ranting: Due to my odd growth patterns, I grew vertically before I grew horizontally. I was 5'6 and had VERY narrow shoulders. When I say narrow, I mean like so narrow that I didn't fit into any suits. You mat say that I am being dramatic, but I can assure you I am not exaggerating. Every, single store we went to, the suits were too large and made me look ridiculous.

Luckily, my beautiful mother (who has a much broader knowledge of suits than me) posed a solution.

We had found a suit that fit me vertically and had a color that I really liked.

So, we got it tailored to fit me and to quote Hadley Elizabeth Robbins, "You looked sexy."

Anyway, back to the actual day of my Bar Mitvzah.

Once I was ready I listened to my favorite motivational song, "Little Wonders" by Rob Thomas, specifically the first verse (go listen to it, you will quickly see how it applies to that situation).

I walk up to my temple (we live three blocks away from our temple) and then it all started.

I'm not going to bore you with the specifics of the ceremony, but I will shed light on some of the flaws of the ceremony.

Before you actually go to chant Torah, you sit for 45 minutes seething in your own sweat and body odor waiting for them to call you up to the Bima. Yet again, the anticipation is terrible.

Not only that but every single time I messed up a note or a syllable of the Torah, the Rabbi would correct me, and make me repeat the word again. It wasn't very noticeable, but Rabbi Marc was being extremely irritating.

Of course I rarely made a mistake, but still I think I am justified in my complaints.

The party I will skip over because to be perfectly honest I don't remember all that much due to my lack of sleep and withdrawal of adrenaline.

So you can most likely infer by now that I am not a fan of Bar MItzvahs.

And you'd say, "but it must be all worth it because you get money and the feeling of relief must be great!" but no. After my ceremony, I didn't feel different at all. I actually felt worse. The sudden drop of a adrenaline made me feel depressed. It was like going on withdrawal from speed (or so says my parents).  Not only that, but I am not allowed to spend my money. 

All in all, they suck. Its a trap!

Although my cynical ways may be very pessimistic, like my father who is a litigator, I speak the truth.