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"His commitment to their friendship of thirty-odd years is rooted in his admiration of Troy's honesty, capacity for hard work, and his strength, which Bono seeks to emulate" (1242).
This quote in particular is pulled from Act I of the play "Fences", and made me wonder how it is exactly that friendships can have such an influence on how you act, your values, and even the way you view things. The two have had a very long friendship, and over the course of the years I imagine have had a great amount of influence on each other. When thinking about this, I realized how certain friendships I have had, one in particular being someone I've been friends with since birth, and how exactly she's influenced me. From a young age, I've always wanted to be just like her. Always dressing the same, saying the same things, and even having the same interests. However, I've come to realize after thinking about this that as the years go on, I value being more of an individual. I no longer want to be the same person as someone else, and I strive to have my own thoughts and feelings towards things. Without reading this play and looking more into the friendship these two have, I don't know that I would of realized that I no longer look at friendships in my life the same way anymore.

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In terms of being placed into someone else's shoes, "A Pair Of Tickets" came to mind. In the short story, the narrator of the story is to deliver the message that her mother had passed to her twin siblings in China that she had never met before. In this particular story, there were multiple perspectives to look from. First off, there was the father's. These children (the twins) were not his own, but he still felt as though they deserved to know. The narrator, who has never met these siblings prior, is expected to deliver a message while still grieving, and having to come to terms with the fact that the twins may be extremely disappointed and not approve. The twins however, are what really allowed me to take a step back and attempt to realize what they were about to encounter. Having a mother, who had to leave them at birth, I can only imagine would be horrifying. Not knowing your mother your whole life, and then coming to find that she has passed when finally thinking you're going to meet her has to be humiliating to find out by a sibling you don't really even know. On top of this, not knowing whether or not it is appropriate to grieve, or to be there for the sibling you don't even know that knew the mother much better. This to me is A LOT to take in all at one time.

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When thinking of a piece outside of literature that has in some way altered my perspective, I automatically thought of music. For me, music has always been an escape. No matter what emotion I'm feeling or what I'm going through at the time, I've always been able to find music to relate to this. In specific, I've enjoyed the artist Kid Cudi since I was a kid. My dad had always listen to rap music, but and at first when hearing the song "Day and Night" on the radio, I fell in love with the feeling the music gave me. I couldn't relate to the lyrics much, being that they were related to drug use, but the emotion the song gave me is what inspired me to listen to more of his music. This song, "Man on The Moon", featured on the same album though really spoke to me. He says, "can't comprehend, or even come close to understanding him...guess if I was simple in the mind everything would be fine". To me, I found this as something I could relate to. After listening to more of his music, I began to start to understand a lot more music, even by other artists that I hadn't in the past. This type of music is a story, with a beat put behind it. Before this, I never saw music as something that would take me to another world, and allow me to be understood. This is what everyone was talking about when they said "this person's music changed me"...it allowed them to feel understood, supported, and like they had something to turn to. Without this artist, I don't know that I ever would of seen music how I do today.

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Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon (Clean Version)

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Kid Cudi man on the moon clean version Here is the link for the program i use: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Here is the download: http://www.mediafire.com/?ub8i4o6c84dr8qe

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This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona

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This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona

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In this particular short story, a young man is to travel out of town with a young man he hasn't been close to for years to get belongs of his late father's. When thinking of perspective, I automatically think of reservation life, and how much this effects Victor's life. Reservation life is definitely something I am not familiar with, and learning how much guidance these children are lacking, even just from this short story was shocking. Even more shocking to me though, was the changes that took place in Victor. When personally going through a time of self discovery for myself, I sometimes find myself confused in terms of change. Is it okay to all of the sudden make changes within myself that otherwise were never there? Is it okay to all of the sudden have interests I've never had before, or to have a complete change in attitude and outlook on life? When reading this, the changes made in Victor and his attitude towards Thomas, the individual who travels with him are shocking. And for me, gave me the thumbs up that yes, it is okay to change whenever you feel necessary, and who's to say it isn't?

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"There was a white movie theater uptown; a colored movie theater back of town. There were two elementary schools uptown, one Catholic, one public, for whites; and the same back of town for colored" (25).
This quote, pulled from the novel "A Lesson Before Dying", is Grant describing what it was like in the town he lived in. At this time, The United States states was very divided in terms of color. Being born in the 1990's, being an accepting, open, and understanding individual is very sought after in my own opinion. For me, it is difficult to think of a time in which this wasn't always the case. Of course, I've learned much of this time period in history classes, but reading literature from or about this time paints a picture in my head I otherwise wouldn't be able to quite see. Grant truly is a character who is put in a very difficult position, and even though he is a well respected individual, the division of the time is still displayed.

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When reading The House on Mango Street, the overarching idea of gaining perspective from literature is displayed. As mentioned in "Favorite Piece of Literature" on this Padlet, Sandra Cisneros, the author, had a major impact on the way I viewed this piece overall. Initially, I did think that the book was written in reference to the author's own life. Once realizing that it wasn't, I did still gain major insight into a young Latina's everyday life. Coming from a family who does not value much of their own culture, I am always very interested in learning about other's. Esperanza, coming from a Hispanic family, is very close to family members outside of what I would consider "immediate" family. (Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister, Grandma, Grandpa) Even in the neighborhoods she lives in, it is easy to see that everyone treats each other like family. Their culture is displayed through the way the children interact, speak, and even dream. Hearing someone's biggest dream as being to one day have a house is very interesting to me, being that I've personally never known any different.

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Out of all of the pieces of literature read over the course of the semester, my favorite was "The House on Mango Street" written by Sandra Cisneros. While we read a number of pieces that allowed one to put themselves into another person's shoes, I feel as though after learning more about the author, I was truly able to understand the piece as a whole. It is easy to assume that the novel was written as a way to explain her own story, however this is not the case. Although she does admit that she at times has pulled bits and pieces from what she knew as a child, it is not an exact replica of her own story. Once learning this, I truly came to realize that as a writer, it is not always about writing exactly what you know and turning that into something great for others to enjoy. Rather, in Sandra Cisneros case, it is taking some things that you have come to know (and others that are completely made up), and turning this into something-a reflection of what you see from the outside and from within. Before reading this piece and looking more into the author, I really did not realize any of this. As a writer, this allowed me to realize that I have many more resources than I thought, and that really, I can write about anything that I want. With the perspective gained from others, I can piece that together and make a whole new story. Combining multiple perspectives all into one-allowing the reader to gain all of these perspectives.

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"And perspective is exactly what is wanted. At a time when events move so quickly and so much information is transmitted, the ability to slow down and get perspective, along with the ability to get in someone else's shoes -- those two things have been invaluable to me." -President Obama

This quote, pulled from the article "Transcript: President Obama on What Books Mean to Him" has resonated with me since reading this article. To me, this means to not take literature for granted. Take it for what it is, however, allow yourself to gain something from this. While it is an escape from the world, use it as a means to truly put yourself in someone else's shoes-a different perspective. There is a lot to learn from others, and literature allows you to do this as many times and for as long as you'd like- as long as you keep reading.